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waloshin
September 21st, 2011, 06:43 AM
Is it still true that harddrives last longer if left on 24/7?

I remember reading a couple years ago that harddrives lastest longer if you left them running is this still true now days?

The reason why I ask is I have a new Western Digital My Book Essential which has an auto shutdown after a certain time limit and was wondering if I should set the time limit to the longest I could to help the drive last longer?

madjr
September 21st, 2011, 06:50 AM
not sure if hard drives defy the law of physics...

let say your hard drive has an avg. life of 4 to 5 years (maybe more not sure).

it could be that you perceive it lasts longer because is on 24/7

could also be marketing too , but i dont know, just use it normally

also not only your drive will be on 24/7, your other computer parts (which dont defy the law of physics) too. So overall your computer might worn out faster (and i believe is what hardware companies like)

LowSky
September 21st, 2011, 06:55 AM
How long do you need a drive to last? In most cases people replace well before a drive fails. Usually when they need more space.

Drenriza
September 21st, 2011, 07:14 AM
It depends on a lot of things. Of what material is the disk inside the drive made of?
Aluminum, glass or ceramics?

HDD,s which is left on 24/7 can get their ball bearing stuck when turned off. And then it's directly to the trash with that.

If you need a HDD,s that needs to be turned on 24/7 then get a raid disk, of good quality and take a backup before powering it off ,)

sffvba[e0rt
September 21st, 2011, 08:15 AM
I remember many years ago that due to thermal expansion and subtraction when turning on and off electronic equipment the general rule of thumb would be that it was better to keep them on (mostly applied to PC-boards with transistors etc.).

Then not so long ago the common belief was that the amount of money spent on electricity would be equal to the amount of money you saved by not turning off your electronics...

Now in 2011 I would hope that if a piece of equipment has the "feature" to sleep then it would be able to handle it without dying prematurely :)


404

disabledaccount
September 21st, 2011, 08:24 AM
HDD,s which is left on 24/7 can get their ball bearing stuck when turned off. And then it's directly to the trash with that.Ball bearings? please...
HDD's are using FDB = Fluid Dynamic Bearing -> special construction assures that bearing material is always covered with thin oil film (in short). Today's HDDs are mechanically perfect, largely thanks to ellimination of Head landing zones several years ago. Therefore start/stop count have lost it's initial meaning and importance, with exception when starting in low temperatures (not optimall oil parameters and risk of steam condensation).
Most of failures are cused by (in order): users, shop/factory employees*, power supplies / power grid failures, buggy firmware.

*they often do not treat Your devices with required care... because they are boored, just for fun or to see if HDD can survive falling from 4m without parachute... ;) ...and belive me, such damaged devices can be found in many end-products.

Drenriza
September 21st, 2011, 12:54 PM
I remember many years ago that due to thermal expansion and subtraction when turning on and off electronic equipment the general rule of thumb would be that it was better to keep them on (mostly applied to PC-boards with transistors etc.).

Then not so long ago the common belief was that the amount of money spent on electricity would be equal to the amount of money you saved by not turning off your electronics...

Now in 2011 I would hope that if a piece of equipment has the "feature" to sleep then it would be able to handle it without dying prematurely :)

404

The thing is that if you completely turn off a device such as a PC. When you turn it on again it will "pull" a higher voltage / watt output then if you would start it from standby. Each time you completely turn off a system and start it again, it then "overeats" pull more energy then required. And can over time damage the system. Tho i have never heard of this being the case. So i think its very rare.


HDD's are using FDB = Fluid Dynamic Bearing
Fair enough. Then we come back to disk quality :p

undecim
September 21st, 2011, 02:58 PM
I remember many years ago that due to thermal expansion and subtraction when turning on and off electronic equipment the general rule of thumb would be that it was better to keep them on (mostly applied to PC-boards with transistors etc.).

Then not so long ago the common belief was that the amount of money spent on electricity would be equal to the amount of money you saved by not turning off your electronics...

Now in 2011 I would hope that if a piece of equipment has the "feature" to sleep then it would be able to handle it without dying prematurely :)


404

This.

Nowadays, it's better to leave things off when you're not using them, if not for their lifespan of if it, then the electricity you save will leave you with enough money to buy a replacement.

I don't think hard drives ever got a benefit from being left on though, since they can idle often while being on.

BrokenKingpin
September 21st, 2011, 03:03 PM
Spinning up the disk could put more stress on the drive then just leaving it running. Either way, most users will replace the disk before it actually gets to the point of failure.