How long can a HDD last?

P

`PaWz

banned
I have an old-ish 60GB Harddrive from my compaq computer (2002). Does anyone know how long they can last?
 
They are mechanical devices so they generally don't last as long as the other parts of the computer, although they should last several years before starting to have problems.

I would say you have at least a couple years left on the 60GB hard drive. And the way to tell if a drive is going is if you get repeated error checks on startup, or if S.M.A.R.T. detects any problems.
 
no, smart is on your hd, it is built in.

but i have the longest lasting one in my possestion is from 1996 ish. it is ponly a few GB but runs fine
 
yeah, i have a 2GB and 1.19GB drive from 1995 and a 30GB drive from 1998 and they all work fine.

though a few that i had with my dell broke really easily.
 
[-0MEGA-];823696 said:
They are mechanical devices so they generally don't last as long as the other parts of the computer, although they should last several years before starting to have problems.

I would say you have at least a couple years left on the 60GB hard drive. And the way to tell if a drive is going is if you get repeated error checks on startup, or if S.M.A.R.T. detects any problems.
Click to expand...

does SMART auto check everytime on startup or something?
 
Hard drives average a 3 - 5 year lifespan.
But as with any electronics (more so because of the moving parts), there will always be components that are dead 5 minutes out of the box, and one's that last for 10 years (or more).

Download the hard drive diagnostic tool from the manufacturer of your drive. They generally come for either floppy or CD, then boot to it and test your drive.
 
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