How long do disk drives really last?

[JSixpack]

More info here, not entirely consistent w/ earlier info from Google study:

http://www.zdnet.com/how-long-do-disk-drives-really-last-7000023075/

[astral]

From experience, this like asking How Long is a Piece of String.................

You may get lucky

then you might not.

The only sure plan is to make a regular backup

on another disk.

[cacruden]

Each drive will have an estimated "mean time before failure". A single drive may fail early, or it may fail late -- but statistically speaking the highest percentage will fail around the mean time if the drive is operated within specifications (it should be on the manufacturer website under specifications). You cannot rely on a drive not failing, they are mechanical devices and they will fail when you least can afford it -- therefore if the data is important (i.e. cannot be lost) you should mirror the drives as they are used. If you can lose some data -- and re-input it.... then you can just backup regularly (which should also be done with mirrored drives). Drives should ideally be operated between temperatures of 35C to 43C - higher or lower and you will typically increase the chance of failure. Environments which are prone to vibration, temperature fluctuations, the odd whack.... will all lower the life of a drive on average.

[sirchai]

Trying to answer your question. Usually 4-5 years. The first in my Dell notebook did it that long. The next was only working FIVE MONTHS.-

Edited November 12, 2013 by sirchai

[draftvader]

There are a number of things you can do to protect hard-drives and modern hard-drives are less prone to surface marking but they are always subject to manufacturing defects and being that it is nearly impossible to create a perfect environment for hard-drive manufacture (or so we are told) you always needs to guard against HD failure.

It is, of course, entirely possible that it is not in the interest of HD manufacturers to make them VERY reliable....just acceptable....

(I worked as a brand consultant for an industrial testing firm in the UK.....I might know a thing or two about "acceptable" life spans for products....)

[RKASA]

They make them as good as the can afford to and still be affordable. I have two drives that still work from my old win 98 and win 98se PC's, but I replaced one drive in 2005 that was only 5 months old. click click bang. In all HD drives are pretty damn reliable devices - I have lost far more motherboards, vga cards and screens then drives.

[h90]

They make them as good as the can afford to and still be affordable. I have two drives that still work from my old win 98 and win 98se PC's, but I replaced one drive in 2005 that was only 5 months old. click click bang. In all HD drives are pretty dam_n reliable devices - I have lost far more motherboards, vga cards and screens then drives.

I have every 2 month a dead WD drive, from estimate 15-20 I use.

[SpaceKadet]

So you have higher than 120% yearly failure rate..

[2008bangkok]

I would say they last 3+ in a PC or laptop and about 6 months if used regularly as a USB portable drive

[Mousehound]

My suggestion is that you plan for your HD to crash on the day you install it. I always backup my backup drive weekly and the first backup daily. Over the years I recon a 20% - 30% failure rate not out of the ordinary but you will get some drives that go on and on and others that don't last a month. HDD are pretty old tech and mechanical at that. Solid state is IMHO the way to go if you have buckets of cash - I don't so I just keep racking the HDDs - but they are very cheap. I once sold a 10G HDD for $A1000!

[canuckamuck]

I have an IDE drive in my older desktop that is 6 years old and seems unstoppable.

I have 2 WD passports (portable drives) that are both over 4 and a WD mybook that is at least 3 years old.

I haven't had any drive fail in the last 5 years. Most of them run all the time, except the mybook.

That being said, I have started the process of retiring them. I actually removed all important info from that 6 year old IDE drive just this afternoon. Got a new internal drive last week and an SSHD for my OS. Will be getting a new portable as well.

I have had a good run.

[MichaelJohn]

There's only one thing certain - your hard drive WILL fail.

It's a mechanical device and they all wear out.

Always have a regular backup if you have valuable or non-replaceable data.

[manarak]

From experience, this like asking How Long is a Piece of String.................

You may get lucky

then you might not.

The only sure plan is to make a regular backup

on another disk.

RAID1 for protecting against disk failure

Backup to protect against data loss

Edited November 13, 2013 by manarak

[h90]

So you have higher than 120% yearly failure rate..

me no....

Just counted 14+2 spare drives and if every 2 month one fails it is approx 50%.

Every 2 month is an rough estimate. Can be 5 month nothing and the 2 in the same week.

All on warranty.....I bought the 5 year warranty WD mostly.

Funny enough the oldest drive 80GB, fast broken, the refurbished replacement has strong vibrations and I thought it won't last long. It still works after many years.

[h90]

There's only one thing certain - your hard drive WILL fail.

It's a mechanical device and they all wear out.

Always have a regular backup if you have valuable or non-replaceable data.

There were some HD at a university with already 10++ years on a server. Noone knew the software anymore and no one wanted to turn it off, afraid that it won't start anymore.

HD did their job day and night....

[astral]

I agree RAID 1 is the best protection

but how many computers, apart from Desktops and Servers,

have the facility for a second drive??

[tfc]

I've had drives last a year, 2 years, 5 years and more. It's gotten to the point where I start getting paranoid around the 4-5 year mark. From past experience there is often no prior warning, the drive is just suddenly bust.

[cacruden]

I've had drives last a year, 2 years, 5 years and more. It's gotten to the point where I start getting paranoid around the 4-5 year mark. From past experience there is often no prior warning, the drive is just suddenly bust.

You should be paranoid every day of every week, when you stop being paranoid... that is when it crashes..... I just remove the drives from primary usage (home computer) after 3 years (I put little labels when they are first used). Even had one financial institution (small one) lose their entire head office database because they were sloppy, luckily the system had replicated all the accounts with branch office installations - so we could rebuild it (took weeks).

Edited November 13, 2013 by cacruden