How Long Does My External Hard Drive Last?
by Nationalcws.com on November 15, 2021
There’s no doubt how important this piece of equipment is in the complicated world of data storage. Chances are you’re viewing this on a laptop or computer, so it’s safe to assume you’re worried about your external hard drive. When will a hard drive failure happen? What will happen to the data you have stored? Today we’ll cover some basic information about hard drives and how long you can expect them to last.
Lifespan
External hard drives can run smoothly for 3 to 5 years, but that really depends on how well you take care of it and whether it’s made out of metal or plastic. Be careful with your hard drive and avoid dropping it or allowing heavy objects and liquids to fall on it. When moving it from one place to another, ensure it’s kept in a protective casing. Only power up the hard drive when you need access to the info. All of these little things should help increase the longevity of your hard drive.
Data
If the enclosure fails, the drive can still be recovered. You can just get a new replacement enclosure, what matters is how you prevent losing the data stored on the drive itself. Manufactures usually provide a “mean time between failure”, which details an estimated amount of runtime hours before mechanical failure, and/or “annualized failure rate”, which describes the possibility percentage of drive failure after a full year of use. Knowing these numbers is important to securing your data.
Signs Your Hard Drive is Failing
If you hear strange sounds coming from your hard drive, that’s not a good sign. A repetitive noise known as the click of death is caused by the head trying to write data, failing, returning to its home position, and trying over and over again. Corrupted data also is another red flag, including scrambled file or folder names, random error messages, and files that fail to open. PC breakdowns can happen in a variety of different ways, and a failing hard drive is one of them.
In conclusion, you shouldn’t rely on certain signs or software to tell you whether or not your hard drive is failing. Give National Computer Warehouse Services a call. We’ll help keep your data safe!