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Excessive Downloading Bad for Harddrive?

P

Peter Griffin

macrumors regular
Original poster
I was wondering if it was detrimental to the hard drive to download files for large periods of time. I hear the HD making all sorts clicky noises when I do. Thanks in advance
 
A hard drive is mechanical, there for the more wear it gets the more likely it is to fail. So yes, downloading 24/7 will take it's toll eventually, but the same goes for anything else you might do that would put load (read/write) on to the drive, say video encoding etc.

If your drive is already making strange noises, start making regular backups now. It's probably on it's way out....but that could be next week, or next year.
 
There ...

Peter Griffin said:
I was wondering if it was detrimental to the hard drive to download files for large periods of time. I hear the HD making all sorts clicky noises when I do. Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

... is a saying that masturbating causes brain cancer. Same goes for your harddrive while doing excessive downloading, ;-)
 
giffut said:
... is a saying that masturbating causes brain cancer. Same goes for your harddrive while doing excessive downloading, ;-)
Click to expand...
I wish I could speak hard drive. Then I could say things like: "Click, Click, Bloody Click, Pancakes!!"


You really should put your computer to sleep once and a while. And make sure you set your preferences to put the hard disks to sleep when possible.
 
grapes911 said:
I wish I could speak hard drive. Then I could say things like: "Click, Click, Bloody Click, Pancakes!!"


You really should put your computer to sleep once and a while. And make sure you set your preferences to put the hard disks to sleep when possible.
Click to expand...
Haha.. love the Family Guy reference.

As for the HD I would just recommend putting it to sleep when you're not using it as others have said.
 
edesignuk said:
A hard drive is mechanical, there for the more wear it gets the more likely it is to fail. So yes, downloading 24/7 will take it's toll eventually, but the same goes for anything else you might do that would put load (read/write) on to the drive, say video encoding etc.

If your drive is already making strange noises, start making regular backups now. It's probably on it's way out....but that could be next week, or next year.
Click to expand...



i second that. like everything mechanical there are moving parts and those parts wear out after time. unfortunately you can not predict when. i've had hard disks that lived for many years but others failed after three or four months of use. and i stress again if your hard disk makes already strange noises make backups on a regular basis.
 
Advice from Western Digital's Knowledgebase

I found this a few days ago when I was researching hard drives. It answered a few concerns I had about leaving my computer on 24/7 and whether to set the 'Put Hard Drives to Sleep' option in the Energy preferences pane

Western Digital recommends that external hard drives be powered off when not in use, although it is safe to leave a hard drive running continuously. The hard drive should be placed away from any electronic devices and in a well ventilated area to allow airflow to the hard drive. Western Digital also recommends that the drive's power supply is connected through a surge protector. In the case of a power surge, or brown/black out, the hard drive's sensitive electrical components will not be damaged.

The initial power-on process is generally harder on the internal components of a hard drive than spinning for extended periods. However, Western Digital drives are designed to handle either scenario. Most users outgrow their drive before repeated turning on and off becomes a problem. Turning on the drive a few times per day is considered normal usage and should not pose any problems. If a drive is turned on and off excessively on a daily basis, this could affect the longevity of the hard drive’s components.
Click to expand...

Therefore, I could either leave my drive on 24/7 with no real worries, or I could switch my PC off at night and on again in the morning, again with no real worries. I would be concerned about selecting the 'Put Hard Drives to sleep whenever possible' option in Preferences as that would result in the drive being turned off and on frequently throughout the day, and that adds up over the years.
 
NATO said:
I found this a few days ago when I was researching hard drives. It answered a few concerns I had about leaving my computer on 24/7 and whether to set the 'Put Hard Drives to Sleep' option in the Energy preferences pane



Therefore, I could either leave my drive on 24/7 with no real worries, or I could switch my PC off at night and on again in the morning, again with no real worries. I would be concerned about selecting the 'Put Hard Drives to sleep whenever possible' option in Preferences as that would result in the drive being turned off and on frequently throughout the day, and that adds up over the years.
Click to expand...

Interesting...good find NATO. And all this time I thought that was seems to be the popular consensus of 'put hd to sleep when possible' option was the best.

Can anyone give an estimate as to the average lifespan of todays Apple HDs given 6-7 hrs of usage per day?
 
It just depends on the HD. An actual click and then a noise as if it's shutting down is BAD. However, some people have been able to put the HD in a freezer for a long period of time, long enough to get the heads bent back into position and then get data off. The shut down noise basically means the drive's electrical componants are fried. Might try getting the actual HD onto another baord and trying it again...
 
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