Whilst we're talking storage .... life of a hard drive?

Well I hope this is not too much of a stupid question but reading recent posts (including the one below) about storage, about external hard drives failing and how important back-ups are etc, etc, we're regularly told here and by sales people on retail floors, that you can expect to have to replace a drive every two to three years.
Now I'm thinkin' that this refers to drives being used something like 8 hours a day for 5 or 6 days a week maybe.
So if you're only using an external drive for back-up purposes only and using a method where you only turn the drive on at the end of the day just to do the back-up, probably less than an hour and then turning it off again to take home with you, can I assume that drive will last for ten years? Or is it not just the moving parts that will wear out?
I'm hoping that this is one of those things that everybody wanted to know but was afraid to ask!
Thanks in anticipation for your views
Peter L

docharris, thanks for resurrecting the study and the commentary on that paper pokes more holes in it than I ever could. The statistical analysis presented in the numerous charts is interesting but misleading form a video producer's point of view; there are only a handful of folks here who know the difference between median and mean and no one groks standard deviation.
Like other video people, I have internal and external drives that have seen hard service for more than 7 years. I used to have a couple of ancient SCSI units from Medéa (remember them?) that I bought in 1997 that were still in use as offline backup. My last SCSI card failed before the drives did. As drive surfaces have become more dense and drive mechanisms have become smaller, direct comparisons between yesterday's unimaginably huge 60 gig platters and today's common 1+tera drives becomes meaningless.
And Google's server drives do not necessarily represent our drives or the work we do on them.
bogiesan

Similar Messages

HT201250 Since time machine backed up my computer does that mean I can delete files so I can increase storage space on my hard drive?

Since time machine backed up my computer does that mean I can delete files so I can increase storage space on my hard drive?

NO!
Time Machine is not an Archival Backup. It will keep files for a while, but if it needs the space, it will delete files that no longer exist on the hard drive.
Get a couple external drives and move the files to both of them.

Battery life halved after hard drive and ram upgrade

I upgraded my hard drive to a wd 1 tb scorpion blue and upgraded the ram to 8gb. Now the battery life is less than halved. The speed has not improved or decreased , I'm happy with the drive performance, but am considering going back to the standard 4 gb ram to try and improve the battery life. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Yes that looked like the main problem, battery indicator has come back up on idle at least. It still suffers on application use, (aperture ) seems to have lost 30% during usage, but still better than after the upgrade ( used to be 3 hours now 2 hours, remaining time during importing as opposed to 1 hour after upgrade)

Sound Library Storage on External Firewire Hard Drive

I'm planning on using the 3-drive configuration for Logic 8 -- internal system drive (500 Gig) in bay #1 for Logic install -- second internal drive in bay #2 for audio recording -- and an external firewire drive for sound library storage.
I've got the *Apogee Ensemble* which doesn't like sharing the Mac Pro Firewire Bus. Given the significant demands made on the Mac Pro's firewire bus by Ensemble, the tech at Apogee suggested a PCI-e firewire card to create a second firewire bus for the external firewire drive (and any other firewire peripherals I have in mind).
*Question 1:* Does it matter whether this external drive is firewire 400 or 800? Will it make a noticeable difference?
I'm planning on partitioning this external firewire drive into three volumes as follows:
Volume 1 -- one-time back-up/clone of my current OS X Tiger hard drive contents.
Volume 2 -- ongoing cumulative back-up of new OS X Leopard install (we're waiting for 10.5.3)
Volume 3 -- sound library storage
*Question 2:* Will Logic or the Mac Pro have any problems streaming samples from a partitioned external firewire drive? (assuming neither volumes 1 or 2 are active while running a Logic session)

Well, I don't know about the unmounting, Kitesurfer, but I thought it was worth bringing up. I also thought it was possible to unmount one volume without the other disappearing, even though they're on the same disk. It may just be my particular external disk but I find that hard to believe. Also, I'm not sure if, because your CCC clone will be journaled, OS X interacts with it in any way. Someone else may be able to answer that.
I'm not a pro so I doubt my equipment will be of interest to you, but it's a 500GB Lacie mini hub. I also have a Lacie 250GB external, which has a clone of my sample library partition. Nobody recommends Lacie but I've had the 500GB for almost a year and the 250GB for over two years I think, and I've never had a problem (except maybe the unmounting issue).

How do I retrieve photos from adobe storage to my new hard drive?

My hard drive crashed and I lost all my data and pics. The pics are stored in a 20gig file on the adobe cloud. The software does not show me how to bring those pics back to my new hard drive. Anyone got a solution?

ralphbates wrote:
Thanks John...went there and nothing in the cloud. I have 20 gigs of photos stored with Adobe but that didn't access them.
Where exactly did you upload the photos to and how?
creative.adobe.com is the address for Cloud storage.

