longevity

jrpears · 11-25-2008, 04:51 PM

Hey y'all! It's come time again to wipe the hard drives in my computer. It's been three years now; I used to do it every 6 months or so, but now I'm older and lazier and my computer is too. I have a Western Digital 40gb that is half full and a Maxtor 30gb that is 80% empty. Both drives have survived two motherboard/cpu/RAM upgrades, and are IDEs. I mainly use the system for web surfing, chat, burning backups of DVDs and CDs, word processing, etc, no gaming or video editing. I don't need more speed or more storage, the drives haven't been abused, I have 3 case fans and an empty slotted space between the drives where a floppy drive was ages ago. The hard drives are seven years old, and according to any hardware scan I've ever run on this machine there is nothing wrong with them.

My question is: should I just buy a new higher capacity hard drive or should the old ones be alright, given that I don't need more storage or speed? How long does it take for a hard drive to wear out?

Tumbleweed36 · 11-25-2008, 06:38 PM

I want to start out with the obvious. First of all, there are two kinds of hard drives. First,there are those that are going to die and then there are those that have died. Therefore, it is time to at least keep a clone of all your data and my recommendation would be to get a couple of new ones before you get caught or blindsighted by a quick dying drive and you lost your data.

I hate to tell you, but after a drive is out of warranty (three years as a rule, but some are five), the likelyhood of them lasting much longer is getting slim. I just ditch them when they are out of warranty or use them as a cloning spare.

jrpears · 11-26-2008, 12:58 PM

Ok, thanks, I think I will go ahead and replace them with a single 500 or so gb, or maybe two smaller ones. They're pretty cheap these days, and I still have one SATA connector open on the motherboard; the other is occupied by one of my optical drives Do you know of any newer hard drives that are outstanding?

Tumbleweed36 · 11-26-2008, 06:51 PM

I like personally the Western Digital and the Seagate drives. While I choose the WD drives the most, Seagate usually has a better warranty, so either is excellent IMHO.

jrpears · 11-27-2008, 11:00 AM

Tanks

Tumbleweed36 · 11-27-2008, 02:20 PM

You are welcome. Have a great Holiday Weekend.

11-25-2008, 04:51 PM	#1 (permalink)
jrpears Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 3 OS: winXP sp3	longevity Hey y'all! It's come time again to wipe the hard drives in my computer. It's been three years now; I used to do it every 6 months or so, but now I'm older and lazier and my computer is too. I have a Western Digital 40gb that is half full and a Maxtor 30gb that is 80% empty. Both drives have survived two motherboard/cpu/RAM upgrades, and are IDEs. I mainly use the system for web surfing, chat, burning backups of DVDs and CDs, word processing, etc, no gaming or video editing. I don't need more speed or more storage, the drives haven't been abused, I have 3 case fans and an empty slotted space between the drives where a floppy drive was ages ago. The hard drives are seven years old, and according to any hardware scan I've ever run on this machine there is nothing wrong with them. My question is: should I just buy a new higher capacity hard drive or should the old ones be alright, given that I don't need more storage or speed? How long does it take for a hard drive to wear out?

11-25-2008, 06:38 PM	#2 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,481 OS: XP Professional	Re: longevity I want to start out with the obvious. First of all, there are two kinds of hard drives. First,there are those that are going to die and then there are those that have died. Therefore, it is time to at least keep a clone of all your data and my recommendation would be to get a couple of new ones before you get caught or blindsighted by a quick dying drive and you lost your data. I hate to tell you, but after a drive is out of warranty (three years as a rule, but some are five), the likelyhood of them lasting much longer is getting slim. I just ditch them when they are out of warranty or use them as a cloning spare. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.

11-26-2008, 12:58 PM	#3 (permalink)
jrpears Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 3 OS: winXP sp3	Re: longevity Ok, thanks, I think I will go ahead and replace them with a single 500 or so gb, or maybe two smaller ones. They're pretty cheap these days, and I still have one SATA connector open on the motherboard; the other is occupied by one of my optical drives Do you know of any newer hard drives that are outstanding?

11-26-2008, 06:51 PM	#4 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,481 OS: XP Professional	Re: longevity I like personally the Western Digital and the Seagate drives. While I choose the WD drives the most, Seagate usually has a better warranty, so either is excellent IMHO. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.

11-27-2008, 11:00 AM	#5 (permalink)
jrpears Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 3 OS: winXP sp3	Re: longevity Tanks

11-27-2008, 02:20 PM	#6 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,481 OS: XP Professional	Re: longevity You are welcome. Have a great Holiday Weekend. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.