“What is the life expectancy of this hard drive? Ie: Known or predicted time between failure in hours, in normal daily use.”
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MTBFs vary between manufacturers AND the characteristic usage class of the drive. Manufacturers like to claim this time to far exceed 11 years but reality shows a fairly high variance between manufacturers and the “class” of drive. In this case the WD 4TB “Desktop” drive in avg daily “consumer grade” usage, should last 7 years or more easily, even in 24/7 powered up state as I run such systems. The Western Digital quality is fairly high and you should see a low 2-3% overall annual failure rate across their quantity of shipped units. When you need higher grade performance, look to a “NAS” class drive . . . remember the old saying of you “get what you pay for” is a good rule of thumb. Hope it’s helps.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.My experience is that it is on the low end of life or reliability. I had to replace mine after only a couple of years of daily use: It started generating read errors. While probably just bad luck, when I bought another of these to replace the 2 year old one, it was dead out of the box. I won't give WD another chance, and switched to another manufacturer.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Average HD in typical home PC use should last about 10 years. This is not however how long the warranty is.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.It really depends on many factors. High quality voltage from a top rated power supply (80+ Gold, Platinum) can help extend the life by providing good, constant clean voltage. Proper cooling in the case (assuming this isn’t going into an external enclosure) also helps with lifespan, computers run better cooler. Then it’s the daily use vs heavy use. I have several drives that were used occasionally and last 5-7 years. But a good rule of thumb is to replace your hard drives every 3-5 years. Warranties last that long for a reason, despite everything else they say. 3 years is probably a good start for regular platter-based HDDs. SSD and M.2 form factor is really the place to invest in longevity and performance. Typical 5400 RPM drive like this, 3-5 years easily. Learn the signs of a failing hard drive and protect yourself in the future. That is also what makes SSD/M.2 drives so great...no moving parts, almost zero heat and low voltage to run. Better for the computer and it’s internal environment as well.
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