Question: How can one know when an HDD is about to fail ?
I do the following to see if the drive is failing:
(1) Run this as an Admin: wmic diskdrive get model,status
(2) Run CrystalDiskInfo: health status should read Good.
(3) Run HDDSCAN/SMART: the indicators in the left most column should all be green on the HDDScan S.M.A.R.T. Report page.
I also run the following Seatools scans:
(1) Short Drive Self Test
(2) Short Generic Test
Are these test enough to ensure your HDD is not failing yet ?
I have an 8TB Seagate Barracuda HDD, for how many years will the drive live ? I use it very very lightly…..
Does it make sense to spend more money on better HDDs ? Do more expensive drives last longer ? For instance, compare Barracuda vs Exos …. which one would last longer ?
Answer:
I bought this drive a while back, I paid 225 CDN for it…
Now I am wondering if I should have bought an 8TB Exos+enclosure with a total cost of 300 CDN…
is the extra 75 bucks worth it ?
Not necessarily.
What counts is having your data on more than 1 device.
Generally, 3-2-1
3 copies, on at least 2 different media, at least 1 offsite or otherwise untouchable.