i've been reading some of the older threads here about USB HDD longevity, and looks like most HDDs in regular use on average only have about 2-3 years, whereas older ones purchased prior to 2002 have lasted for 5-7 years despite also being in regular use back then. so my question is, if modern made ones don't last as long as they used to anymore, would not using them at all unless absolutely necessary prolong the life expectancy of the drives? from what i've read lost of people use them very often to backup their data, so what if people used them less often? (EG: get 4 spare drives just to hold the really important data) if the drives are only ever taken out for a quick backup of all the accumulated data ONCE PER year, or not taken out at all for years and years , wouldn't they last much longer than used? and would be available when you really needed it compared to having it fail on you all of the sudden when you needed it the most?
i was thinking of getting a second brand new usb HDD drive, put my photos in there, then put away the drive in storage. maybe 10 years later the drive would still be accessible? i have an old 20gb drive i bought 9 years ago at futureshop and it still works, i never used the old drive much back then because i simply do not have that amount of data consistently requiring to do a backup, and when i got a pc with a dvd burner, i simply forgot about the drive all together. i have an old playstation 1 console that i never played much and the disc drive and power and everything still works like new on it though if i had played as often as everyone else does it would have broke by now.
so what do you guys think? would less use = longer lifespan for when you really needed it?
