I use internal drives as external ones because they can be easily accessed for storing files. Do not know if the fact that they have a short lifespan of say 3 to 7 years (estimated) is normal. Am hooked on the Seagate brand and considering their IronWolf HDD.
Any comments are appreciated, Mindblower!
"For the needy, not the greedy"
Hi MB!
Replacing external drives with internal ones can have a downside. They are susceptible to malware attacks and damage from things like lightning strikes.
The only time I keep an external drive connected is when it is being used for backups. If it isn't connected, it can't be hurt.
I run those backups once a week; the rest of the time that external drive, and the backups it contains, is not connected and is perfectly safe from outside influence.
If you are getting 7 years out of a Seagate, you are doing well.
Richard
Seems I did not make myself clear. The internal HDD's I currently use externally were replaced by SSD's. There are 2 Gig in size and I have a double redundancy just in case the data on one fails/gets corrupted. Am considering purchasing a larger storage internal HDD (Seagate IronWolf) in the near future. Do you have any comments on this unit Mindblower!
"For the needy, not the greedy"
Hi MB!
I'm not sure I understand how internal drives can be used externally unless you bought cases for them.
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I'm sure you meant something larger than 2GB.
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No amount of redundancy inside a computer tower is going to save you from Acts of God. You must have an external medium and yet another off-premises.
The 3-2-1 Backup Rule states that there should be at least three copies of the data, stored on two different types of storage media, and one copy should be kept offsite.
Doing so will make your data bulletproof.
Our titular boss says, "One can never have too many backups." 
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I can't speak for the IronWolf but Seagate has been around for a long time. One nice thing about Seagates is that they are quiet. You should be able to find a 5TB drive at a good price.
HTH,
Richard
Thanks for replying Richard. I connect internal drives (SSD and HDD) externally using cables, not enclosures, since I replaced 2 internal HDD's, they have enclosures. All are powered by an adapter and powered USB hub connecting them to the computer. So yes they are on almost 24/7. I also have an offline drive which I copy newly saved data once a month (or so) just for added safety.
My reasoning might be flawed by not placing the internal drives into cases, but having them exposed means they can remain cooler (no?).
All computers are UPS surge protected as are the above connections. I use the "PowerChute" program which monitors the electrical power and logs all encountered problems which I view weekly.
Am considering a 8 Gig drive and it would also be used to store data offline. Hopefully this would extend the drives lifespan.
When it comes to backups, I also think (outside the box IMHO). Prefer to have the operating system drives cloned several times a year. It is no bother for me to replace the cloned drives (gives me time to clean inside the towers).
Hopefully I am ready for the unexpected, Mindblower! (fingers crossed)
Recently edited.
"For the needy, not the greedy"
Hi MB!
Cooler drives are not the problem as I see it.
A UPS and/or a surge protector will not protect you from something significant like a lightning strike. I have lost two computers over the years from lightning strikes coming in through a phone line. Nothing will stop a lightning strike.
Having your backup drives plugged in 24/7 is unwise and not only for security reasons. They are as vulnerable as the rest of your system to unexpected catastrophes.
You say you have an external drive devoted to monthly backups. That's good if once a month is enough for you. Would you not mind losing a month's worth of data?
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8 GB?! You must not have much to back up. A thumb drive could easily handle that.
You would need much more than that merely for the OS and programs, not to mention data.
A 256GB thumb drive would be a better choice than how you are handling it now. You could unplug it between backups and be covered for when the unthinkable happens.
In case you are interested, here is what I do:
- I have an automated backup run every day. These go to an internal drive for convenience
- Every Friday evening, I copy all those backups to an external drive. That drive is only connected while those copies are being made
- Once a month, I make another backup that is sent to a 256GB thumb drive that is only connected during those backup sessions. Granted, it is not off-site, but it is where I can quickly grab it while running out of a burning building. If I don't make it out of the building, then the backup won't matter to me anymore
The worst case scenario, if I were to lose everything on my computer, would be that I would be able to recover everything that is within a week old. I could be up and running in about 20 minutes.
