In ten years, across several different machines, different companies, and different operating systems I've noticed a trend that external hard drives die long before their internal counterparts. Everyone I've spoken to who has used external hard drives for any period of time has shared the same experience.
At first I thought it was because they are moved a lot more than internal drives, but my laptop internal hard drives seem to last as long as my desktop ones, and I've had the same short lifespan when external drives are never moved.
Is this a known issue? Do external hard drives have substantially shorter lifespans than internal drives? If so, what can be done?
Answer
If you put an external harddrive next to the server/desktop and:
- Do not carry it around in your bag like it is a piece of rock.
- Do not toss it around like a piece of fruit.
- Do not expose it to cold wet outside weather followed by dry hot (room) temperatures
- Do not unplug it and pick it up while it still is spinning.
- And mount it in a proper case with a decent PSU and sufficient cooling,
- ...
then I see no reason why they should not last just as long as internal drives.
Ofc, there is a reason why people buy external drives. And they often do get exposed to one or more of the conditions I mentioned above.
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