Reformating several times = wear out harddrive?

[jas0nt]

hey,

i'm wondering if reformatting your computer (several times) may result in some permanent damages to your harddrive? several times... as in perhaps 4 - 5 times?

don't ask why, i'm going to teach my nephew how to install Windows 2000, and it will take a while for him to grasp on ;) . i would hate to see a new harddrive being worn out by this.

stupid question, but i want to feel reassured.

thanks

[ConLog]

In my opinion it will not make a bit of difference.

Your hard drive is stressed much more seeking, reading and writing which it does all it's life.

[bailey]

there is nothing to ware out, remember nothing tuches the platter, so there cannot be any ware.

[Wrnchhead76]

Well, i wouldn't say that's theres NOTHING to wear out, there's a couple spindle bearings, and a bearing for the actuator arm, and the electric motor that propels the platters, but with the technology in those sealed bearings and that motor, it could defrag for years with no trouble. Not to argue with you Bailey, i just wanted to mention that.

[bailey]

all the parts you mentioned have nothing to do with how many times you defrag.they are all being used all the time with normal operation. so ther is nothing to weare from being defragged often

[not important]

Originally posted by jas0nt
hey,
stupid question, but i want to feel reassured.

Not a "stupid" question. I've wondered the same thing myself. I would agree with Bailey.

[KHT]

I also agree. Formatting a drive basically deletes the data. Unless you use an erasing utility or zero fill the drive, the only thing removed is the bit of information that points to the files\folders that have been deleted making them appear to be removed from the drive. They are still there but the read\write heads are unable to see them.

I have some spare drives I`ve reformatted countless times for one reason or another from using them for data recovery to experimenting with OS installs and such and they are working fine.

[mystvearn]

Reformatting is ok. HD start wearing off when it reaches the 20 000 hour usage. Meaning after 20 000hrs of spindle spinning. Unless you have a HD which is 20000hrs old :D

[w33tq]

my comp has been running 3 years non stop.... besides some power outages..... That's like 26000 hours of running time, and my computer is still pretty solid.... But of couse, i coudln't have been using the HD every second of that time, so maybe it'll fail sometime soon :-)

[coldplay055]

It all depends on the computer itself in this i mean the type of hard drive but i used to have and old hp and i did that and then would erase and all but then turn off the pc and sometimes reformat but after awhile it would say that part of the disk was damaged and could not b written to

[glc]

Please press the submit button only ONCE.

Multiple posts deleted.

[KMARTshopper]

Allright guys sorry, but I must intrject



Technically YES....

Anything that spins up your DD for extended periods of time, (I.E. Defragging every day) = extra wear and tear on the HDD///

From experience in a network environment \, Ihavepersonally trashed 2 drives that died before their time (WD and Max..)

Seagate seems to hold up,,SCSI barracudas....

Also...you HDD shoud be in a near cool environment,,,, ex. not jammed up against other HDDs, etc etc...

Unless weare in space,,,, movement equals friction of some kind///



KMARt

[bailey]

unless you tell it to shut down, the hard drive is spinning all the time power is applied, its only when you have it shut down and start up again all the time , it may be hard on it,

it will run better if you turn it on and never turn it off, tempture will be more constant and any tourq will be steady
so no ware to speak of.

[Kev']

Hi I'd like to make a simple comment. Hard drives use airodynamics i.e the speed of the spinning disk to keep the head/s floating above the platters. The only physical wear inherent in a drive is in the bearings, OR, starting up shutting down. Drives often fail starting up, because of load. Drives also fail when running because of inadequate cooling. I have drives that are still running, that are well over 10 years old, and one that has run 24/7 that is at least 8, and that drive isn't a very good one at that. I prefer to keep things running 24/7 and well cooled, but hey I run Seti when they are idle, so I have an alternative use for my machines.

[KMARTshopper]

Well my usage is a bank of movies (non XXX thank you) which i have spread out over 6 hdds and a 7th running the OS... I feel relief when I can use the hot swaps to manually turn off the HDDs for sessions where i actually have to do work on the pc....

I had a fujitsu running 24/7 for 3 years recording closed circut camera video, and now, ive tried anything to keep it working past 20 minutes and to no avail....

was prob made on a friday, like the other on es :)

KMARt

[RayH]

It takes a lot of wear out a hard drive. My experience has been by the time they wear out, it's time for a new computer.

[KMARTshopper]

for you or the average consumer, i would guess that the Hdd might llast for a good while.....

My friend has some old compaqs with the original quantum bigfoots inside... Im not doubting the longevity of a hDD..under normal usage...

If you are one to constantly re-format or de-frag your HDD on a tight schedule, wear and tear willl double....

By the way,,, what is that ticking noise you hear before the HDD stops working..

lol i get it with 3 old hdds ihave been bench testing for posible instll on a PC im building....


KMARt