Question: I’m using my laptop to copy a couple of harddrives to other harddrives. My laptop will probably be crunching through 20?TB of data…
I’m wondering if this will affect my CPU long term in any way. And what if I did 1?TB at a time, and let the computer idle a bit instead of constantly copying for a day non-stop?
I have an Intel Core?i7 10750H (averaging 4.2?GHz)
(I also wonder if long term effects depend on the CPU.)
FYI, all harddrives are HDD. Would the same answer be for SSD copying?
Summary:
Answer: Damage to CPU �C Minimal, if any
1a. CPUs are not heavily involved in file copies. The CPU’s job is to tell the other hardware to do the transfer, and the actual transfer of 1s and 0s is left to other chipsets/IOs to do.
1b. Even if a file transfer did use a lot of CPU, CPUs have incredibly good longevity and usually processors don’t fail or go bad. They do get replaced regularly due to being outdated, which speaks to the fact of its longevity �C a CPU will outlive its efficiency lifespan.
Damage to HDD �C Still minimal, but worth considering
Using an HDD wears an HDD. It has moving parts, so the more they’re used, the more potential for damage from wear �C but if you can’t use it, it’s useless anyway. The best practice for HDDs is to know that at some point, it will fail and to have backups. This is the only real protection you have against HDD failure: backups.
You can reduce the wear and tear on the HDD by ensuring that you run a single copy command at any given time (which is what I suspect is the typical method), so whether you do a drag & drop or run a command like robocopy, make sure you only do one of these actions and let it complete before starting another one.
Your specific questions
No, you will not affect your CPU in a negative way. In fact, you can open task manager during this and probably witness your CPU not go over 20% usage, depending on what else your computer is doing in the background.
No, all CPUs are built to be robust. A 3rd gen i7 vs an 8th gen i9, or a Ryzen7, what have you, is engineered to last and endure utilization far above what a file transfer will do to it.
No, this would not be a helpful method to reduce the damage that we’ve already stated is negligible. Even if your CPU isn’t properly cooled, this low utilization should not make it overheat �C and if it does, its performance will only be affected while it’s too hot. Its lifetime performance/longevity will not be affected by overheating.