Hacking When does an HDD stop to work?

[siliconmessiah]

Question number 1: As the topic says. For how long can you expect a new harddrive to "last", until having to buy a new? When I use a game, it seems like it´s always idle & working full speed. For how long can you expect this to work? For how long have you had your HDD?

Question number 2: Is there any fragmentation on wii-files on a HDD. Does anything happen if you defrag it?

 

[Taleweaver]

1. This depends on factors like how much you use it, the brand and things like that. But assuming normal usage, I would say it lasts about 5-6 years minimum. I've got a few USB drives that last that long, but since I use those seldomly (backup purposes), that's absolutely normal (it would surprise me if they would fail before hitting the 10 or even 15 year mark). The USB powered drive I use for my wii is roughly a year and a half now and still works just as fine as the day I bought it.

2. fragmentation is a normal thing on all drives. When you add data on a drive, it basically puts it where ever there is free space, and if you delete stuff, it frees up that space. That way, it is only normal that after a good amount of time, files (mostly large files) become 'fragmented': broken into pieces and put into different spots on the drive. Defragmentation is nothing more than rearranging the data to make sure all files are physically next to each other on the drive.
There is a logical speed boost if you defragment a highly fragmented drive, though it is usually not very noticeable (drive lasers heads these days are so fast it's probably only measurable with testing programs). I can't speak for WBFS partitions (I believe wiimc has some options to do that), but fat32 and NTFS partitions can be defragmented without problems (plenty of programs out there that can do that).

EDIT: fixed a technical error

 

[jceggbert5]

1. I have one two years old that gets lots of use, daily. It's a 1TB Western Digital MyBook It has no signs of wear, and it's working nicely. I expect my Wii to break first

2. I wouldn't worry about it unless you delete games often. If it's Fat32/NTFS, there's lots of software out there, OR Windows has it built in (maybe other OSes too) WBFS? I have no idea about that one...

 

[Hielkenator]

I've had a few External drives.
6 years minimum is a bit high I think, depending what you are using it for.

I have had 3 crashed drives that I used with my Wii. 2 drives Crashed so far in my PC.
For the Wii they were "Cheap" WD elements 1 TB Ext. Drives. Formatted to WBFS.
In My PC they were also a WD 80 GB and a Samsung 160GB drive.
The sectors were badly damaged, and the drives were losing data once in while.
Later on, they made the "clicking noise". They could'nt be used any more.

All crashed before the 2 year mark, and I'm very cautious with my stuff. It's just normal use. ( But extensive , long operation times.)
They were very well maintained.

Just recently I've bought a Packard Bell Silver 640 Gb usb powered ext. drive.
I hope this drive will last me longer.

There is a logical speed boost if you defragment a highly fragmented drive, though it is usually not very noticeable (drive lasers these days are so fast it's probably only measurable with testing programs). I can't speak for WBFS partitions (I believe wiimc has some options to do that), but fat32 and NTFS partitions can be defragmented without problems (plenty of programs out there that can do that).

* A drive does NOT have lasers. I's a magnetic disc, with heads to read the data.

* Wiimc is a media player and has NO WBFS defragmentation options.
WBFS does'nt need Defragmentation, Cluster size is to big to get fragmented.
the partion table can get corrupted and fixed with Wiims wbfs & iso tools.
http://gbatemp.net/t182236-wwt-wit-wiimms-wbfs-iso-tools

 

[Taleweaver]

For the drives: I was just guesstimating, based on my own experiences. I honestly have no idea about statistical data, other than a magazine I once read (and have forgotten most about by now). Sorry to hear your stuff broke so fast.

...

I better make another backup right now.

There is a logical speed boost if you defragment a highly fragmented drive, though it is usually not very noticeable (drive lasers these days are so fast it's probably only measurable with testing programs). I can't speak for WBFS partitions (I believe wiimc has some options to do that), but fat32 and NTFS partitions can be defragmented without problems (plenty of programs out there that can do that).

