Hard disk drives and solid-state drives can last a long time when treated with the proper care and maintenance. But how do you know when a drive is dying, and what is the best way to destroy it?
Average SSD vs. HDD Life Span Comparison
Let’s contrast the average SSD vs. HDD life span to learn how long you can expect a new drive to perform well and when to replace a hard drive.
HDD Life Span
How long do hard drives last? One study estimates the median life expectancy for HDDs is six years and nine months, though some last longer under ideal conditions.
The study also found that a typical HDD’s life expectancy decreases annually by 2% to 2.5% through its first four years of operation. That decline continues accelerating after the four-year mark, eventually resulting in a 65% chance of the drive making it to six years without a significant decrease in functionality.
SSD Life Span
A typical SSD can last 10 years or more with proper care and maintenance. This long life is primarily due to its design, which lacks the spinning platters of HDDs and prevents mechanical wear.
Still, SSDs have a limited number of write cycles before they permanently switch to read-only mode. They can open and view files in this mode, but they can no longer save new data.
Do SSDs or HDDs Last Longer?
An SSD usually lasts longer than an HDD because it lacks internal moving parts, so it wears down more slowly under regular usage. Ultimately, though, a drive’s expected life span depends on factors such as:
- Drive type
- Size
- Typical usage
- Operating environment
- Manufacturer
When Should You Replace Your Drives?
If you’re trying to determine how often you should replace an SSD or HDD, relying on the years it’s been in service usually isn’t the best measurement you can use.
Each drive wears out differently, so knowing what to look out for can help you determine when to replace them.
HDD
These are some signs it’s time for a new hard drive.
- Frequent malfunctions: Consider replacing the drive soon when you notice minor performance issues due to overcrowded storage or age.
- Drive failure: If you hear abnormal clicking or grinding noises, your screen freezes frequently or your drive begins overheating, it’s likely failing due to age and wear.
- Corruption: A corrupted drive may display a corrupted data warning or crash frequently due to malware, which is often easier to solve by buying a new drive.
- Full storage: When you have too many files, your computer will begin lagging and freezing, generally making work more challenging. You can solve this issue by freeing space on the drive or upgrading to a new one.
SSD
Here’s how you know it’s time to replace your SSD.
- Depleted media life: Unlike HDDs, most SSDs have wear indicators that give you a numerical estimate of how much more use you can expect to get. Once your SSD hits 10% remaining media life, it’s time to start preparing for a replacement.
- Slow read and write speeds: SSDs have a limited number of read and write cycles, so you may experience issues when your drive is reaching the end of its life. For example, you might notice it takes longer for your computer to boot up and load applications.
- Bad blocks: If you experience frequent application crashes, errors in moving files or difficulty reading and writing files to the drive, you’re likely dealing with a bad block, which means you can no longer edit the information on that section.
- Read-only: If you can read files but cannot write data to the drive, you can expect a breakdown soon. You can connect a failing SSD to another computer for a temporary fix, but you should prepare to completely replace the drive.
What Do You Do When Your Drive Is Dying?
When it’s time to replace your HDD or SSD, the best thing to do is destroy it and dispose of the waste according to best practices.
Importance of Proper Disposal
Regardless of your industry and business model, appropriately disposing of your storage media is essential for protecting your organization, staff and customers.
- Data security: Destroying data ensures sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information and business trade secrets, stays secret.
- Regulatory compliance: Many data protection and privacy regulations require you to thoroughly destroy any data you collect, and failure to do so can result in heavy fines and legal penalties.
- Environmental impact: Responsible data destruction reduces the amount of electronic waste entering landfills by reusing and recycling the material.
How Do You Properly Dispose of a Dead Drive?
There are multiple ways to dispose of retired media, including sending it to a third party for destruction. But you can use better methods to ensure safe and effective disintegration.
Using a purpose-built media disintegrator is one of the safest ways to properly dispose of your depleted storage drives — and having one on your premises means you can keep it all in-house for maximum security.
How Can Phiston Technologies Help?
At Phiston, we create industry-leading data destruction solutions for businesses and data centers. Review our line of powerful media disintegrators.
- A2: If you need a versatile solution for destroying various media, the MediaDice® All Media Disintegrator (MD-HTP-A2) is the tool for you. Its multistage shredding and magnetic separation technologies automatically filter out recyclable e-waste, reducing your environmental impact without requiring additional time.
- A10: Are you looking for an all-in-one media shredding solution that can handle even higher volumes? Capable of destroying HDDs, SSDs, motherboards and laptops, the MediaDice® All Media Disintegrator (MD-HTP-A10) may be for you.
- MDS-2C: Designed specifically for destroying SSDs, the MediaDice® Solid State Disintegrator (MDS-2C) can shred up to 240 SSDs per hour individually or in batches of up to 25. Its patented knife mill design pulverizes media to a particle size smaller than 2mm by 2mm, which means it’s also suitable for disintegrating USB drives and credit cards.
- Combo Disintegrator: The MediaDice® Combo Disintegrator rapidly destroys large volumes of HDDs, SSDs and other media like circuit boards and flash drives. Able to handle loads exceeding 1,000 HDDs per hour and 7,200 SSDs per hour, this disintegrator delivers unmatched performance and convenient operation.
Safely Dispose of Your Old Storage Drives With Our Market-Leading Solutions
Whether you’re dealing with aging HDDs or SSDs, your organization requires a safe, reliable and user-friendly method for destroying your depleted media.
If you need a data destruction solution tailored to your specific needs, we’re here to help. Contact us today to request your free quote.
