doubt hard disk storage

[cloudff7]

HDDs have mechanical parts, motor, lubricant I have many 2.5" and 5.25" HDDs stored, how many times a year is it necessary to energize all these drivers for all the mechanics to operate and avoid failures and locks of the mechanics, lubricant and motor?

HDDs 2.5 and 5.25 use flash memory to hold the firmware, how many years can this flash store the firmware files?

[hdsentinel]

There is no sure answer for this question - as it depends on lots of factors: disk model, family, how long it used, how "good" was the operating environment (power source, cables, connections, temperature) and so.

I try to collect some general thoughts about long term storage, as these may help or give some thoughts:

In general mechanical parts do not damage as quickly as you may expect (unless you may drop the hard disk drive or damage it of course). There are many 20+ years old hard disk drives spinning without problems, start up without problems and the data can be read back without problems. This is somehow expected as the magnetic storage can "hold" the stored information better.

Yes, their mechanical parts have limited lifetime: the start/stop cycles, head load/unload cycles can cause wear of the mechanical components. So these can cause that a hard disk may reach the end of its lifetime sooner.
But if we discuss about long term storage (eg. removable hard disk drives, connected only for relatively short period of backup, so not running 24/7 for years) then the above may be not important.

What is more important and a very common problem: how "good" is the operating environment when saving data. For example using 2.5" USB hard disk drives (especially large capacity ones, 2 TB and above) may suffer from insufficient power and/or cable/connection issues. Even if they advertised as "USB 2.0 compatible", they can hardly work that way: USB 2.0 connection does not provide enough power for proper operation and this can cause that the drive simply can't record the data properly - and as a result, the next time (eg. months later) the affected file(s) could not be read back. Many users assume this is a failure of the disk drive itself - but no, the drive "just" suffers from the wrong operating conditions: the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise Disk Surface test of Hard Disk Sentinel usually fixes these problems and the drive can operate again correctly.

But if we can assume that the hard disk drive operates by correct power supply at the correct temperature level and the drive originally tested correctly (eg. as recommended at https://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests Hard disk health is low or recently changed or I just installed a new (used) hard disk. How can I perform a deep analysis? ) then there should be no problem if we want to read back the stored data - even after years.


In contrast yes, SSDs (and pendrives, memory cards) use flash storage - where the information (the charge in the memory cells) can fade away.
The SSDs (and some pendrives, memory cards) may automatically re-fresh (re-program) the stored information when powered ON, but if you put the device in the cupboard for long time, this can't happen: as a result, flash storage will be harder to read back: after just some months of powered OFF state, you may see dramatic drop in performance if you want to read back the data from the SSD.
For example, a read test on a typical 480 GB SSD stored for 6 months without power ON shows the following results:




No errors - the data present, readable (wow), just the average speed of 43 MByte/sec is far from the performance we expect.
If we'd wait for some more time - we may get even worse speed (ideally) or we can see unreadable sectors, damaged/unreadable/lost files/folders and so.
(external SSDs / flash storage is also sensitive to power issues and may even require more power than hard disk drives, so the USB connection problems mentioned above is applicable for external SSDs too). Just they tolerate higher temperature and mechanical impacts better than hard disks.


For long term storage, personally I'd test the drive(s) at least once per every 1-3 years, depending on the importance of the stored data.

I usually perform a
- Disk menu -> Short self test (or Extended self test if the time allows)
- Disk menu -> Surface test -> Read test, exactly to ensure that all sectors are readable and verify the performance too

and sometimes (if required, eg. if the above performance is lower than expected, especially for a flash storage)
- Disk menu -> Surface test -> Read+Write+Read test (refresh data area) as it designed exactly to refresh the originally stored information.

Maybe you can check other topics too, as there was a discussion about slightly similar topic at:
https://www.hdsentinel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=21868

[cloudff7]

1) Can a 2.5" external HDD purchased on Aliexpress be used only for backup and energized once every 1-3 years?

2) Can you recommend a good HDD 500GB model sold on Aliexpress? example Kesu brand or Kinhank

3) Can any test software for show the integrity of all (corrupt or not i have files rar, zip, 7zip, exe, img, bin in folder) my files saved on the HDD without having to copy them to the PC?

