There are quite a few things you can do to extend the life of your hard drive and prevent hard disk failure. This article will talk about five seriously important ones.
Have you ever pondered the question of how you could extend the life of your hard drive? The idea that the hard drive in your computer will continue to function for as long as the computer itself is something that data recovery customers discover is quite false. This is almost correct for solid-state drives (although they as well have failure points), but it is not accurate for mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs). Depending on how they are used and managed, these typically have a lifespan of between three and five years on average. On the other hand, you have the ability to significantly lengthen the lifespan of your HDD by paying careful attention to how you use it and how you handle it. Preventing hard disk failure is in fact possible.
The lifespan of mechanical hard disk drives is determined by a number of factors, the most important of which are the workload, the conditions of the surrounding environment, and the upkeep of the hardware. The following is a list of suggestions that can help you increase the lifespan of your mechanical hard disk drive and steer clear of typical errors.
Hard drives are mechanical devices, which means that they contain moving parts on the inside. Even with careful use, they are susceptible to wear and tear because they have moving parts, just like any other device with moving parts, like your car, power tools, appliances, etc.
Here are five ways that you can extend the life of your hard drive and prevent hard disk failure.
1. Maintain your hard drives in a clean and safe working environment.
It should come as no surprise that hard drives are really not built for being in any proximity to water, dampness, or humidity. Heat can also be a serious killer. The majority of components in a computer, including hard drives, can produce an excessive amount of heat, so you’ll want to watch for that.
On the other hand, the longevity of your hard drive can be significantly increased by your active efforts to maintain a cool operating temperature within your computer case. You can prevent your hard drive from running too warm by taking the following precautions, among others:
- Work to ensure the air flow in your computer is strong
- Reduce the temperature of the room that your hard drive is stored in to bring the ambient temperature down.
- When the hard drive is not being used, make sure that it is turned off (this works for your computer as well)
- You should routinely remove any dust that has accumulated on the enclosure of your hard drive, but you should never open it up to clean the inside!
2. You should only ever purchase high-quality hard drives.
The quality of a hard drive is the single most important factor in determining how long it will continue to do what you expect it to. Drives that are less expensive tend to fail more frequently than those that are more expensive because they are constructed to lower standards and because they are frequently made from inferior materials.
When testing the durability of their products, lower end hard drive manufacturers frequently employ methods that are not standardized. As a consequence of this, a one terabyte (TB) drive manufactured by one company might be rated for a certain number of hours before it fails, whereas a one TB drive manufactured by another company might last significantly longer than that. If you want to know how long a specific hard drive will last, the only way to do so is to look at the warranty and return policies offered by the manufacturer. Also try to avoid refurbished drives, which can often be dead on arrival, or poorly repaired.
You can also read various reviews of hard drives. When doing so, be sure to read reviews written by both regular customers and technology writers, as the latter are more likely to investigate the complexities of the hardware in greater detail. This provides you with a useful glimpse into the overall quality of the hard drive that you are planning to purchase.
3. When it comes to data storage, you should always remember the 3-2-1 Rule.
This means that you need three copies of your data, each of which must be stored on a different medium, and at least one of those copies must be kept in a location that is not your primary workplace. If you follow this one easy rule, you can keep your data safe. In the event that one of your hard drives fails, you have at least two other copies of the data backed up elsewhere.
Because HDRA is a data recovery specialist, we have a great deal of knowledge and expertise in this field. We have assisted hundreds of customers, and as a result, we are aware that faulty hard drives, mistakes, or damage are not the most common causes of data loss.
Instead, the single most common reason for loss of data is the failure to create a backup copy of important files and data.
4. Hard drives should be handled with extreme caution.
Hard drives are extremely sensitive to sudden jolts or movements. You must never let go of them, and it is in your best interest to keep them from being moved around an excessive amount. A happy hard drive is a stationary hard drive. Place them on a level, clean surface where they won’t be disturbed by vibrations and where the temperature won’t be allowed to fluctuate.
The majority of hard drives installed in desktop computers are not moved around very frequently, which helps to keep them operating. However, some older laptops may be equipped with mechanical hard drives. Because laptops and portable hard drives are moved around more frequently, you should exercise additional caution when carrying them.
If you must carry a laptop or portable hard drive when it is not in use, you should always use a padded bag, case, or container that is specifically designed for carrying such items. Check that the device can be contained within its carrier without causing too much wiggle room so that it doesn’t get damaged while being moved around.
5. Ensure that you effectively manage the space on your hard drive.
Delete any files that you no longer require and ensure that the primary hard disk drive of your computer only contains the data that you require. You are not required to store everything in the same location; instead, you can keep some files on external drives or in the cloud.
Modern operating systems have built-in tools that can defragment your hard drive. When large files are cut up into multiple smaller files, this process is called fragmentation (fragmented). These smaller pieces are not always stored on the same physical segment. Because of this, load times are prolonged.
You should only defragment your drive if it is absolutely necessary to do so; therefore, make regular use of the tool that comes standard with your operating system to perform scans on the drive and check for fragmented files.
How to Extend the Working Life of your Hard Drive To Avoid Hard Disk Failure
As we’ve seen, the lifespan of a hard drive is determined by a number of different factors. The good news, however, is that these factors aren’t nearly as difficult to manage as you might think. Age and general wear and tear are things that you have little control over, but everything else is entirely within your sphere of influence. You might be able to extend the life of your hard drive by an order of magnitude or more simply by making a few straightforward adjustments to the way you store information.