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15

How long do you trust a hard drive to work before it starts to fail? I try to replace my drives after about 12 years

submitted by Lost_In_The_Thinking to whatever 1 weekApr 19, 2025 09:04:32 ago (+15/-0)     (whatever)

I don't have any patience with or confidence in drives that start to slow down, start making noises, or start showing I/O errors. I try to prevent that by replacing them before they start to show signs of age and, much worse, possible failure. I've gone to too much trouble to maintain my files, not all of which is my media server, although that's a large part of it, without losing it due to carelessness.

For example, a 2TB drive that was my dad's, one he bought in 2010, started showing problems reading files. I disconnected that thing immediately, ordered a new 8TB drive, reconnected the 2TB, and copied everything to the new drive. Two files didn't copy, and I easily replaced them, so there was no loss.

All drives fail eventually, and some sooner than others. I'd be interested in hearing your experience and learning from it. I'd also be interested in your reasons for having or not having a RAID array.


31 comments block

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[ - ] Cantaloupe 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 18:25:59 ago (+1/-0)

Zero, always have two or more copies

Put some in the cloud too. If there is a fire you could lose some stuff.

[ - ] drhitler 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 17:06:33 ago (+1/-0)

I used to run 2 x 120g SSD in RAID0, used as my windows drive for nearly 10 years, they never ever crashed and i ended up replacing them because i needed more space

I run all my SSDs in raid0 and they seem to last forever, i wonder if RAID0 reduces stress on SSDs

The one time i did use platter drive for RAID0 it crashed within 2 weeks, do not use platter drives for RAID0

[ - ] CoronaHoax 0 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 16:39:47 ago (+0/-0)

Hard drive to work eh. Getting to work is getting untrustable and difficult these days eh.

[ - ] NuckFiggers 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 15:45:16 ago (+1/-0)

To avoid having one fail point you should have more than one hard drive and save your data in multiple places. Drives will fail or there will be some human or unpredictable event (fire, flood, etc) that can kill a hard drive and you should have a backup ready.

I don't back up all my data, just the important shit. Some of the data is easily replaceable if lost but I won't lose the important shit.

[ - ] Master_Foo 0 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 15:22:08 ago (+0/-0)

You never trust a hard drive not to fail.
This is what RAID is for.

[ - ] allAheadFull 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 13:53:14 ago (+1/-0)

If you wait until there are noticable errors you'll eventually experience data loss. I imagine 12 years is way past all recommended limits. The data should at least be copied from drive to drive every 3 or 4 years to prevent data decay.

I keep one drive for storage and one for a weekly backup. I replace them every 4 years or so. Mostly mechanical drives for more storage but I have a few SSDs coming into the rotation.

I don't know what OS you are using but on Linux you can use smartctl and look for pre-fail stats.

[ - ] RMGoetbbels 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 13:33:15 ago (+1/-0)

I don't leave anything on a hard drive that I can't pour an ounce of fuel on, throw a match over it and walk away.

Anything that matters is backed up. I manually do it about once a month.

I don't have any patience with or confidence in drives that start to slow down, start making noises, or start showing I/O errors.

ahahaha! Mine was clicking and clucking about a month ago. Couple of love taps and she got right back to business.

[ - ] X8VSAJuFrMdcur5E 5 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 12:28:17 ago (+5/-0)

I run 2 separate 2Tb SSDs on my work computer. The first is for the OS and installed programs. The second is for my files and documents only. I backup everything to an external spinning drive frequently.

SSDs have a limited number of times each cell can be written to. Basically, writing to them damages them. If you're doing anything with video or media where it will write to it frequently (like security cameras or media servers), do it on spinning media. They can handle the number of write cycles much better and you won't notice the slower access times because video can only stream so much data at once and it's not usually random reads.

[ - ] BushChuck5002 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 18:05:14 ago (+2/-1)

Magnetic platters are second only to tape reels for long term data storage.

[ - ] Not_a_redfugee 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 12:12:26 ago (+1/-0)

I have a 1tb hard drive from like 2010 that still hasn't given me an issue

[ - ] KosherHiveKicker 6 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 11:18:33 ago (+6/-0)

Back up everything important on a few USB Thumb Drives. They are cheap, easy to store, and if your primary drive fails or gets corrupted you can just reinstall.

