Want to get more life out of your external hard drive?
An external hard drive can be one of the best assets for your computer. After all, where else are you going to find the space to store all those cat videos? However, if a hard drive gives out on you, especially prematurely, it can be a devastating experience. To ensure you avoid this undesirable fate, here are a few ways you can expand the life of your external hard drive.
Be Gentle
Being extremely rough with your hard drive storage device is a quick way to decrease its lifespan. Fortunately, a lot of damage can be avoided by treating it with care. That’s not to say that you need to tuck it into bed with you at night, but it does mean you should be mindful of how you’re using it. If you have to carry it around, put it in a padded bag or container. If you’re not using it, put it in a safe spot where it won’t get lost. Simple things like this will go a long way to extending the life of your hard drive.
Keep Dust Out
Dust is bad for electronics. Admittedly, this isn’t a revolutionary statement. But do you know why this is the case? Heat. Dust is a great insulator of it. And excess heat will wear down your external hard drive, causing it to work harder to stay cool, and expediting the aging process.
Eject Properly
Don’t unplug your external hard drive without ejecting it first. By doing so, you run the risk of losing important files and damaging the drive in the process. Instead, click the ‘eject’ feature and give the drive the time it needs to properly shut down.
Keep Them Cool
Similar to internal hard drives, external hard drives will generate heat when in use. The problem arises when the drive generates too much heat. To avoid overheating, keep your drive in a spot where air can flow freely around it. Additionally, when the drive is not in use, store it in a cool place.
Don’t Unnecessarily Turn Off Your External Hard Drive
A lot of people assume that it’s good to turn off an external hard drive when it’s not in use. But in actuality, doing so too often can end up doing more harm than good. Typically, an external hard drive will run in a spin down mode. This means that a drive will remain on, or active, but the disk will slow or come to a complete stop. Which is great. When you turn your drive off and on, however, you’re requiring it to heat up and cool down. Doing so too frequently puts strain on the drive, decreasing its lifespan and data archiving capabilities. What you’ll want to do instead is to find a happy medium.
Follow these tips to extend the life of your external hard drive and effectively store all your files, photos, images and videos.