4 ) Are there more durable brands and models of laptop HDDs with more durable mechanics? Is their price more affordable on AliExpress? i little money

[hdsentinel]

Personally I'd more trust a local seller than Aliexpress.

There are lots of good sellers on Aliexpress - but there are many offering fake devices: they advertise high capacity pendrives, SSDs, hard disks but the device can not be used for real storage: works very slowly and the data damaged/corrupted.

The page
https://www.hdsentinel.com/how_to_detect_fake_pendrive_memory_card.php
gives more details about the situation: originally pendrives offered this way but there are lots of SSDs and even "hard disks". The bottom of the page shows an external "hard disk" drive which has no drive at all...

If the budget is low, maybe you can consider a 2nd hand (used) hard disk drive in a local seller / shop.

Yes of course, there are many tests available in Hard Disk Sentinel exactly to verify the functionality, performance and general operation of the drive.
I always recommend using these tests, especially on a used drive (but on a new drive too) before using for real storage, please see:

https://www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#tests
Hard disk health is low or recently changed or I just installed a new (used) hard disk. How can I perform a deep analysis?

My all time personal favourite 2.5 notebook hard disk drive is ST2000LM003 HN-M201RAD (2 TB 2.5" hard disk drive) discountinued for many-many years.

In 500 GB capacity, you can consider a Western Digital or Seagate model. Maybe you can check the warranty period.

Personally I'd more consider having a USB-SATA converter box from Aliexpress, eg. ORICO model (as they are very good) and then use a 2.5" SATA hard disk drive. I think this is better than ordering a complete external USB drive - because then you have flexible options eg. use the drive without the adapter and/or upgrade to bigger hard disk drive (or SSD) later with the same external enclosure.

[cloudff7]

1) Currently I have two Kesu brand HDDs from Aliexpress they are 2.5" 1TB I want to have two more HDDs because I read that SSD and flash memory is not good for long term data storage but I need 500GB

2) I know that aliexpress hdds but only for storing files and rarely used are used hdds good or is it necessary to buy a new, more expensive hdd? i search little use

3) WD and Seagate 2.5" are better than Toshiba? Which brand is better in durability?

4) Do I need a test to run annually on my 2.5" HDD drives and detect if any zip, rar, 7zip, exe, img, bin and other files are corrupted or do I need to copy them all to the PC?

5) In the manufacturer's manuals or in any review, show the time in which HDDs are stored long-term, some time interval to energize it (weeks, months, years) to prevent failures in mechanics, engines, lubrication

[hdsentinel]

1) "Kesu" is not really a hard disk / SSD manufacturer. If you have such drive and connect, Hard Disk Sentinel shows the brand of the disk drive (eg. Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba etc.) So they also get a drive and "pack" in an USB enclosure.

2) This depends on how valuable is your data. You can select a cheaper disk drive - but after some years if it may fail and/or the data gets corrupted, you may feel it was a bad decision...

3) All manufacturers have better / worse drives. So we can't say WD is better or not.
For example, WD Green hard disks are the #1 to AVOID (never use for any purpose).
I'd recommend to check the warranty length (should be at least 3 years).

4) No need to copy to the PC.
If you use Disk menu -> Surface test -> Read test, it performs a complete scan, so you can verify/confirm if the drive is working, all data can be read back.
You can alternatively test archives: WinRAR, WinZIP, 7ZIP etc. all have function to test an archive.

5) Of course manufacturers never show such value.
As I suggested, you can power on the drive at least once per every year and perform the test, exactly to confirm that it is still working correctly and operates properly without problems /slowness.

[cloudff7]

1) I didn't know it was so easy for data to be corrupted during storage on an HDD, such as the Kesu HDD.

2) this HDD is good for archiving? Brand: TOSHIBA
- Model: MQ01ABD050

3) What free software should I use to test the read surface without having to test the Winrar, Winzip, 7zip software? Does this test show whether any file in any format has been corrupted?

4) Ok, I'm going to power up the HDDs Kesu once a year. Is this recommendation also good for SATA optical DVD drives?

5) what is the best media option for long-term archiving in cold storage without power?