| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
tfunk

Joined: 12 Aug 2006 Location: Dublin, Ireland
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:21 pm Post subject: Will downloading .Torrents wreck my hard drive? |
|
|
I've heard that downloading .torrents causes the hard drives needle to be continually writing over the duration of the download and that this can reduce the hard drives life expectancy dramatically.
Should I be leaving my laptop on all night? I've just bought a new laptop. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Bigfeet

Joined: 29 May 2008 Location: Grrrrr.....
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Well yeah, the more your hard drive work the shorter its lifespan. I've never let that stop me before though. Just buy a new hard drive every 3 to 5 years. They're getting cheaper every year. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
tfunk

Joined: 12 Aug 2006 Location: Dublin, Ireland
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Bigfeet wrote: |
| Well yeah, the more your hard drive work the shorter its lifespan. I've never let that stop me before though. Just buy a new hard drive every 3 to 5 years. They're getting cheaper every year. |
I have a dell laptop. Will I have to buy a proprietary hard drive? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Bigfeet

Joined: 29 May 2008 Location: Grrrrr.....
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| tfunk wrote: |
| Bigfeet wrote: |
| Well yeah, the more your hard drive work the shorter its lifespan. I've never let that stop me before though. Just buy a new hard drive every 3 to 5 years. They're getting cheaper every year. |
I have a dell laptop. Will I have to buy a proprietary hard drive? |
The price difference probably won't matter much. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
oldtactics

Joined: 18 Oct 2008
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| It's almost guaranteed that you'll buy a new computer well before the hard drive wears out on this one. Torrents do wear the hard drive but I wouldn't say it's 'dramatic' by any means. I feel strongly that the benefits of torrents far out way any negatives. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Temporary
Joined: 13 Jan 2008
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:09 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Actually in my time as a computer professional we found that hard drives that were spinning and never went to sleep lasted longer then drives that had power savings. I think the stop and go did more damage then a drive spinning all the time. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
registered
Joined: 06 Jan 2009
|
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Dell uses the same drives as everyone else. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
swigs

Joined: 20 Apr 2008
|
Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
I think newer torrent programs help with this problem by partitioning a small amount of space in your HD for a new file. (Or something like that) So your HD doesnt have to work as hard.
So if your using a torrent program a couple years old, time to upgrade it.
Also to the OP, if your worried about your HD crashing you should back up all the files you care about to an external HD anyways. A HD can crash anytime. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Goodgoings

Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Location: Seoul
|
Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:32 am Post subject: |
|
|
| swigs wrote: |
I think newer torrent programs help with this problem by partitioning a small amount of space in your HD for a new file. (Or something like that) So your HD doesnt have to work as hard.
So if your using a torrent program a couple years old, time to upgrade it.
Also to the OP, if your worried about your HD crashing you should back up all the files you care about to an external HD anyways. A HD can crash anytime. |
Programs will buffer a specific amount before a write, but now a days with broadband and HD content, those intermediate pauses won't help much.
What I notice are the fans failing first and then maybe the hdd, but it's easy to replace a fan, except maybe an OEM fan on a gfx. I'd rather use a desktop for torrents.
Buy a cheap desktop on the Sell forum. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
sojourner1

Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Location: Where meggi swim and 2 wheeled tractors go sput put chug alugg pug pug
|
Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:14 am Post subject: |
|
|
Many use an external drive. You get em' huge for a hundred bucks now.
I've had laptop hard disks fail due to the fan going out causing it to overheat. If you hear a screeching, squeeling, or funny noise, back everything the heck up if you can. If you are having difficulties booting a computer, save the things you want to keep if you manage to boot after many tries, becuase it's almost over for the hard disk.
I'm ready to see the computers go completely solid state like Nintendo was and the OS to be onscreen in a jiffy as well as no hard disk or moving parts wearing out. Solid state microchipping is the way to go.
Why do old Nintendos still work 20 years later, but today's computers fail often? Hard disks foul up, but microchips might stay good for a thousand years or more. They're encased in solid carbon. Someone far in the future probably will play an original Nintendo, but they won't recover my hard disk they find in a dump or archeological site.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
|