Battery life and external hard drives

Although I have an I phone I am totally new to mac computers.I am just looking at buying a mac air 11.6 purely for portability. I have looked at other cheaper brands due to cost factor but have found problem reviews on all and don't want anything that is going to cause more hassle! I have a couple of questions though- how long do batteries usely last as a discussion on here suggested they only last a couple of years?The other query is in regard to storage - tried asking a retailer ( non apple though) and he was not much help. I am only using it for basic internet and Office ( going to purchase). I don't store loads on my laptop as tend to currently use a USB memory stick to transfer docs to work computer. I am told though macs don't use the normal external storage systems and will need to buy separate one. If I do, will I be able to use the memory stick on a work laptop ( think they are dell)?

yes, if you format it, it would wipe the HD
you can use software for reading/ writing to "PC" format (meaning NTFS format)
use the program called PARAGON or TUXERA
as if a "translator" for read/write data from your Mac to the "PC formatted" HD.
however just consider also getting another HD, you need 2 anyway for data backup redundancy.
The single biggest error people make is feeling safe with ONE external data backup, and thats always a terrible error people make.
HD are cheap as dirt.    Just format the new HD in MAC OSX extended journaled.
and use the application(s) above to read and transfer the data from your "PC formatted" HD.
Forget about lightning connection HD, USB3 are plenty fast enough, and all HD are limited by spindle speed and spin-ups.
Microsoft OS works find on Macs , whoever told you that , told you another fib.
However Id prefer to run Win7 rather than Win8 on a Mac, but both will work fine.
Being a HD "collector" of sorts, and investigator of them in great detail, here's your best choice on HIGHEST quality HD to purchase:
huge storage, low cost, high quality, very small and portable.
BEST FOR THE COST, Toshiba "tiny giant" 15mm thick 2TB drive (have several of them, lots of storage in tiny package)    $100
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48    /ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1390020791&sr=8-3&keywords=toshiba+2tb
best options for the price, and high quality HD:
Quality 1TB drives are $50 per TB on 3.5" or $65 per TB on 2.5"
Perfect 1TB for $68
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA3W/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379452568&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+toshiba
Nice 500gig for $50. ultraslim perfect for use with a notebook
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B009F1CXI2/ref=s    r_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377642728&sr=1-1&keywords=toshiba+slim+500gb
*This one is the BEST portable external HD available that money can buy:
HGST Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive $88
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Mobile-Portable-External-0S03559/dp/B009GE6JI8/ref=sr    _1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383238934&sr=8-1&keywords=HGST+Touro+Mobile+Pro+1TB+USB+3.0+7 2 00+RPM
Most storage experts agree on the Hitachi 2.5"
Hitachi is the winner in hard drive reliability survey:
Hitachi manufacturers the safest and most reliable hard drives, according to the Storelab study. Of the hundreds of Hitachi hard drives received, not a single one had failed due to manufacturing or design errors. Adding the highest average lifespans and the best relationship between failures and market share, Hitachi can be regarded as the winner.

How to delete storage off an external hard drive

i have an imac made in 2006 with 20in screen and web cam i brought an external hard drive about 6 months ago. Now the external hard drive is full now it want let me in my computer all the way . It tell me to learn more and i click it but the google terms pop up please help me.

Click finder navigate to the ext hd and delete the sutff you dont want

How to configure Time Capsule to add another 2GB of storage via USB External Hard Drive?

Hi All, I've recently added an external 2GB hard drive via USB to my 1GB Time Capsule as I had reached capacity. Time Capsule recognises the new 2GB hard drive so I know I have got that at least that bit right! But... I cant seem to figure out how to configure TC to add the extra 2GB to the current 1GB it already has for a total of 3GB? Under 'Select Disk' I can select either one or the other but I can't find a way to 'merge' them both. So a couple of questions:
- Is this even possible?
- If I have to keep them seperate, is there way to select different folders to back up to the different drives? E.g. back up all my music files to one of disk and all my movie files to another? I tried it but is seems like the options apply to time capsule regardless of the drive I select.
Any assistance you can provide would be most appreciated.
Regards, Justin

- Is this even possible?
Sorry, but no. You will not be able to combine the drives as one as the Time Capsule does not offer any type of RAID function.
- If I have to keep them seperate, is there way to select different folders to back up to the different drives? E.g. back up all my music files to one of disk and all my movie files to another? I tried it but is seems like the options apply to time capsule regardless of the drive I select.
Not directly with Time Machine (TM). You would need another backup solution, and then, run two separate backups (with the specific folders of interest); one on each HDD.

I receive songs or photos from friends on email, and when I download them, they stay in my Downloads file. How can I move these to my hard drive for long-term storages and organization?

How can I transfer song or photo files from Downloads on Firefox to my own hard drive for permanent storage?

If the hard drive that crashed is the one that stored the itunes library, be sure to restore the library from Time Machine (mac) or whatever backup you use on windows. That will get back your music. I suspect that the replacement drive has an empty itunes library and thus, perhaps, the itunes match used that to sync to its servers.
Try posting in the iTunes Match forum, you'll probably find more knowledgeable folks there.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/itunes/itunes_match

When I use my phone my cheek bone makes the phone go on mute or cuts me off, the touch screen stays active whilst I am talking, shouldn't it not work?

