NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Idle disk drive losing will to live?
I have recently seen posts about disk drives failing at first use.
This kind of worries me as I bought 7 identical drives, 6 to go in my RN516 and 1 spare.
Assuming I have good luck and my first failures is, say 5 years down the line, is it
likely that my 'idle' disk drive will start when requested?
The drive is sitting beside the ReadyNAS in it's polystyrene 'wrap', and the temperature
there is fairly constant, as it is a converted garage with no outside windows or heating.
Please no discussions about my 6 drives likely to fail around the same time owing to
being installed and all the same 'age'. I am aware of those considerations.
I would just like an idea of how likely the 'Idle' disk is to want to live after years of
inactivity. Do the disks 'degrade' with inactivity, in which case, is it recommend
that they be used occasionally elsewhere. I don't fancy swapping them in/out on
the ReadyNAS, just to increase reliability of the otherwise 1 cold spare.
This kind of worries me as I bought 7 identical drives, 6 to go in my RN516 and 1 spare.
Assuming I have good luck and my first failures is, say 5 years down the line, is it
likely that my 'idle' disk drive will start when requested?
The drive is sitting beside the ReadyNAS in it's polystyrene 'wrap', and the temperature
there is fairly constant, as it is a converted garage with no outside windows or heating.
Please no discussions about my 6 drives likely to fail around the same time owing to
being installed and all the same 'age'. I am aware of those considerations.
I would just like an idea of how likely the 'Idle' disk is to want to live after years of
inactivity. Do the disks 'degrade' with inactivity, in which case, is it recommend
that they be used occasionally elsewhere. I don't fancy swapping them in/out on
the ReadyNAS, just to increase reliability of the otherwise 1 cold spare.
1 Reply
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- This post has reports from several folks who have taken disks off the shelf with no issues after several years: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/28546 ... ong-period
The main risk I see is that if the spare does fail "early" it will likely be out of warranty.
FWIW, I keep a spare handy myself. I ran full diags on any spare (including the destructive write test) before I boxed it. I guess I could run an extended diag on it in a PC once every 3-6 months or so, but I don't.
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
