[SOLVED] Backup Drive: always on or on/off daily?

Dec 18, 2021
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I have an older 4TB SATA drive in on an external SATA connection used for backup, on a PC that is on 24x7. Backups might take about 2 hours a day. What is better -- for the disk, to stay running all the time, or should it be off and powered up (daily) when backups take place?

It used to be that powering up/down was the most wear and tear on disk drives and it was thought lifetime is better if on all the time. Is that still the case?

This is a Toshiba MD04ACA400, which had been in another system and ran all the time for nearly 6 years. Crystal Disk Info says power on time is 49258 hours. It was replace by a 10TB and I thought a job as backup only would be good for its twilight years.

So, leave on or on/off daily?
 
Solution
If connected and ON all the time, it is subject to some of the same issues as the drives in the PC.
Nasty virus, ransomware, etc.

On the other hand, On/Off all the time does bring risk of fail.

To combat this is to have another backup, off line most of the time. Update weekly or so.


How are you doing these backups that "might take about 2 hours a day " ?

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
If connected and ON all the time, it is subject to some of the same issues as the drives in the PC.
Nasty virus, ransomware, etc.

On the other hand, On/Off all the time does bring risk of fail.

To combat this is to have another backup, off line most of the time. Update weekly or so.


How are you doing these backups that "might take about 2 hours a day " ?
 
Solution
Dec 18, 2021
2
0
10
Yes. There are other regular backups, on a cloud service. Besides the system with the drive, there are 3 others that do, or will, backup to it. Using Macrium Reflect. Usually takes only a few minutes each depending on if it is a full or incremental. Could make up time less if it would matter.

Oh, yes, exposure to malware is also a consideration. However, the host is not generally used to access dainternets.

Thanks.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Yes. There are other regular backups, on a cloud service. Besides the system with the drive, there are 3 others that do, or will, backup to it. Using Macrium Reflect. Usually takes only a few minutes each depending on if it is a full or incremental. Could make up time less if it would matter.

Oh, yes, exposure to malware is also a consideration. However, the host is not generally used to access dainternets.

Thanks.
Right.
I use Macrium as well....Incrementals only take a minute or two.

If you have other backups offline, then having your external connected all the time is not necessarily a bad thing.

3-2-1
3 copies, on at least 2 different media, at least 1 offsite or otherwise inaccessible.

Seems like you're there.