Re: [OT] How long is an unused HD 'new'?
On Mon, 2014-05-12 at 18:53 +0200, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> On Mon, 2014-05-12 at 12:30 -0400, Steve Litt wrote:
> > On Mon, 12 May 2014 15:10:56 +0000 (UTC)
> > Curt <curty@free.fr> wrote:
> >
> > > On 2014-05-12, Ralf Mardorf <ralf.mardorf@alice-dsl.net> wrote:
> > > > On Mon, 12 May 2014 01:43:16 +0200, Hugo Vanwoerkom
> > > > <hvw59601@care2.com> wrote:
> > > >> I have a 500GB Western Digital hard drive that I bought in 2012
> > > >> but it has never been unpacked and has been sitting on the shelf
> > > >> all this time. How long can it be considered 'new'? Is it safe to
> > > >> use?
> > > >
> > > > 2 Years in the original packaging on a shelf, in averaged normal
> > > > conditions = as new and reliable, as a brand spanking new HDD
> > > > A brand spanking new HDD could fail like an used, very old HDD.
> > >
> > > Maybe he's got one of the "greens" that gets old fast (once very 8
> > > seconds) if steps aren't taken.
> >
> > I have a WD green disk (3GB, IIRC) in my backup server. Could you please
> > elaborate on the steps, and in what ways it gets old quickly?
> >
> > This is actually pretty important because all my backup data is stored
> > there.
>
> I can't turn it off (USB controller + case that can't be opened), so
> every 30 minutes when the drive want's to sleep, the drive gets touches
> by gvfs and similar software and get a wake up call, so its spinning
> down and up every 30 minutes. I installed a dummy package for gvfs, but
> sometimes, e.g. after using K3b, something else behaves as gvfs would
> do.
>
> Some drives spin down and up every 8 seconds, but assumed you have
> "direct" access e.g. by SATA, instead of an USB controller to SATA, you
> likely can change the settings.
>
> There is proprietary software to change the settings and Linux software
> that can do it. I didn't find it, but it is (at least was) mentioned by
> an Arch Wiki.
If I've got more time, perhaps next week, I can search again. I can't
help you right now.
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