How IT Support in Los Angeles Extends a Hard Drive Life Cycle

If your computers are over six years old, the countdown has begun toward their demise, unless you or your IT support provider in Los Angeles intervenes. But keep in mind that you'll still need to think about acquiring new hardware. In the meantime, here are measures that your IT team can take to provide life support for your aging hardware.

Why Risk Increases the Older Hard Drives Get

Once your hard drives reach the six-year mark, you may start to notice inconsistencies in performance and slower response. If you don't regularly back up your data, you run an even greater risk of losing all of it someday. Hard disk drives (HDDs), unlike solid-state drives (SSDs), operate with moving parts. These parts, especially the spinning disk, are more prone to wear and tear than an SSD. Both types of drives eventually wear out and become unreliable, then fail and die.

Endurance Ratings

One of the ways an IT support provider in Los Angeles can analyze your drives for maximum durability is to check the endurance ratings of each drive. Endurance ratings give you the best indication as to how much longer your drives will last before they cease to function properly.

These values are measured in terabytes written (TBW) or drives written per day (DWPD). The TBW rating represents the maximum number of terabytes that can be written to a drive. Enterprise-level drives are more robust than consumer drives and have higher endurance ratings.

Steps to Extend Hard Drive Lifecycles

• Avoid turning your computer on and off every day
• Shut your computer down when it won't be used for a few days
• Keep the computer stationary when in use
• Make sure the drives are free of vibrations
• Protect your computer from heat, sunlight, and dust
• Run fans near your drives and keep the room ventilated
• Use defragmentation sparingly

In the event it appears that your hard drive has died, it's still possible to recover the data and even revive the drive. After a power surge, a drive may stop functioning properly from overheating, but your IT team may be able to save it by replacing the controller board or printed circuit board (PCB).

It's always wise to back up all your files in case your hard drive fails. Working with skilled IT support technicians in Los Angeles is a major key to staying on top of your infrastructure's health. If you would like to know more about protecting, maintaining, or fixing your hardware, contact us now at DCG Technical Solutions and we'll answer your questions. We want to help your business survive and thrive by monitoring and managing your technology.