> One trick I've used is to plug an old drive (too small and slow for > regular use) into a USB enclosure, load it with archives, and remove the > drive from the enclosure to store in a drawer. I don't know how > reliable that is because I don't know how likely it is "aging" could > kill a drive sitting in a drawer.
It can. Some drives are worse than others, but it definitely happens. You get things like bearing lubricant pooling.
Long ago, back when a 40MB (not GB) drive was a respectable size, I had a Seagate one with a bad stiction problem. The model turned out to be noted for that. If the drive was left turned off for more than a day or so, it was hard to start. I discovered that I could "kick start" it by briefly shorting out one of the transistors for the motor control, apparently putting enough kick to get it unstuck. I actually used it like that for several months. Hey, I was poorer than I am now, disk drives were more expensive, and it was a hobby machine anyway.
I read some advice about the model that included deliberately dropping the drive from an appropriate height to unstick it. I think it was about 6", but I don't recall exactly. I used my shorting trick instead.
I finally got annoyed enough at it to buy a new drive. Sold the sticky one to a friend for $20. Yes, I told him about the problem. He was poorer than I was and decided he'd put up with it in order to get a drive for $20. New drives of that size were several hundred.
Ok. That was an extreme case, but it does illustrate that drives do develop problems sitting on the shelf.
-- Richard Maine | Good judgement comes from experience; email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgement. domain: summertriangle | -- Mark Twain
