keep drive spinning all the time windows

Refreshing the stored data can reduce magnetic field deterioration. In the case of mechanical failure over long time frames, the simple approach is to power on the drive occasionally, ensuring the bearings, motor, and grease are all warmed up, and preventing them from becoming stuck in one location. Of all the possible issues with hard drive storage, two of the most common ones can have their effects mitigated by exercising the drive. These types of failures tend to occur when drives are stored for exceptionally long periods of time without ever being powered on. Mechanical Failure: Even with the proper storage conditions, mechanical failure, such as the platters failing to spin up due to motor failure, or spindle bearing failure, can happen. ( Related: Keep Your Electronics Warm and Safe This Winter) Extreme high temperatures increase the risk of damaging mechanical components, such as warping heads or platters, while extreme cold temperatures can cause bearing failure, or allow the spindle and motor to become misaligned. Western Digital recommends storing their hard drives between 55 F and 90 F. Magnetic disruption can be caused by nearby high power magnets, motors, or even by unusually strong geomagnetic storms caused by solar mass ejections on the sun.Įnvironmental Conditions: Humidity and temperature ranges for stored hard drives differ by drive manufacturer. Magnetic Field Corruption: Magnetic fields external to a stored hard drive can adversely affect the stored data by altering the charge at one or more locations on the drive’s platters. So, not only is the stored data lost, but the ability to read the drive may be gone as well. That much field strength loss will likely lead not only to general data corruption of the stored data, but also to the loss of the index tracking marks which tell a drive where a sector starts and stops.

After 69 years, the field strength would have dropped by 50 percent. Magnetic Field Deterioration: Permanent magnets generally lose their field strength at the rate of 1% per year.

The length of time your data will be retained on a hard drive in storage, one that isn’t powered and kept in a controlled environment, is based on four primary factors: However, is that reputation valid? We’ll find out in a bit, but first, let’s look at hard drives. If you believe the reputation is true, then SSDs would need to be exercised at defined intervals to ensure they keep the data stored intact. Numbers commonly cited suggest one year for consumer grade SSDs, and as low as one week for enterprise class SSDs. SSDs (Solid State Drives) have a reputation for having a very low data retention rate. The long range is due to the different architectures used in the manufacturing of modern hard drives. Under those ideal conditions, hard drives are predicted to be able to retain their data for 9 to 20 years. The actual rate cited for various devices is predicated on the storage device being non-powered, undergoing no refresh of the data it contains, and being kept in an ideal storage environment, usually mentioned as around 25 C / 77 F. The ability of a storage device to keep the data it contains intact is known as the data retention rate. So, let’s find out if we need to keep exercising our storage devices to maintain information and performance. Of course, I’ve heard a lot of things, and not all of them bear up well when looked at closely. I’ve even heard it said that SSDs could lose their information in less than a year, and in the worst case, within a few days. I’ve heard it said that an SSD or hard drive that isn’t used for extended periods of time will likely have performance issues, or worse, actually lose data in the span of a few years.

Keep drive spinning all the time windows