Hard drive life span? Is 4 years ‘doing well’?

Alastair Traill · March 12th, 2015, 03:40 AM

I would like to thank everyone for their input. Perhaps a genteel life of 4 years is doing well after all and Spinrite does sound interesting.

Ed Roo · March 12th, 2015, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alastair Traill

Ed, Spinrite sounds good, what are the basic requirements of a PC needed to run it? It could be worth getting a PC especially for running Spinrite now that as Mark mentions warranty times are getting shorter.

I purchased a refurbish HP 4540 dual core i5 w/8GB RAM and 750 GB HDD for $500.
Its sole purpose is to run SPINRITE.

As for minimum requirements... USB plug(s) for a dock, i3 processor 4GB RAM 128 GB HDD.
For 2.5 inch HDDs, I swap the internal Windows HDD for the HDD to be SPINRITEd. It works faster on the internal buss. For 3.5 inch HDDs, I plug in the USB dock.

Chris Soucy · March 12th, 2015, 10:41 PM

Just to add my two cents..............

I've just received back my 9 year old Coolermaster CM Stacker case fitted with a new Intel MoBo, proc, Raid 10, 4 drive array (4 TB) and assorted bells and whistles.

The previous contents had been a dual core Athlon, 2 mirrored WD's for the C drive and 2 ditto Hitachi's for the D drive.

That system was final spec'ed in Feb 2006, built in March 2006 and had the first hard drive (a WD) fail last November 2014. The second (a Hitachi) failed this February 2015. I lost no data during either failure.

Total system run time in that interval was something like 7+ straight years, as I had only recently powered it down at night.

Not bad going for an antique!

Moral of the story: Never, ever leave a drive un - mirrored.

CS

Alastair Traill · March 13th, 2015, 06:09 AM

Thanks Ed and Chris

Shaughan Flynn · March 13th, 2015, 09:25 AM

I have a 5MB external drive on my MacPlus that I bought around 1988. Still going strong. I have had other drives fail in less than a year. IMO it's a crap shoot.

March 12th, 2015, 03:40 AM	#16
Alastair Traill Major Player Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 626	Re: Hard drive life span? Is 4 years ‘doing well’? I would like to thank everyone for their input. Perhaps a genteel life of 4 years is doing well after all and Spinrite does sound interesting.

March 12th, 2015, 10:41 PM	#18
Chris Soucy Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Fairfield, Dunedin, New Zealand Posts: 3,691 Images: 18	Re: Hard drive life span? Is 4 years ‘doing well’? Just to add my two cents.............. I've just received back my 9 year old Coolermaster CM Stacker case fitted with a new Intel MoBo, proc, Raid 10, 4 drive array (4 TB) and assorted bells and whistles. The previous contents had been a dual core Athlon, 2 mirrored WD's for the C drive and 2 ditto Hitachi's for the D drive. That system was final spec'ed in Feb 2006, built in March 2006 and had the first hard drive (a WD) fail last November 2014. The second (a Hitachi) failed this February 2015. I lost no data during either failure. Total system run time in that interval was something like 7+ straight years, as I had only recently powered it down at night. Not bad going for an antique! Moral of the story: Never, ever leave a drive un - mirrored. CS

March 13th, 2015, 06:09 AM	#19
Alastair Traill Major Player Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 626	Re: Hard drive life span? Is 4 years ‘doing well’? Thanks Ed and Chris

March 13th, 2015, 09:25 AM	#20
Shaughan Flynn Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 272	Re: Hard drive life span? Is 4 years ‘doing well’? I have a 5MB external drive on my MacPlus that I bought around 1988. Still going strong. I have had other drives fail in less than a year. IMO it's a crap shoot. __________________ B-Scene Films