I have a couple of HDD that are about 12 years old, always used as external drives, they're working like they're brand new
@MyTestAccount-md6tb Says:
OK! How do we find a better alternative? I though Optical media was best... I KNIW SSD's/SD's need to be backed up! There has to be a better solution! Even the BACKUP is going to fail! You think companies are smart... Yet they can't figure THAT OUT!?
@MyTestAccount-md6tb Says:
HDD companies like to call it "MEAN-TIME between FAILURES"... "MEAN-Time" means EXACTLY THAT! The time in-between... my ex's dad worked for WD and other HDD companies... I told him I'd never tell anyone any of their secrets!. Secrets are no longer secret! I say whatever the fk I wnt! Thngs are different now! It's TIME to SPEAK UP! Look at how tech/chips/SSD's have changed! look at AI and how it changeS DAILY!
@microcfdadmin7855 Says:
I have an HP tower PC with two HDDs that I bought in 2008 and everything still runs fine (now on Linux). I keep all my tower PCs running 24/7/365 and I have UPS surge protection with battery backup.
@RoySATX Says:
My personal experience has shown different results, with tape cartridges lasting only a few years (I have none left) and HDDs lasting far, far, far longer. I have HDDs from the 90s spinning at this very moment, happily and error free. The oldest working HDD I currently have is from an old Packard Bell PC I purchased from, if I'm not mistaken, Sears! No other storage media has shown that kind of reliability and I don't intend on switching to anything else for my long-term storage needs.
@dq7143 Says:
Black and white photographs from the 1800's were cheaper and less headache to preserve.
@8Paul7 Says:
In my PC I have two spinning drives from Samsung (F1 1TB) that I got in 2009, 17 years ago. Both still seem to work perfectly, being used every day, with 76000 hours of operating time.
@torazis3286 Says:
DNA is a pretty bad storage medium - it gets read/write errors all the time.
@paradiselost1914 Says:
I have hard drives that have worked for 25 years now. I trust HD more than digital drives. I can also repair data easier. Even if the HD fails, the platters are often still good and just buying a working used drive will provide all the replacement parts to repair the HD.
@AnthonyP2A Says:
i bought an 8TB drive in Oct 2025 - Sent it in to WD RMA in December 2025 - it's now March 2026 and STILL have not gotten a replace,ent. Only half-ass emails saying "your claim has been escalated... Please wait 2-5 days for an update." I've gotten that email 2x now. Western Digital SUCKS.
@trmavirtual Says:
Great video..It is a shame, nothing least forever.
@xTDMx Says:
Had to watch this for class, very informative, well done! Thanks for sharing!
@Pulpo_Pol Says:
Well, it's not like they are available now anyway, they're worth their weight in gold now
@robytar Says:
I have a Seagate 120MB HDD with original DOS6.22 & win 3.1 that was loaded in July 1995 & last check, win 3.1 loaded up & worked fine.
@robertcruz7898 Says:
You indicated that SSDs should not be stored unpowered at "over 30 degrees". I am assuming that you mean 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). I am recommending that whenever you quote temperatures, be sure to specify which scale is being used. You don't want your casual American viewers putting their archival SSDs in plastic bags and throwing them in the freezer (the only place in a typical American home where it's 30 degrees Fahrenheit), do you?
@misobeno Says:
I just recovered 1000GB of photos from my first photography drive that i never backed up and just packed away in 2009.
@andreworlowski5758 Says:
I've recently been investigating this topic as I needed more storage. I found nearly identical information but it took a week of research. I wish I had found this video first!
@BB_7677 Says:
yeah because you cant use whatever data your pulling from with "averages" LAB RESULTS OR FO 2:31
@BB_7677 Says:
1:26 WRONG ON SSD TOO. WTF EC? chat GPT DOING YOUR HOMEWORK NOW LOL❤😂😂😂😂😂😂
@BB_7677 Says:
WRONG . HDD 1 SECOND TO 20 YEARS. LEARN TO USE GEAR AND GET YOUR DATA SORTED MATE. 1:08
@jondeere5638 Says:
Tapes can last for up to 30 years so long as they are rewound on occasion to prevent bleed through and properly stored. . And then the tape drive itself, cannot be expected to last for 30 years, because they are mechanical and subject to breakdown. And the DLT tapes last longer than the cassette taped.
@MMYoung57 Says:
I've been using CD/DVD and now Blu-ray to back up my important data for decades. Generally backing up my stuff to optical disk once a quarter. I also have an external SSD that I backup that same data weekly. The big issue with OD readers right now is their cost. I have an LG Bluray burner and bought it several years ago for around $50. Now they are regurlarly listed on Amazon, when you can find them in stock, for $150 or more. MDISC capable drives are even more. So, I'm crossing my fingers that my old burner lasts for a while longer yet.
