Keeping a healthy hard drive

B

B~B

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Seeing as how a co-worker's hard drive died today, are there any tips or suggestions on how to keep a healthy hard drive?

So far I defrag about twice a month, but is there more I could be doing? I'm using a lap top so I'm only working with one drive.

Would minimizing the size of folders help? I have a folder that contains my media files and it's about 4 gigs in size, but should I be concerned about the folder size? Are there other utilities that I could/should be running?
 
Defragging the drive doesn't stop it from dying (if that word is appropriate).

The main thing to do to keep the drive in a healthy state is to run scandisk and anti-virus software to correct errors and to prevent data becoming corrupted.
Defrag helps with the efficiency of the data laid out on the disk.
 
Don't throw your computer across the room. Physical damage cannot be fixed :p
 
actually, if you are using the nt file system, dissable daily defrags, which I see you allready have done, so this is information for others reading this thread

they don't help your performance, and a defrag is about as use intensive as you can get to the hardrive.

schedule once or twice a month at the most.

believe it or not, I don't know anyone that has had their hardrive fail that does monthly instead of weekly defrags

but I'm sure there are those of you, but it's just a point i'm makeing
 
As mentioned earlier... use scandisk and do a full checkup to correct any errors on the disk itself.
 
i recommend u to check the hdd temp and if it is very hot would recommend u putting a fan there ;)
this can long lasting the hdd life...
 
yea, put at least 1 fan, ive got 2, and have it blow air across the hard drive(s). this will cool them. The downside to this is that you are blowing not only air, but dust and other stuff into your case. you can remedy this with a piece of filter paper, but then you are lessening the amount of air coming in. plus, you gotta buy and clean the paper everynow and then.

Or, you could buy a hard drive cooler, which is kinda like a case the hard drive sits in. and its got fans and other stuff to cool it. the only downside to this is that it takes up space in your case.


Oh wait, you are using a laptop. Never mind.
 
Originally posted by B~B
...I'm using a lap top so I'm only working with one drive.

Gents, the guy is using a laptop. No such thing as a fan for a laptop. :rolleyes:

My suggestion? Don't use the laptop in the sun when its hot, try to keep it cool. Don't drop it.. and just be careful with the laptop in general.


-lieb39
 
you can get those base plates with 3 fans in the cool the underside of the laptop. in any case a laptop hard drive has less life than a desktop pc.

laptops are always being moved.
laptops have virtually no cooling airflow moving over any of the parts except for the cpu cooler.
and the fatal flaw. they make em tiny to fit into a laptop. so easy to damage.

best bet. back up and make sure its well insured :)
 
The idea is to minimize the mechanical work of the drive. Apart from the other tips above, you should also try not to fill the drive up too much. If you have less than 15% free space the drive will start working alot more when it's used (the effect is very noticable om my 120 GB drive, dropping below 10 GB free is hell).
 
All HD's die eventually.

Back up your data!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Burn CD's, backup to another computer over an ethernet link or USB port, BUT BACK IT UP. It will die eventually.

Aside from dead HD's - lost, stolen, dropped, run over by a car (yes I know someone who did), etc. If you are concerned about security encrypt the files you back up.
 
Don't reboot your PC or Shut down and turn on more than necessary. This shortens HD life. And so does defrag.
 
I think there is a random luck component with hard drive life as well.

I still have some ancient 500meg hardrives and even a 100meg hard drive, both still work although they aren't used any more.

The only hard drive I have ever had fail on me was an older 1.2gig Quantum drive, but it failed after years and years of heavy use. I definately got my money's worth out of that old drive.

When it died I took it a part and hung it on my wall :)
 
HDDs are always failing on me. Record was 3 Seagates in 6 months! Latsr victim was Wester Digital 7200 8MB cache - I was really happy with that HDD too. I've had almost every brand fail on me :D
 
Originally posted by ming
As mentioned earlier... use scandisk and do a full checkup to correct any errors on the disk itself.
XP does not have Scandisk, that's yesterdays news.
 
Open my computer, highlight your drive,open file, go to propeties/tools,open checknow in error checking, check the two boxes and begin. You wil get a prompt to restart that a check disc has been scheduled.
 
Originally posted by Gus K
XP does not have Scandisk, that's yesterdays news.
your so wrong, open the command prompt and type chkdsk /?

you will be most susprised when scandisk pops up in the dos window and scans the hard drive for faults / bad sectors ;)


Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Gonzo>chkdsk /?
Checks a disk and displays a status report.


CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/I] [/C] [/L[:size]]


volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
filename FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for fragmentation
.
/F Fixes errors on the disk.
/V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every file
on the disk.
On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any.
/R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information
(implies /F).
/L:size NTFS only: Changes the log file size to the specified number
of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays current
size.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid
(implies /F).
/I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index entries.
/C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder
structure.

The /I or /C switch reduces the amount of time required to run Chkdsk by
skipping certain checks of the volume.

C:\Documents and Settings\Gonzo>
 
Gonzo

You're right, I was most surprised, that it popped up and that it ran so damn fast!
 

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