Will hard drives stop working after idle for a long period?

[UltimateGTR]

I'm wondering will traditional hard drives (non-SSD) stop working after idle without power for a long period of time. My friend discussed this issue with me and his 1TB hard drives failed when he try to get the data after idle without power for almost 2 years. I've many hard drives for data storage but they will not be connected except to get the data from the drives, they will store in a dry and cool place in their original packages. Is the issue which my friend told me is true? Thank you very much!

 

[smorizio]

I'm wondering will traditional hard drives (non-SSD) stop working after idle without power for a long period of time. My friend discussed this issue with me and his 1TB hard drives failed when he try to get the data after idle without power for almost 2 years. I've many hard drives for data storage but they will not be connected except to get the data from the drives, they will store in a dry and cool place in their original packages. Is the issue which my friend told me is true? Thank you very much!

the only issue i can see is your friend may have dropped the drive or baged it while it was in storage..most hard drive when power is turned off right park the heads. so the only part that could go bad over time would be drive lube. mostt ime on older drives dirt made the lube go bad...called sticknation on a hard drive where you have to tap it to get the drive unfrozen.

 

[abdbgames]

I work in IT, and we have pulled 15 year old drives off the shelf that have been idle for at least 7, and still had them working

 

[UltimateGTR]

Thank you smorizio and abdbgames for the help! Much appreciated!

 

[Project X]

I just pulled a drive that's been unused for almost eight or nine years out of a computer and it runs like a champ (albeit a mighty slow one)

 

[UltimateGTR]

Best answer selected by UltimateGTR.

 

[UltimateGTR]

Thanks everyone who has helped! Now I don't worry this issue anymore.