Long time Storage on external Hard drives

[kenwickie]

Hello Folks just wondering if I store movies on a hard drive,How long will they last if that drive is rarely used? Ken

 

[Spudmaster]

As long as you don't take it cliff diving it will last fairly long.

 

[kenwickie]

As long as you don't take it cliff diving it will last fairly long.

Thanks for replying but do you think it would last longer than a recorded movie on a dvd that usually last 25 to 30 years? Over time we know that the dvd media breaks down little by little being plastic.
I wonder too the newer device for storage coming out has no moving parts. Think that would last much longer?
Thanks

 

[casper1973]

There is no exact answer to this as there are far too many factors to be considered. A few years shouldn't be an issue. If you are seriously considering 5+ years without use, then you may potentially run into problems.

I can tell you that many businesses archive old data to hard drives. The data gets put on a hard drive then left sitting in a safe for years without use. The general consensus is to "refresh" the data every 2-4 years to protect it's integrity. This basically means copy the data to somewhere, then copy it back so the data is re-written to the drive. OR do the correct thing and use tape drives which can be left untouched for decades and still work. But that's going off-topic a bit.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there kenwickie,

The thing is that no matter what kind of storage device you use, you will have to "refresh" the data as casper1973 suggested.
The lifespan of HDDs greatly deviates. The external hard drives are less reliable than the internal ones as some connectivity problems(USB, enclosure) are not something uncommon. My guess would be that the average life of an external HDD would be 2-4 years.
Of course, most of the times, HDDs don't just die without showing any signs before that. So, if you regularly run HDD testing and keep an eye on the S.M.A.R.T report, you should at least be warned when the HDD starts getting worse.
So, in case the data is important and you want it to last, the best thing is to have the files on both HDD(external or internal) and on DVD discs.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[Kalvan81230]

All magnetic media will degrade, of course. Tape and hard drive storage systems have that in common. Tapes are susceptible to problems from being left poorly wound. Data loss seems to be reduced when they are stored "tails out" on the reel, and increased when they are stored poorly tensioned. Those aren't considerations for hdd's.

However, hdd's add mechanical and electrical failure to the mix. The magnetic media will degrade. And the mechanism will become less reliable. Sadly, all the information I've seen on HDD life assume they are powered on and in use. What happens when you put it on a shelf? It isn't being stressed, but organic components could still degrade - seals, bumpers, cushions insulation or what not. Most of these components could be made with stable components, but were they?

A big honkin' RAID may be the best long term answer. Perhaps in the cloud.

All of which gets back to another issue. Will the data formats you're using be readable in a decade? Or two? History suggests that even if you can read the media, you may not be able to access the data. In the long term, aggressively updating data formats may be needed. Or, even if you have a computer with an 8 inch floppy drive, can you read the CPM disk and make use of the Electric Pencil files? Yes? OK, how about files from your ancient Radio Shack computer, your TRS80?