Just be in the habit of updating your backups monthly.

[ - ] BushChuck5002 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 17:46:28 ago (+2/-1)

That is terrible advice. NAND flash memory is inherently volatile, and not suitable for long term data storage.

Use enterprise archive drives https://www.canadacomputers.com/en/desktop-internal-hard-drives/160801/seagate-ironwolf-8tb-nas-7200rpm-256-mb-st8000vn004.html

[ - ] KosherHiveKicker 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 17:52:47 ago (+1/-0)

I've used the same 5 USB thumb drives to back up my files since 2012. 1 USB thumb drive has been updated on a weekly basis for 13 years with no issues.

[ - ] BushChuck5002 0 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 17:54:25 ago (+1/-1)

Yep, that sure sounds like an excellent data storage protocol.

Good luck.

[ - ] KosherHiveKicker 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 17:57:20 ago (+1/-0)

I've monitored the drive health on all of them and they are still at 87%.

[ - ] BushChuck5002 0 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 18:03:33 ago (+1/-1)

lol

[ - ] KosherHiveKicker 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 18:07:02 ago (+1/-0)

Laugh away.

It works, and my files aren't sitting on a single backup drive.

[ - ] BushChuck5002 0 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 18:09:57 ago (+1/-1)

It's going to be funny when a single magnetic anomaly encounter wipes all your data.

[ - ] KosherHiveKicker 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 18:14:52 ago (+1/-0)

The only USB thumb drive that I have seen fail was when I attempted to format over a thumb drive setup as bootable Linux Mint OS.

[ - ] BushChuck5002 0 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 19:28:35 ago (+1/-1)

Okay, man. you seem like you've got it sorted. Move on.

[ - ] DivineLight2 3 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 11:14:43 ago (+3/-0)

My rarely used old HDDs are going strong from 2007/08, my SSD completely failed and wiped after 7 years. All in the same PC, just my SSD ran the OS.

So I'd be careful with SSDs, especially if it's your primary drive.

10-12 years for 2nd/3rd drives
5 years for primary drive

[ - ] registered_bot 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 11:46:45 ago (+1/-0)

I've had the same experiences. SSD's fail more than physical drives in my experience. They are much faster, but I think many of them were rushed products and are "built to fail" before a decades time.

[ - ] bonghits4jeebus 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 11:08:21 ago (+1/-0)

raid is just good for quick recovery. I think it's overkill for how often most ppl lose data, and you have to keep backups anyways

[ - ] TheNoticing 2 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 10:23:26 ago (+2/-0)

I don't have a PC long enough for a drive to fail.

[ - ] Spaceman84 3 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 10:23:20 ago (+3/-0)

Just use Hard Disk Sentinel. Great application for monitoring drive health.

[ - ] Lost_In_The_Thinking [op] 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 10:30:12 ago (+1/-0)

I'll look into that. Thanks.

[ - ] ReturnOfTheGoats 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 12:46:43 ago (+1/-0)

There’s also crystal disk info.

[ - ] RollinDaGrassTyson 3 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 09:53:07 ago (+3/-0)

I trust redundant backups using different storage technologies. The stats to watch are total writes and cumulative power on hours. A drive can be 20 years old, but if it has only ever been powered on for 15 hours and received a handful of GBs writes, it is probably perfectly fine.

[ - ] Conspirologist -3 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 09:23:12 ago (+2/-5)

It depends what brand your drive is. They all have different quality.

Just store in cloud and wait until your drive dies.

[ - ] ruck_feddit 7 points 1 weekApr 19, 2025 11:38:52 ago (+7/-0)

Yeah have Google store all your shit you fucking retard spammer.

[ - ] Reunto 1 point 1 weekApr 19, 2025 09:19:57 ago (+1/-0)

Good topic. I don't know enough about the stats, I do the same thing you do. Wait for errors and use that as a benchmark to assume I'm hitting the beginning of the end of the bathtub curb.