Up to how many days will a hard disk last if it is turned on 24/7?

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Up to how many days will a hard disk last if it is turned on 24/7?

I was planning to host my own web server on my computer. But then I had this incident where I was downloading from the torrent network. And I turned my PC on for 4 days straight I think.... And then on the last day, it was at 90% of the whole downloading process when suddenly my computer hanged. When I restarted my PC... I cannot boot anymore. So I reformatted it and then it started out cleanly. But then... All of what I have downloaded(8.57GB!!!) was erased!!!! So, I was traughmatized of that incident so I asked this question. Now back to the question, up to how many days can the Hard Disk be turned on before shutting it off to make it rest?

2006-11-27 00:54:47 · 6 answers · asked by angkel07 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware

6 answers

How long is a piece of string? A hard drive can function indefinitely sans manufacturing defects or extreme heat. I have 2 primary hard drives and 2 external drives running on my machine 24/7, only rebooting when a necessary update is required and things are fine.

A hard drive is the only mechanical part of a computer and as such will at some point fail. BUT when that is can not be predicted. I would say 90% of the time it would work faultlessly until you are ready to change your machine

2006-11-27 01:00:03 · answer #1 · answered by the_big_v 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋

That probably has more to do with the file you were downloading than with the hard drive. Hard drives can go for a looong time without being shut down. I regularly leave my computer on for weeks and really I only reboot it, not shut it down for an extended period of time.

2006-11-27 09:06:15 · answer #2 · answered by Christina 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋

The problem you had was not with the hard drive it was with your operating system. I have had computers one for several months at a time without restarting and I have had several hard drives running for many years. (going on 7 years for one of them) Your operating system became unstable. If you completely filled up your hard drive windows will not boot. Im not sure if that is what happed or not.

2006-11-27 09:05:55 · answer #3 · answered by crazyman699 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋

Years and years.

2006-11-27 08:58:58 · answer #4 · answered by Random Precision 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋

I have several computers sitting here on the desk that have been running for several years without rebooting.

If you run regular maintenance (defrag and scandisk) you shouldn't ever have to let the hard drive 'rest'.

2006-11-27 08:57:43 · answer #5 · answered by Stuart 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋

as long as the drive is shut down for regular necessary maintenance (eg cache clearing and defrag etc.)

then it should be able to run quite comfortbly for a year or 2

2006-11-27 08:56:41 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