External Harddrive NAS Lifespan

[vibeit]

I attached my USB hard drive to a router (TP-Link Archer C1200) that has a USB port and I realized that the hard drive doesn't spin down and I can only assume it's been spinning constantly the whole night even when nothing is being written or read from the drive. Will the drive wear out or should I replace it with flash-based storage?

[RAM555789]

Well it doesn't give us much info about the HDD but unless it a sever grade hard drive having it spin 24 hours a day, will cause it to have issues. Only hard drives made for servers are going to be able to last a normal lifespan spinning 24 hours a day.

[vibeit]

3 minutes ago, RAM555789 said:

Well it doesn't give us much info about the HDD but unless it a sever grade hard drive having it spin 24 hours a day, will cause it to have issues. Only hard drives made for servers are going to be able to last a normal lifespan spinning 24 hours a day.

Now that you mention servers yeah I doubt it's rated to work 24/7. It's a Seagate Backup Plus Mechanical drive. My best bet is to buy a server grade drive and attach it using a SATA to USB cable.

[Electronics Wizardy]

24 minutes ago, vibeit said:

I attached my USB hard drive to a router (TP-Link Archer C1200) that has a USB port and I realized that the hard drive doesn't spin down and I can only assume it's been spinning constantly the whole night even when nothing is being written or read from the drive. Will the drive wear out or should I replace it with flash-based storage?

A drive can fail at any time, but on average your probably thinking 5+ years of 24/7 use.