HDD lifespan

BillTheButcher

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Hi all. :)

I'm new here but have already found this forum to be stuffed with loads of useful info, which I've had a look through but couldn't find an answer to the following question:

I have recently purchased a Panasonic DMR-E95 DVD/HDD recorder and I'm very happy with it so far but I was wondering...

What is the expected lifespan of a hard disk in a DVD/HDD recorder?

TIA. ;)
 
If it's anything like a Sky+ HDD it's basically a standard drive like a PC uses. Saw an article the other day detailing how to upgrade the Sky+ HDD to a bigger one. It just suggested a Maxtor. I have an DMR-E55 so I suppose it doesn't worry me.
 
If the lifespan of a hard disk in a PC is anything to go by I would say 2 to 3 years. Depends on how hot the drive gets in the box.
 
Thanks for the replies. ;)

I wonder if it's as simple to replace the HDD as it is in a PC... :lesson: (If there's a fault I mean.)
 
While not purporting to be an expert, I would have thought a HDD would last longer than 2 to 3 years. We have an iMac at home which is still going strong after 5 years and we would expect it to be operational for at least twice that amount of time. It's like most things, if you treat it right it won't let you down. We're toying with the idea of the Panny e95 but are wondering if we should wait to see how Blu-ray pans out later in the year.

Caroline
 
They last about 3 years. Or at least the the ones made 3 years ago did!

They can last longer but for this sort of application I would suggest the 3 years is about right before they start to become unreliable.
They get 'tired' after this time. The bearings start to so they run slower and the magnetic surfaces of the drives become less efficient causing recording and retrieval problems.
 
Hard Drives should last considerably longer then 2-3 years. Particularly if manufacturers quotes are anything to go by. My personal experiance is that they rarely fail and you would be unlucky if you got less the 5 years out of one. I heve seen HD's running day in day out for years at a time with no cooling precautions taken. That said, it does happen but is the exception rather then the norm.

I've not seen anything on swapping out HD's for DVD/HD recorder combo's but suspect it should'nt be difficult, at least from a physical perspective. It may well require some special setting up i.e formating to get it up and running.
 
thebigkung said:
They last about 3 years. Or at least the the ones made 3 years ago did!

They can last longer but for this sort of application I would suggest the 3 years is about right before they start to become unreliable.
They get 'tired' after this time. The bearings start to so they run slower and the magnetic surfaces of the drives become less efficient causing recording and retrieval problems.

Quite possibly, though I give my HD's on my PC quite a hard time. I frequently have stuff encoding over night and am constantly downloading so the HD's rarely get a chance to spin down. Of course a lot depends on make/model and running temp etc.
 
I cant remember where maybe here but i dont think you can replace a Panasonic
recorder with another HD.Maybe it needs panny software loaded first or something but i dont think its a diy job unless you have the software.
 
Note the **WARNING** at the end !!

This information comes from various users posting their experiences on other boards (and also some of my own experience). It’s comparatively easy to replace a Panny HDD. But there are a couple of things you need to know first:

1) The ‘standard’ HDDs shipped in Pannys are 5400 RPM Maxtors (and latterly Samsungs). If your HDD needs to be changed, then it’s advisable to replace it with one which is also 5400 RPM (although these are increasingly hard to get hold of as they’ve been replaced by 7200 RPM). Some people have reported that the power supplies in the older model Pannys may be borderline in supplying enough juice for 7200 RPM models reliably. This appears to be unconfirmed, but if true, it possibly applies to the current models too.

2) Even if you replace your HDD with one with a greater storage capacity, you’ll still only get the space of the original because the limit is hard-coded in the firmware.

3) When you add a new drive it’ll look at the drive ID and compare it with the previous one (which it’s got a record of). Because it’s different, it’ll ask you if you want to format it. Select yes and away you go.


** WARNING ** If you remove a working drive with data on it and insert another drive, then the Panny unit will store the new drive’s ID. If you then try to replace the original, it will see it as a ‘new’ drive and try to format it! You will lose your recorded data. So there’s not much benefit to replacing a drive unless the old one’s knackered. Changing a HDD may violate the unit’s warranty and is done at the user’s own risk !! I take no responsibility for any problems incurred. **WARNING**
 
I have heard in several places that hard drives actually last longer if you don't power them off, because spin up and spin down put more strain on the motor than a constant spin. It seems plausible but I have no way of confirming whether it's true.

In any case the E95 puts the HD into sleep mode after a while so you can't leave it spinning even if you want to.
 
OARDVD said:
Even if you replace your HDD with one with a greater storage capacity, you’ll still only get the space of the original because the limit is hard-coded in the firmware.[/B]

So unless the HD fails there not much point in swapping it out. :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for all the replies. ;)

I have no intention of swapping the HDD out unless it fails outside of warranty. :)
 

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