@1invag Says:
As someone who has a collection of ps1 games based on cd rom technology, that by the numbers are aparently basically on their last legs yet still all of mine work perfectly fine, i look at them and i think.. well why wouldnt they work perfectly going forward? Theres no physical degredation of the disks, no scratches. I see no reason why they wouldnt still work in another 30 years 🤷♂️ a question that does occur though... say im storing something on the cloud. And that data im storing on the cloud happens to be a storage media for instance a mechanical hdd in a data centre that fails.. what am i paying for exactly? Theyve failed to backup my data, are they legally culpable?
@shrimpfry880 Says:
i have found a hard drive thats over 9 years old and it still works
@SPECTTRE13 Says:
Top top top video. CDs are still king and having kids is the best overall storage media 😎.
@LadyInquisitor_3 Says:
I still have the HDD from the old PS3. It must be 18-20 years old and works fine. It‘s super slow, but doesn’t matter.
@hakuroo1 Says:
That yellowed PC with a internal disk drive sent me down memory lane. I miss that aesthetic !
@coolworx Says:
This is how I do it...
I buy 2.5" high end (I'm picky) spinners from my local ewaste for $10CA for for each 1TB.
At that price, I can have a dozen backups of vital data (mostly pictures, personal videos and code - everything else can be replaced).
Some on site. Most off.
@amateur-1insight475 Says:
I had a raptor hdd fail. I used to run two in raid 0.. bad luck
@lableak7256 Says:
from what i can tell mdiscs are as close to etching into stone as we can possibly get in modern day.
@eddiebeskeddie9506 Says:
OMG - I think I have been doing it all wrong. Found your video while looking for another external hard disc. was wondering if I should get a HHD or SSD and now I am scared that the info I have on my HHD and SSD are evern going to hold up. They are both several years old. HHD about 10 years old and SSD about 8 years old. Now I wonder if I should just buy both types and restore everything. Thanks for the great info.
@deez_nuts-m3m Says:
I just got a old hard drive from a very old pc im using it as storage for extra games but it has 300k power on hours and only 400 reboots
@michaeljoncour4903 Says:
Everything humans make is like a human, DEFECTIVE. Anything you don't want to lose make a minium of four coupies and copy those regularly.
@Anwill Says:
at around 5:08 you are taking the data of failed HDDs, which is a reverse survivorship bias.
what about all the other drives that didn't fail and have been running for decades?
also I have never met a regular person in my entire life who had to change their HDD on their PC (though this is anecdotal, but just wanted to point out that those numbers of HDD life expectancy sounded very low to me)
@gamerDad7158 Says:
Awesome video great level of detail and still easy to follow
@mahdyfouad Says:
13:53 microslop windows 11: No you can't
@ByteCurious69 Says:
That’s based on 24/7 operation.
@MARKLAND-jesus Says:
That's usualy for Modern hdds I think, becouse older ones many times (I think) proved they last longer Than many modern hard drives
@alexanderwlad6689 Says:
let's all revert to clay tablets
@DoomCabbit Says:
You mention that you don't trust SD cards to keep data for more than a year- but SD cards are standard storage for Nintendo video game consoles like the DS line and Switch line. Does the different use impact the expected lifespan of the cards, or are they just as untrustworthy for game memory storage as well?
@flazortron2142 Says:
bang game is crazy (great video btw)
@ATruckCampbell Says:
I had a WD HDD brick itself after being stored in a cool dry closet for all of 2 years, I don't care what anyone says HDD is not suitable for long term storage.
@adlerdequ Says:
My old Seagate HDD has been working since around 2003 and is still rocking speeds.
@ham_hilton_420 Says:
what about clouds? they sometimes do transfers from server to server and backups and stuff that keeps data moving, so it could be lasting longer there?
@dhruvgupta-x8n2h Says:
When our company’s RAID server crashed, we were completely stuck.
All critical work data was inaccessible, and quick fixes only made the situation worse.
After some searching, we found Stellar Raid Data Recovery. Their methodical process, reasonable cost, and strong security standards helped us get the data back. Since then, I usually refer people to their official site whenever RAID data loss comes up.
@leecowell8165 Says:
Ok. One of my HDD's just crapped out. It was 15 years old. I have 3 others in there around the same age.. still going. What used to happen is that I upgraded every few years due to the relatively rapid increase in size. However that's no longer the case. I have some opticals that are over 30 years old. I love opticals because once you burn them they can't be modified. I use CDR's not CD/RW. SSD's last about 3 years on linux IF you have /root or /home on them because linux really doesn't like them very much. I stay with HDD except for some SSD backups via hotshoe plugins. I've never used Windows its garbage I do enough repairs on it to know that from years ago. Nothing has changed. Yeah I've recovered heaps of data for users of that OS that no longer boots off of a perfectly running drive otherwise.
@morganfbilbo4659 Says:
This just don't make sense to me. I've had a PC for 9 yrs with only an HDD. Never lost anything. On this video, you say they are good for 5 to 7 yrs. ?? And I also have an OLD PNY flash drive of 16 GB that is more than 10 yrs. In fact, it's in use daily as a back up. Plugged into the PC 24/7. And used as back up daily. Still works. So can anyone explain this?
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