0

Consider this: I buy a little NAS, e.g. some Synology with 4 bays, put 4 CMR drives in it, configure it for RAID-5 for covering the case of one failing drive, and let it do its merry business running.

Just so that I can act quickly, should, at some point, one disk in the RAID fail, I'll buy a few hard drives of the same type, and lay them to rest on the shelf. (perhaps more than one, as, if one drive in an array of ~ same aged ones fails, it might indicate other may follow soon?)

Will a merely stored drive age considerably (electrolytic capacitors or so?), so that it would (nothing else considered) be more economical, long-term wise, to buy only when needed? I am not talking of magnetic degrating of data - but empty drives, kept as drop-in spares.

user1847129
  • 133
  • 1
  • 5
  • 1
    I think I'd be more concerned about the grease in the bearings slowly moving away from where it's needed than tantalum capacitors going bad. – Andrew Morton Mar 18 '23 at 17:47
  • 1
    Why pay for spares, unless you need 100% uptime to the data, by your first failure more than likely the drive will be cheaper than it’s today even with inflation. You’ll probably even get larger drive for the same price by that point. I never had a problem with critical spares going bad in my job. Yes; At my job, 100% uptime is required. – Ramhound Mar 18 '23 at 18:07

0 Answers0