Just my opinion, and also the voice of experience. I learned early on about the importance of backups.
They are your only protection against data loss, no matter the cause,
Richard
Silly me Richard. 8 TG not 8 GB drive. I use a 500 GB external that I backup daily and it then transfers to the offline drive monthly. Since it is connected via USB, I will only connect when transferring then unplug.
Appreciate your concern about lighting strikes. My phone is via Internet, so am I still risk? I have only heard of one lighting strike (in Quebec) which destroyed a washer and dryer. There is an electrical company which received much business as people had whole-home surge protection installed. (Not sure if it was caused by lighting or some type of surge.)
Richard you have given me much to think about. Truly sorry your knowledge came at such a cost. Will look into that whole-home surge protection. Thank you.
BTW, do you recommend defragmenting HDD's and how often, Mindblower!
"For the needy, not the greedy"
Hey MB,
I've been reading with interest.
Drive capacity abbreviations can be confusing, here is a brief rundown:
- 1 megabyte (MB) = 1024 kilobytes
- 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1024 megabytes
- 1 terabyte (TB) = 1024 gigabytes
I'm pretty sure the drive you're looking at buying would be 8 TB (terabytes)
LoL, I'm sure you didn't mean 8 TG, either 😉
Anyway, surge protectors aren't a complete waste of money but they are very limited. Plus, they have to be replaced every few years because they simply lose their ability to tamp down power surges over time.
To be clear, a power surge occurs when a hungry unit like a refrigerator or air conditioner starts up. That causes a power spike throughout that circuit. Those spikes can damage electronics over time. For this reason, it is a good idea to plug sensitive electronics into a surge protector. I don't see a need to protect your whole home against these spikes - that sounds like a rip-off to me.
I keep my computer and peripherals behind a surge protector and that's it.
When I lost those computers, that was back in the day when a landline would be plugged into a computer to connect to the internet. Your wi-fi phone will not be affected unless your router gets zapped. It will not be damaged but you will lose your internet connection unless you have a cell tower nearby.
The old rule about defragging hard drives says to do so when they reach about 10% fragmentation. That is a pretty low number. If you begin to notice a slowing down of HDD responsiveness and/or hear a lot of "head chatter", then you might want to check on it.
Never run a defragmenter on a Solid State Drive. It serves absolutely no purpose and can shorten the life of your drive.
HTH,
Richard
Richard. Today Quebec and Ontario are receiving of 120 mm of rain. Already experienced one brief flicker of the lights.
Was informed the surge protection in the UPS units will shut down the UPS when they cannot provide protection. So far no problems as I replace the UPS units (between 8 to 10 years) This allows me to replace the battery just once.
Seems the surge protection in UPS units can outlast power strips with surge protection. Since it is not recommended to use these types of power strips, I employ many power strips because each power adapters takes 2 to 3 slots.
I use one 12 slot power bar. Lucky for me I have the room as it requires 35".
My wife purchased a cell phone this year, just for emergencies. Having 3 power failures this year due to fallen trees, and loosing the Internet for 2 two to 3 days while only loosing power for a few hours as bad. My IP lost power to a sub station and only a small number of clients were affected. Hopefully this tree problem has been resolved.
Yes. I never defraged SSD's.
That 10% rule applies to a working HDD. I just use them to store data. Hope I am correct,
I make plenty of typos (due to re-edits) and the spell checker only flags words not in the database. Thanks for that chart, Mindblower!
"For the needy, not the greedy"
MB,
I'll say it one more time; only one thing will protect your system from a lightning strike. And that is to unplug everything.
Your UPS will protect you from power outages for long enough to properly shut down your computer. This will prevent data loss.
Power outages can be caused by many things... falling trees, torn power lines, damaged transformers, and the list goes on.
"Working HDD"? It wouldn't make sense to defrag a hard drive that is not working. 😉
You need to add "loose" and "lose" to your checker. Those words are not interchangeable.
HTH,
Richard
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