My first hardware article will explore how to maximise your hard drive lifespan and understand what can go wrong with hard drives.
According to Wikipedia, your hard drive has a 5% chance of failing within the first three years of its life (1) . It may not seem much, but consider this: what is 5% when you have your most valuable files stored on it: family photos, music, etc., and you do not have a back-up?
There are many different ways a hard disk drive can fail. For example, fire, water, impact, high magnetic waves, etc. Impact can cause the ‘head’ to crash. “A head crash is a specific type of hard disk failure, and occurs when the read-write head of a hard disk drive touches its rotating platter resulting in catastrophic damage to the magnetic media on the platter surface” (2). A platter is the disk your magnetic data is stored.
Now we understand what can go wrong with a hard drive, we can look at how to look after it. Follow these tips.
Contents
- Tip 1 - Keep Back-ups
- Tip 2 - Use a Surge Protector
- Tip 3 - Defragment your hard drive
- Tip 4 - Stop unwanted background processes
- Tip 5 - Prevent sleeping hard drive then waking
- Tip 6 - Keep the hard drive cool
- Tip 7 - Monitor S.M.A.R.T.
Tip 1
First of all, keep regular back-ups of your data. Your music, pictures, movies, etc. are very important. Depending on the size of your data, you can either use a CD or DVD. I recommend you purchase an external hard drive. I found that external hard drives are very expensive, so if you want a cheaper option consider purchasing an external hard drive enclosure (example) and placing an old hard drive into it. You might have one ‘kicking around’ the house somewhere. Important: ensure you buy the correct enclosure for your hard drive. If it came from a desktop computer it is a 3.5 inch drive, and from a laptop it is a 2.5 inch drive, ensure the hard drive enclosure is USB2, and check the connection of your hard drive. Older computers use what is known as an IDE connection, and newer drive use a SATA connection. You must match the correct connection or the enclosure will not fit correctly. For more information Western Digital has a wonderful connection guide. Remember that hard drives are fragile, so handle with care. (See further reading.)
Tips 2
It is extremely important you attach your computer to a surge protector (examples). Slight surges can cause damage to your hard drive, and over time will reduce the drive’s lifespan. Turning light switches on/off, T.V.s, cookers, all cause slight surges. Surges can be generated outside of your home / business too.
Tip 3
Defrag Windows XP
If you are a Microsoft Windows users you must use the ‘Disk Defragmentor’. This, when regularly completed, will keep your hard drive fit and healthy. File fragments occur and can slow your hard disk’s performance as your hard drive spends more time searching for them. Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmentor. Click the ‘Analyze‘ button and wait. You will be shown a report, then press ‘Defragment‘ button (this point will take the longest). Note that this may take several hours depending on the last time you defragmented and how much data you have (perhaps the first time you could do it over night?). Do not use your computer during defragmenting, and ensure you computer will not automaticlly turn off - see tip 5 for more information.
Tip 4
When you start your computer, depending what you have installed, it is likely to start running many different background applications, such as your anti-virus. Obviously this is important, but what about other background processes. If you have many programs installed, it is worth reviewing what actually needs to be running all the time. Having lots of applications constantly working causes more stress on your hard drive which will result in a shorter lifespan.
Tip 5
Power Options
Many people like to put their computers to sleep, perhaps you set your computer to sleep after two minutes of no activity. This is not a good idea because constantly sleeping / waking your hard disk will slowly destroy your hard drive. When you have finished with your computer turn it off. I recommend you have your monitor turned off after 2 minutes and never turn your hard drive off.
Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > and then double-click the Power Options icon. This tip is for people who set their hard drive to turn off after a minute or so, then as they return to their PC it powers down, then they wake it up. Thus, the cycle continues.
According to Timothy S. Oey (1993), if you are not going to use your computer within an 8-hour period you should consider shutting it down. He suggests that computers should be left on permanently until the components fail; this actually maximise your devices lifespan because you reduce the amount of on/off cycles. This is most likely because a ‘cold start’ will cause the most damage to a hard drive. For further and very useful information, I strongly recommend you read his article, as it makes very good reading. (3)
Tip 6
To ensure your hard drive does not cook, you need to ensure your hard disk has adequate cooling. This may affect laptop users more because laptop’s components are packed together more so. If you are a computer builder, for example, do not stick hard drives on top of each other. Computer shops actually see computer fans but I am unable to comment on how good they actually are in maintaining hard drive life.
Tip 7
PassMark DiskCheckup V2.1
S.M.A.R.T. stands for (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology). All modern hard drives have this technology. You can check your hard drive health by installing an application to read that data and let you know whether your hard drive is near death so to speak. PassMark Software have kindly made a free program to check your hard drive health - DiskCheckup V2.1. It works with a wide range of Microsoft Windows. DiskCheckup is free for personal use only. (For download link see Useful links.)
In conclusion, I believe one can extend their hard drive life by following the above tips. The tips may extend your hard drive lifespan but you have to remember to keep regular back-ups as all hard drives will fail at some point.
Further Reading / Useful links:
References:
VirusScan for Mac is one of the virus scanners targeting Mac audiences produced by McAfee. I have tested this application for a few months now and here is what I think.