hard disk longevity if pc never off?

[tendercare]

hello, on average, how long will a hard disk last if the pc is never shut down?

 

[fishmahn]

Longer than if it was turned on and off a dozen times every day.

I have a 30gig drive I put into a machine about 3 years ago, its on 24/7 and still running fine. I have an old 700meg drive from early 1991 that ran 24/7 in the file server for about 5 years (and was run after that in a test environment). It's still installed and worked last time I turned it on (within the past year.)

Outside of abuse (dropping, hitting with hammer, closed up in a hot place with a Prescott , etc.), just about any drive will last thru the effective life of the system, whether its turned off every evening, or left on 24/7. If you turn it on/off a dozen times or so a day, then the spindle motor may wear out sooner, but once its running, it's not going to stop...

Mike.

<font color=blue>Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside the dog its too dark to read.
-- Groucho Marx</font color=blue>

 

[tendercare]

what if it were left idle for a long time? Will the inactivity cause the parts to become "rusty"?

 

[blah]

24/7 hurts electronic equipment the same way as it does hurt semi truck - no-how, it is built to work that way. It makes no difference for it's longevity any way you turn it. What does make it to go tits up is heat and/or heating/cooling process (on/off during short periods of time).

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[blah]

My laptop gets on/off switch pushed about 5-7 times a day on avarage (usually 3-4 sometimse 10-15) and the drive is working just fine since I got the machine USED 3 years ago.

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[blah]

I had Deskstar (or Deathstar) 40Gz for over 2 years which was used that way (5-10 on/offs a day sometimes) and was sold and STILL working (2 more years to add) although it is not switched on so often any more.

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[blah]

No, it is bad for me, caz now I have to argue with whole buncha peepel about it >

<i><font color=white>...am i, hehe..</font color=white></i>

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