# HDD lose speed after over time?



## wolfy87 (Jan 28, 2009)

Does the HDD lose spin speed, and read/write speeds after some period of time, like 3-4 years?


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## DRDNA (Jan 28, 2009)

normally the fuller they get the slower they become..


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## OnBoard (Jan 28, 2009)

DRDNA said:


> normally the fuller they get the slower they become..



I think he didn't ask that, more of a mechanical wear and tear. I was waiting someone to give better answer than just 'no', but that should be it. Though I haven't measured it obviously so there might be some stiffness in drying lubes on read heads and the actual bearing that could result in couple % slownes?


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## FordGT90Concept (Jan 28, 2009)

The RPM doesn't change unless it's going/gone bad.


Read/write performance is difficult to explain.  Basically, picture it like a wheel.  it doesn't matter how far away from the center you get, it's still doing the same number of rotations per minute (5400, 7200, 10000, or 15000); however, the head can only read it while it is over the target section.  The farther the data is from the center, the higher the read/write performance because it takes fewer ms to cover the same amount of space.  For instance, covering an inch worth at the outside takes only about 1/16 a rotation of the platter while covering an inch worth at the center takes about 1/2 a rotation.  You really can't notice this without benchmarking until the drive is about half full.  This is why drives that have been used for a while seem to be going slower.


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## 95Viper (Jan 28, 2009)

FordGT90Concept said:


> The RPM doesn't change unless it's going/gone bad.



True, if it does you will get errors(data loss,for ex.)

"The motors also must be precisely controlled for speed. The platters on hard disks revolve at speeds ranging from 3,600 to 7,200 RPM or more, and the motor has a control circuit with a feedback loop to monitor and control this speed precisely. Because this speed control must be automatic, hard drives do not have a motor-speed adjustment. Some diagnostics programs claim to measure hard drive rotation speed, but all that these programs do is estimate the rotational speed by the timing at which sectors arrive." quoted from MicroHouse PC Hardware, link to read all:http://www.alasir.com/books/hards/024-025.html


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## wolfy87 (Jan 28, 2009)

ok, nice answers...thanks...


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## theeldest (Jan 30, 2009)

95Viper said:


> True, if it does you will get errors(data loss,for ex.)
> 
> "The motors also must be precisely controlled for speed. The platters on hard disks revolve at speeds ranging from 3,600 to 7,200 RPM or more, and the motor has a control circuit with a feedback loop to monitor and control this speed precisely. Because this speed control must be automatic, hard drives do not have a motor-speed adjustment. Some diagnostics programs claim to measure hard drive rotation speed, but all that these programs do is estimate the rotational speed by the timing at which sectors arrive." quoted from MicroHouse PC Hardware, link to read all:http://www.alasir.com/books/hards/024-025.html



Western Digital's latest 2TB drive will be variable spindle speed. (I think they already have some that do that? for energy savings? their green series?)


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 4, 2009)

They could but for the most part, it takes less energy to keep it spinning at one speed than throttling it.


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## wolfy87 (Feb 4, 2009)

oke, one question about my new WD 6400AAKS...

I try to defragment the drive with PerfectDisk 2008 and computer restarts!
Tried with Diskeeper, and it stalls on analysation!

what is the problemo?


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## crtecha (Feb 4, 2009)

Can you run dfrg in cmd?

edit: incase you dont know how?   http://dailycupoftech.com/2007/02/14/howto-defragment-a-drive-from-the-command-prompt/


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 4, 2009)

wolfy87 said:


> what is the problemo?


Scandisk.  If Scandisk gets stuck too, throw the drive away because it's defective.


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## wolfy87 (Feb 4, 2009)

well HD tune  Pro didn`t find any errors, with surface test... 60mins,
I`m going for these options and posting results...


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## wolfy87 (Feb 4, 2009)

tried in command promp...FaIL, defregmentation could not be done...

right click, properties, tools, scan for errors, fail too...



but everything works fine? Can something be screwed up with partitions making at start?
or in bios? or in HDD properties? or in windows xP administrator properties, although I was set as an administrator, and only user...

I have no problems, writing or reading anything from the drive, playing movies, music, games....


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