[SOLVED] Is My Hard Drive Still Healthy?

[thegreatestusername]

Hi all!

I have a pretty old Western Digital 2TB HDD (WD20EARX). I bought it in 2011, so it's now 11 years old.

Hard Disk Sentinel shows its health is somehow still at 100%, despite it being used so much, for so long. For comparison, my main system SSD, which has a power on time of 16x less than the HDD, already has health of 86%.

Screenshot here.

Can the 100% health reading for the old HDD really be trusted? This thing is well into the age category of "generally the time HDDs fail". Should I just go ahead and ignore the reading and replace the thing before I lose data? I don't wanna get a replacement unnecessarily.

Thanks in advance for any advice provided.

 

[Colif]

You can always get a better opinion - https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en&p=279

storage drives can last a long time if not used to boot windows.

if ssds is an NVME, they can also turn themselves off as although my NVME and HDD both installed on same day, nvme shows 203 days, hdd 325.

 

[thegreatestusername]

You can always get a better opinion - https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en&p=279

storage drives can last a long time if not used to boot windows.

if ssds is an NVME, they can also turn themselves off as although my NVME and HDD both installed on same day, nvme shows 203 days, hdd 325.

You think 11 years could still be good?

Thank you. I didn't know about WD Dashboard. It says the drive is "Normal".

Here's a CrystalDiskInfo screenshot for some more info. How does that look?

 

[Bob.B]

You think 11 years could still be good?

Thank you. I didn't know about WD Dashboard. It says the drive is "Normal".

Here's a CrystalDiskInfo screenshot for some more info. How does that look?

Leave it alone....use it.
Looks like you got a good one.
Don't go looking for trouble by replacing it.

 

[thegreatestusername]

Leave it alone....use it.
Looks like you got a good one.
Don't go looking for trouble by replacing it.

Haha! Fair enough.

I was just worried that the readings were inaccurate, and all along its failure was just around the corner, and I'd lose the data on it. Impressive it's lasted this long! Perhaps cause it's never been a boot drive.

Are those CrystalDiskMark readings above the threshold values not something of a concern?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Here's a CrystalDiskInfo screenshot for some more info. How does that look?

Looks good.
Note - any drive can die. Have backups for your important data.

 

[thegreatestusername]

Looks good.
Note - any drive can die. Have backups for your important data.

Good point. I'll perhaps put more important stuff on a different storage device. The vital things are already backed up in multiple ways. To have it all, I'd need another 2TB drive, basically, since this one is almost at capacity. Might as well replace it at that point then.

Could you explain what the values mean? I've never understood that part of CrystalDiskInfo. For example, read errors threshold of 51 but my drive has 200. Isn't that bad?

 

[mdd1963]

75000 operating hours?! Wow. (it takes 8.5 years of 24 hours per day operation to equal that!)

(I'm impressed! But, I'd certainly be looking at some replacements or at least an additional drive, and, not relying on it alone for anything of importance....)

 

[Bob.B]

Haha! Fair enough.

I was just worried that the readings were inaccurate, and all along its failure was just around the corner, and I'd lose the data on it. Impressive it's lasted this long! Perhaps cause it's never been a boot drive.

Are those CrystalDiskMark readings above the threshold values not something of a concern?

You can't lose data.
Everyone makes backups it's pc 101.
The hdd might go poof but that's just an annoyance.
You pop in a new hdd and restore.

As for CDI watch the raw values.

 

[Krotow]

If HDD lived so long, it can pretty much work for next 3-4 years just fine. Backup the files which are worth for you. And don't worry about anything else.

 

[thegreatestusername]

75000 operating hours?! Wow. (it takes 8.5 years of 24 hours per day operation to equal that!)

(I'm impressed! But, I'd certainly be looking at some replacements or at least an additional drive, and, not relying on it alone for anything of importance....)

Haha! An achievement for sure. Since it's 11 years old, you can tell it's only been shut down some nights.

You can't lose data.
Everyone makes backups it's pc 101.
The hdd might go poof but that's just an annoyance.
You pop in a new hdd and restore.

As for CDI watch the raw values.

Would I be able to do that recovery myself? I figured that'd be really hard unless data recovery software was already installed before it died. Or that I'd need professional help.

 

[Oasis Curator]

I have about 4 of these green drives that all are similar ages (bought around the same time, 2010 / 2011), and all still show 100%, although they have been powered for a lot less time than the OP.
I had to perform a special firmware upgrade on two as the excessive head parking plagued early Green drives but they don't show any signs of going bad. Have used one as a backup drive - the first time I have backed up the data (not important, just hassle if I needed to replace). The other three are barely worth selling. May use one as a second backup, although wonder if I could get some sort of 2-bay raid thing so it'll automatically clone each other and use that as a backup solution.

Now we're thinking...

 

[Bob.B]

Haha! An achievement for sure. Since it's 11 years old, you can tell it's only been shut down some nights.

Would I be able to do that recovery myself? I figured that'd be really hard unless data recovery software was already installed before it died. Or that I'd need professional help.

There is no one-method-fits-all backup.
Some folks use an image others a clone others the cloud.
Heck I suppose you could copy stuff to a floppy if you wanted.

The bottom line is to plan ahead.
How do I recover 'IF'.
Get all your ducks in a row.

 

[USAFRet]

Drives can die in many and mysterious ways.
Some of it recoverable at home, some of it not recoverable at all.

The only real answer to the question: "Is my drive dying?" is 'Yes'.
May be a slow march to the grave, may be in the next 10 seconds.
But die it surely will.

Prepare for that day.


And the whole backup thing is not just for a physically dead drive. It also protects against accidental deletion, formatting, a nasty virus...

What would you do right now if your system got spanked by ransomware?
Pay the man, and hope he gives you the decryption key?

Me, I'd be pissed that I was so stupid to get infected, then recover from last nights backup.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[thegreatestusername]

Some good points. The 2TB is almost full, so it's not about backing up for me, so much as buying a replacement drive. If there's a reason to. I.e. if the health of this one necessitates it.

I would like to replace it with an SSD, but I'm not sure if the chip shortage is driving up the prices of those right now.

 

[USAFRet]

Some good points. The 2TB is almost full, so it's not about backing up for me, so much as buying a replacement drive. If there's a reason to. I.e. if the health of this one necessitates it.

I would like to replace it with an SSD, but I'm not sure if the chip shortage is driving up the prices of those right now.

SSDs, especially SATA III, have never been cheaper.


And backups are ALWAYS a necessity. No matter the theoretical health, age, or type of your active drive.