Hacking Life expectancy of an external HDD as backup loader?

[gifi4]

Hey guys, I was just wondering how long my external drive will last if I'm using it to play Wii backups?
If for example I play a game off of the HDD every day for say, 4 hours, how long is the HDD gonna last before it gives up and dies?

 

[Foxi4]

Hey guys, I was just wondering how long my external drive will last if I'm using it to play Wii backups?
If for example I play a game off of the HDD every day for say, 4 hours, how long is the HDD gonna last before it gives up and dies?

...if it's a brand-new drive then it will take ages.

The Wii isn't used like a PC - the drive isn't constantly spinning nor is it turned on for long periods of time, thus life extends a little bit when compared to the standard life expectancy of a given model.

 

[gifi4]

Hey guys, I was just wondering how long my external drive will last if I'm using it to play Wii backups?
If for example I play a game off of the HDD every day for say, 4 hours, how long is the HDD gonna last before it gives up and dies?

...if it's a brand-new drive then it will take ages.

The Wii isn't used like a PC - the drive isn't constantly spinning nor is it turned on for long periods of time, thus life extends a little bit when compared to the standard life expectancy of a given model.

Well, it's not brand new, was using it in my old computer because I only had 140gb of internal storage, my new comp I have over 2tb so yeah =D
Was using it for about a year.

Edit: Whilst this thread is still active, Am I able to play Wiiware games and VC games off the HDD or not?

 

[PsyBlade]

Edit: Whilst this thread is still active, Am I able to play Wiiware games and VC games off the HDD or not?

yes, with e.g. uneek

 

[giantpune]

wasnt that stuff added to the cIOS to purposefully keep doing random reads from the drive to keep some drives from going to sleep? so even if you are doing something while the cIOS is not requiring the drive, it will keep pestering the thing to it doesnt go to sleep.

 

[PsyBlade]

constantly spinning up/down every few minutes puts way more wear on drives then continous running

 

[Lucif3r]

constantly spinning up/down every few minutes puts way more wear on drives then continous running

Very very true.
Also cold-booting an HDD is said to equal around 1 week of constant running (with no writing or reading, just spinning)... Or used to like 6 years ago....

 

[gifi4]

constantly spinning up/down every few minutes puts way more wear on drives then continous running

Assuming I was using a new drive, what would the life expectancy be after taking this into consideration?

 

[rehevkor]

Impossible to say, surely? Depends on too many factors. Build quality of the drive, imperfections, random elements during manufacture, free radicals, age (not just from when it was bought, but when it was made), make, how often the drive is moved, model, solar flares, temperature it's kept at both idle and running, alignment of the planets, MAGNETS.

Could last between 10 minutes and 10 years.

 

[PsyBlade]

Running continously for a few hours per day is exactly what normal consumer drives are designed for.
Don't worry about that.
Unless unlucky I would expect it to last several years (3-6, more if you are lucky)

 

[Lucif3r]

Could last between 10 minutes and 10 years.

Actually I can confirm this lol
One of my previous drives died after 1 day (~26h), but I still have 2 (or 3) HDDs from the early -00 thats working just fine.
Obviously the HDDs from -00 isnt used on a daily basis anymore, but I do use them from time to time (I removed them from my PC around 3 years ago, when I got a mobo without IDE ports ).