* A drive does NOT have lasers. I's a magnetic disc, with heads to read the data.

Oops. My bad.

Sorry...you're absolutely right about it.

 

[zizer]

if we had a ssd hdd .....

 

[OncleJulien]

When I use a game, it seems like it´s always idle & working full speed.

that definitely sounds like a problem waiting to happen...your hard drive may be manifesting as some sort of quantum singularity, able to exist in two states at once.

i'd have it serviced, were i you.

 

[siliconmessiah]

When I use a game, it seems like it´s always idle & working full speed.

that definitely sounds like a problem waiting to happen...your hard drive may be manifesting as some sort of quantum singularity, able to exist in two states at once.

i'd have it serviced, were i you.

Well, it´s a three weeks old 1TB Samsung G3, so I really hope I won´t have to service it already.

What I meant what, as you play games on the wii, it constantly has to load from the HDD (music, sound & graphics etc). So in that way, the HDD always is active & working. And this is also my key question in this topic.

 

[Taleweaver]

When I use a game, it seems like it´s always idle & working full speed.

that definitely sounds like a problem waiting to happen...your hard drive may be manifesting as some sort of quantum singularity, able to exist in two states at once.

i'd have it serviced, were i you.

Problems? Naah...Schrödingers cat did the same thing and it was fine. Well...okay, it was not fine at the same time, but that doesn't mean there was a problem.

@siliconmessiah: we're just joshing you. Your drive obviously isn't "always idle & working full speed" (idle is another word for "not doing anything"), so there's no quantumish shit going on.

It also isn't ALWAYS loading from the hard drive, just as it isn't always reading the DVD. The way a computer works (and a wii is a computer) is that it reads a whole chunk into memory and uses that for whatever it is that it has to do. It only reads when it doesn't have whatever is needed isn't in the memory.

 

[Hielkenator]

Well, the motor to turn the disc at 5200 rpm or 7200 rpm will be spinning constantly...

 

[siliconmessiah]

When I use a game, it seems like it´s always idle & working full speed.

that definitely sounds like a problem waiting to happen...your hard drive may be manifesting as some sort of quantum singularity, able to exist in two states at once.

i'd have it serviced, were i you.

Problems? Naah...Schrödingers cat did the same thing and it was fine. Well...okay, it was not fine at the same time, but that doesn't mean there was a problem.

@siliconmessiah: we're just joshing you. Your drive obviously isn't "always idle & working full speed" (idle is another word for "not doing anything"), so there's no quantumish shit going on.

It also isn't ALWAYS loading from the hard drive, just as it isn't always reading the DVD. The way a computer works (and a wii is a computer) is that it reads a whole chunk into memory and uses that for whatever it is that it has to do. It only reads when it doesn't have whatever is needed isn't in the memory.

Heh, I actually thought that idle meant the opposite to what it actually does. So it was language-fail on my part. =)

 

[siliconmessiah]

I have had 3 crashed drives that I used with my Wii. 2 drives Crashed so far in my PC.
For the Wii they were "Cheap" WD elements 1 TB Ext. Drives. Formatted to WBFS.
In My PC they were also a WD 80 GB and a Samsung 160GB drive.
The sectors were badly damaged, and the drives were losing data once in while.
Later on, they made the "clicking noise". They could'nt be used any more.

All crashed before the 2 year mark, and I'm very cautious with my stuff. It's just normal use. ( But extensive , long operation times.)
They were very well maintained.

Whoa! Three crashed drives with your wii, before the 2 year mark? Must say that one suprised me! A lot of use? Gaming? Installing/Deleting games?
As I think, I´ve had two or so internal PC-HDD:s that crashed on me in the past. I actually remember my old PC-HDD:s (back in the 90:s) to last longer than my modern has done. Guess quality was more of a factor then...

 

[sphinx.djc]

Has anyone had experience with iomega hard drives? I have a 1 TB drive I began using a few weeks ago, its my first one ever.