Before I updated to IOS7 the touchscreen of my phone would become inactive whilst I was talking on the telephone. Now for some reason if I am talking on the phone my face can set the phone to mute or speaker. It is really annoying as this never used to happen. Surely the touch screen should become inactive whilst you are speaking??

There have been some reports of cases and screen protectors interfering with the proximity sensor that is supposed to inactivate the screen while you are holding it near your face. Try removing both if you have them and you also may want to try cleaning the screen to see if that helps.

Just bought 1T ext hard drive for back up, addl storage, boot backup?

I am a NOVICE. Just purchased 1T ext hard drive for backups and additional storage for music, docs, photos, etc. Should I partition, and also include boot? Does this mean 3 equal partitions? Or how much should be dedicated to boot drive? In case you couldn't tell, I am talking over my head.

Thank you for responding. I didn't even know I was Snow Leopard. I should have the disks somewhere, though I'm not sure where the "safe" place is that I put them. The ioSafe instructions suggested Time Machine, though I've heard it can have issues. The external hard drive instructions also suggested using 1 partion and Apple Partition Map, but I see comments suggesting that GUID is better for intel macs which I believe this is as the info says:
Processor Name: Intel Core i3
The "about this mac" info says memory 4 GB. When I select "get info" on the HD it says Capacity: 499.76 GB. So I'm not sure. I have a lot of music CD's I want to install my itunes library currently contains 3.32 GB and that is nowhere close to all the music I want to add. I also need to save MANY text docs, large PDFs and high resolution photos. And would like to start exploring creative Adobe Software, and don't know how big those files end up being.

How do I use my second hard drive for storage, not back up?

Hi, I bought a second hard drive to store files (not back-up for my system), but when I moved some files over to drive two and then deleted the same files from drive one, they also deleted from the 2nd drive! Fortunately I could reverse the process and there was no loss, but what now? How do I disconnect the two so I can use the second as storage?
Thanks and happy Easter for those of you who celebrate it. Kate (Porter)

Whilst I normally drag files around, a copy and paste still should have created a replica on the destination drive.
That the second is mounted internally makes my describing it as an external drive inaccurate, but wouldn't cause the problem.
So that still leaves the scant possibility that the original source is itself an alias.
Was the copy and paste done in a Finder window or was it done via some other application's window?
I look forward to an update on this unusual event.

Remote Storage Solution - PC as network drive?

Has anyone out there tried a remote storage solution for consolidating very large libraries?
I am currently having difficulties as I have over 2TB of iTunes content now, stored in multiple libraries (using iTunes Library Manager) across several remote hard drives (USB). My problem is that if I don't access one of the libraries for a while, often the software updates break links to the files, and I have various other problems organizing the disparate libraries (especially when I outgrow a USB hard drive).
I'm still expanding my storage needs rapidly as I encode more home video and import old records. I'm not entirely sold on the idea of an ever-increasing number of remote libraries and dozens of USB drives humming away. Any suggestions on a good high-capacity (and hopefully expandable) solution to consolidate my whole iTunes library in one place?
I have contemplated building a network PC and putting a bunch of 500GB/1TB drives in it, but would my iMac/iTunes still see those each as separate drives? Is there any solution out there to give me >3TB of space (affordably - eg, without having to buy a high-end multi-TB HDD) whilst still allowing me to "keep iTunes library organized"?

Never answered

How to use an external hard drive for your music storage

How do I use my external hard drive as my storage for music? I have already saved my music on my external and I have my iTunes program on the computer just wondering what is the next step is? Also I want to make sure I do not use my computer's hard drive for any sizable storage.

sorry to butt in, but this appears to be the best thread to pose my question/problem.
i have successfully migrated my iTunes Library to my external hard drive. the last part of the instructions tell me to delete the iTunes music folder from my hard drive to free up space.
however, i've not done this because i would like to keep a reduced number of music files on my MacBook so that i can listen to music when i'm away from my external hard drive.
i've managed to delete the files i don't want stored on my hard drive, and when i open iTunes without the external hard drive, it defaults to the original location. i'm sure this is not good practise, because whilst i can now play music, the information in iTunes is not right.
what is the best way of storing and playing some of my iTunes library on my hard drive, whilst using the external drive as a 'master'? can it be done?
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2GB RAM, 120GB HD, 2GHZ

HT201250 Do I need to partition my external hard drive if I'm using Time Machine and other storage?

I never used Time Machine before. I was storing select files on my external hard drive as well as using my libraries (IPhoto, ITune, IMovies) directly off of the external hard drive. That hard drive is giving me problems, so I bought a new one. I want to set up Time Machine on this one, but I also want to keep my active libraries on it. Do I need to partition the external hard drive?

You can partition the new drive, just don't make one of the partitons a TimeMachine drive, save a TM for a entire drive with more space than the boot drive as it saves "states" thus requires more room than most people expect.
I highly advise one drive to one drive for backups, and not placing too many backup eggs in one vulnerable hardware basket basically.
Drives are cheap, data is not. Hardware can fail just as often as software, so you need a multiple backup and storage stragedy to protect even against theft and fire.
Most commonly used backup methods

Whilst we're talking storage .... life of a hard drive?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for