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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/richiethestick on 2024-09-11 12:29:24+00:00.

I have a couple external Hard Drives that I periodically use for backups every few months or so. My question is - is an HDD’s lifespan directly affected correlated to how much they are in use, or do they die out at about the same rate even if they are not powered on for the majority of the time? For example, is 5 years of sitting without being powered up long enough for the lubricants to start to migrate out of the bearings? I dont want to not be able to spin the drives up if it sits on a shelf for too long.