How long will a hard drive last?
439176
With everyday use, on average, they last 3-5 years.  BTW, it doesn't matter how much you write to a hard drive, it's never the write head that wears out.  It's almost always the bearings (in the motor) that wears out.
731536
there is no set answer to this it depends on how often you use your PC, how many new programmes you install / install, how much stuff you download / delete etc..... If you are a heavy user once a week is fine. Average user once a month. In the old days defraging your PC was not good for your drive as it makes it work very hard and would shorten the drives life, technology is much better now but a drive still gets an extreme work out when you defrag....this must shorten its life a little
884917
Hmm, i think it's a dead end. Buy a new hard drive and do not buy Dell PCs next time, they are ready to blow up. Or try booting up in a few days, there may still be miracles. If so, quickly backup all data .
15666
I'm not exactly sure what you're asking.  If you are asking if your hard drive is healthy or at risk, which is what I assume then read on.\n\nModern hard drives generally include something called SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) which will tell you if your drive is going to fail, with the appropriate software, though Windows has a rudimentary tool.  If you want to see if your drive is healthy then right click on My Computer and select Manage from there click on Disk Management.\n\nThat's the Windows way.  There is also another tool you can try.  Belarc Advisor Free will tell you about your drives SMART status every time you run it.\n\nHowever, if your computer is booting slow AND the hard drive is making clicking, grinding sounds then it is about to fail and you should back up all your important data as soon as you can.
49730
Several years, depending on what sort of things you do with it. Theoretically, for just word processing and browsing the Internet, a computer will last as long as it physically holds together, which will probably be three to four years. My parents, for example, just replaced their computer after 6 years, simply because they wanted something with Windows XP instead of Windows 98.\n\nIf you're more interested in high tech gaming (online games, or regular games like Doom 3 or Half-Life 2), you'll probably at least upgrade your RAM or graphics card every year to 18 months.
66831
i couldnt find a list so i leave you some links\n\n1st a collection of computer ads that might bring some light to this matter\n\nthere are some prices on the next link\n\non the last link you'll find comparison of Hard drive space
806737
You should have more than one back up for your important files.  Since harddrives have magnetic disks with mechanical parts in them, they will eventually breakdown.  However, they are a good inexpensive way to backup your files.  I would also suggest using DVDs as a back up for really important files since they will last a lot longer than HDDs.  As for labeling, HP and other companies sell CD labelers to make the job neater...
21376
Here are some thoughts:\n\n1. Hard drives have a MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) bascially this means that they will fail within a certain time or at least produce bad sectors making some of your data unrecoverable(ish). One way to try to protect data on your PC is to have a RAIDED system that means 2 or more identical drives and hardware or software replicates the software across each drive so if one drive goes down you still have your data. This does not help if the PC goes on fire or gets water damaged, you should always have a seperate backup procedure.\n\n2. DVD's are a good way of backing up your data and I would say are a more reliable way of backing up rather than Hard disks but they are limited to 4.7GB (single sided). What I do is burn a backup every week or whenever I do a big change of data but this is dependant on the old saying "What happens if your Hard Disk died in 5 minutes would you miss any data on it" if yes do a daily Backup. 99% of IT companies only backup there data every day so backing up every few hours is a bit extreme but again if it is critical do a backup. Buy quality DVD's!\n\n3. USB memory sticks are pretty tough bits of kit and you can give them quite a bit of grief before they fail, USB sticks use memory chips rather than magnetic media like hard disks and tend to be a little bit more robust. They can get corrupted just like any other device.\n\n4. Zip disks are a bit old hat and have the same problem as floppy disks avoid avoid avoid! Trust me I have used them and relied too much on them and lost data cos of it.\n\n5. Tape backups (DDS3/4/DAT72) have a good capacity and alot of IT companies use this type of backup but again they are suseptable to corruption similar to floppy disks if kept for any length of time as they are magnetic media, expensive to maintain.\n\n6. SD/MMC cards are similar technology to USB memory sticks as they store the data on a chip(s) but do not normally have the capacity to store alot of data (1GB?) and are very easily lost/broken as they are so small.\n\n7. Online backups are an option but most are insecure and do you want people to have access to your data/photos etc. hmmmm\n\nI suppose there is no 100% safe way of backing up your data (and keeping it safe) but I have found DVD's to be pretty good (using quality DVD's with dark ink), I use DVD-RW as my data changes alot and there is no point in me keeping the old stuff but buy high quality DVD's as cheap and nasty DVD's tend to develop problems later in life.\nI have seen alot of testing done on USB sticks and they have been found to be very tough to break.\n\nIf you are serious about the data you can buy a small fire proof safe as well.\n\nJust my opinon and experience!
169519
The largest individual hard drives available right now are 500GB, but hard drives manufacturers continue developing new technology to increase capacity - 600GB drives should be available this year.
1072296
I don't think so. I have discs of backup data that I have stored for over 5 years, and they still work fine. Most likely, if your disc is 3-5 years old and isn't reading, it may be scratched, have a damaged read sector, or simply not be able to be read by your current drivers ... for example, older discs burned under Adaptec software (later renamed ROXIO) may not read properly if your computer doesn't have the UDFReader software.\n\nTo all intents and purposes, as long as the disc isn't damaged, it should have the same "shelf life" of any commercial disc
1015751
while that method is legit, I suggest just backing them up on CD's.\nMake two copies of each for back-up, back-up.\nA external Hard drive still has all the potential problems as an internal its just- well external. a CD, as long as its not submerged into water for long periods of time, and not near, heat, direct sunlight, can last a life time.
568609
Anything you could do with a 256 mb hard drive.  Store files, use it for backup, whatever.  Just plug it in and it will appear on "my computer" as a removeable disk.  Just be careful to not unplug it when it's reading or writing data.  Most of them will have a light that will flash when it's being accessed.
57007
A hard drive (or hard disc) is the primary storage device on a modern computer. The word 'hard' refers to the fact that the disc is physically ridget, and also that it is hidden inside the computer and cannot be casually touhed or taken out (like a floppy disc can be) Hard discs are almost always the largest storage mediums available on a particular computer system and are the discs where the operating system and most other programs are installed.
1067518
if you have made partitions correctly and formatting only c drive then data from c drive only will be destroyed.it won't affect other drive data.if you are formatting whole hard disk then only total hard disk will get formatted.
429485
Hard drives that are used heavily last for about 3 years. I'd categorize someone who reformats their hard drive often as a heavy user (unless you do a quick reformat, that's light use).\n\nIf I had to guess, I'd say that you can reformat your hard drive to your hearts content, and you'd probably still get 3 years life out of it.
311685
The answer is really nothing if the hard drive fails completely.  Best solution is to call the manufacture and order the CD's it may cost you $30 but it is well worth it.  You can also clone the drive over to another drive but this would require some computer knowledge on what to do.
333454
i will have to suggest a 120GB hd drive with a 7200rpm all hd drives take about the same power i know this since i upgrade laptop and do custom PCS for people it might be 2 watts more then hat u have but it is worth it in the long run to get an hd drive that runs 7200rpms i speak from experience trye looking at this like for a hd  drive they have good prices