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lifespan of a HD
- Thread starter cain
- Start date
Electric Amish
Elite Member
I would say that DVDs DO NOT fail more than HDs.
That being said I, personally, have never lost a HD since I first purchased one way back when 1.2 GB cost $250. (Late 90s)
That being said I, personally, have never lost a HD since I first purchased one way back when 1.2 GB cost $250. (Late 90s)
a dvd can't fail, i doesn't have moving parts to break or wear out. the average lifespan of your hard drive is impossible to determine since it is controlled by to many factors(heat, dust, moisture, manufacture defect, bumps and shocks). but if reliablity is a concern get a seagate, in my experience they are much more reliable.
Electric Amish
Elite Member
Sounds like the burn is bad. Can you access the data from the computer you burned it with??
DVDs can fail. They can get scratched or broken or just die at the end of their lifespan like a CD. That lifespan is generally a very long time, under decent conditions.
daniel1113
Diamond Member
Depending on how much data you have, I would suggest backing up to DVDs or an external hard drive. If stored correctly, DVDs should hold your data without any problems, but backing up to DVDs can be slow and tedious (not to mention they are never truly up-to-date). The external HD route is nice because you can do constant backups and the data is instantly accessible.
I personally use a mixture of both methods. I maken nightly incremental backups of everything on my system to a few external HDs, then make monthly DVD backups of the really important data.
I personally use a mixture of both methods. I maken nightly incremental backups of everything on my system to a few external HDs, then make monthly DVD backups of the really important data.
daniel1113
Diamond Member
DVD's can "corrupt" even when stored properly, simply due to imperfections in the media. Although the failure rate is extremely low, it is possible.
Electric Amish
Elite Member
Optical Disks do fail. The image does not last forever. They can also be scratched. They suffer from damage cause by light and or sunlight, and also from heat possibly since they are made with a laser and get hot in the process. Not all DVD players are created equally. Even if an image is viewable it may not be a 100% accurate copy because DVD medium is rated at speeds and sometimes there is a substantial error rate when writing to the DVD. You can have errors and the disk can still be readable.
Tom's hardware had an article on magnetic optical disks a while back as being more durable than hard drives.
Here is an intersting article even if it is a little old:
http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20040416/index.html
Tom's hardware had an article on magnetic optical disks a while back as being more durable than hard drives.
Here is an intersting article even if it is a little old:
http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20040416/index.html
CreativeTom
Banned
WOW, 1.2 GB HDD cost $250 in the late 90's, I don't remember that at all.
Electric Amish
Elite Member
Maybe it was mid-90s. I'm pretty sure it wasn't before '95.
the 'best' solution that I've come across is to back up your data onto an external drive.
After the backup, unplug the drive from both the wall and the computer (so it's not being used), and store it somewhere 'safe'.
This way, the drive isn't moving for very long, at all... so it probably won't get a chance to wear out for a loooong time.
My friend goes the 'extra step' and puts it into a anti-static bag and lets it sit in his freezer... but I think that's a little excessive.
After the backup, unplug the drive from both the wall and the computer (so it's not being used), and store it somewhere 'safe'.
This way, the drive isn't moving for very long, at all... so it probably won't get a chance to wear out for a loooong time.
My friend goes the 'extra step' and puts it into a anti-static bag and lets it sit in his freezer... but I think that's a little excessive.
Honestly... I don't know, because I haven't ever tried it...
BUT - hard-drives are sealed very tightly, and are vacuum(?) sealed (or they're just ultra pressure-regulated).
I mean... nothing on the inside is going to change just b/c it's subjected to a slightly lower temperature. This isn't THAT big of a difference, especially since we're talking about hard-drives. The biggest problem I could see would be some water/humidity freezing onto the drive, or something.
Personally, I think that it's just a 'theory' he has.. but don't tell him that's what I said!
BUT - hard-drives are sealed very tightly, and are vacuum(?) sealed (or they're just ultra pressure-regulated).
I mean... nothing on the inside is going to change just b/c it's subjected to a slightly lower temperature. This isn't THAT big of a difference, especially since we're talking about hard-drives. The biggest problem I could see would be some water/humidity freezing onto the drive, or something.
Personally, I think that it's just a 'theory' he has.. but don't tell him that's what I said!
mooncancook
Platinum Member
I suggest you can store your files in a external HD that you can easily access, while keeping back up copies in DVD at a safe place in case your HD fails.
MobiusPizza
Platinum Member
It varies greatly between HDDs
There's a value called MTBF specified by HDD makers
MTBF is an abbreviation for Mean Time Between Failures.
MTBF is a measure of how reliable a product is. MTBF is usually given in units of hours; the higher the MTBF, the more reliable the product is.
For electronic products, it is commonly assumed that during the useful operating life period the parts have constant failure rates, and part failure rates follow an exponential law of distribution.
I'd put down the formula for the probability HDD would fail after T hours:
Probability of failure = exp(-T/MTBF)
Thus, for a product with an MTBF of 250,000 hours, and an operating time of interest of 5 years (43,800 hours):
Probability of failure (R) = exp(-43800/250000) = 0.839289
which says that there is an 83.9% probability that the product will operate for the 5 years without a failure, or that 83.9% of the units in the field will still be working at the 5 year point.
Average failure rate of the HDD is when the drive has 50% chance of failing
So if you have 2 drives, you expect 1 to fail while 1 survives.
for R = 50%, T = -MTBF*ln(0.5)
For example, Western Digital Raptors have a MTBF of 1200000 hours
On average after 866433 hours it would fail, which is 98 years
However it doesn't mean it won't fail before that
4% probability that a Raptor would fail within 5 years
There's a value called MTBF specified by HDD makers
MTBF is an abbreviation for Mean Time Between Failures.
MTBF is a measure of how reliable a product is. MTBF is usually given in units of hours; the higher the MTBF, the more reliable the product is.
For electronic products, it is commonly assumed that during the useful operating life period the parts have constant failure rates, and part failure rates follow an exponential law of distribution.
I'd put down the formula for the probability HDD would fail after T hours:
Probability of failure = exp(-T/MTBF)
Thus, for a product with an MTBF of 250,000 hours, and an operating time of interest of 5 years (43,800 hours):
Probability of failure (R) = exp(-43800/250000) = 0.839289
which says that there is an 83.9% probability that the product will operate for the 5 years without a failure, or that 83.9% of the units in the field will still be working at the 5 year point.
Average failure rate of the HDD is when the drive has 50% chance of failing
So if you have 2 drives, you expect 1 to fail while 1 survives.
for R = 50%, T = -MTBF*ln(0.5)
For example, Western Digital Raptors have a MTBF of 1200000 hours
On average after 866433 hours it would fail, which is 98 years
However it doesn't mean it won't fail before that
4% probability that a Raptor would fail within 5 years
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