[Bug 59695] Re: High frequency of load/unload cycles on some hard disks may shorten lifetime

[Paganini]

One thing I have *NOT* seen discussed on any of the forums is the
"lesser of two evils" question:

Windows seemingly does not have this problem (or at least, doesn't have
it often) because it never lets the disk alone long enough for the heads
to unload. Its pretty easy to duplicate that behavior in linux - a cron
job that touches some file every 5, 10, 15, or whatever seconds.

So the question is, what is really more damaging to a drive - a
excessive number of load cycles, or continuous operation?

Since I haven't heard a lot of people complaining that Windows wears out
their disks by never letting them park, I assume that the "Windows
solution" is at least acceptable. I wonder if anyone has any concrete
data about hard drives being killed by too many load cycles.

-- 
High frequency of load/unload cycles on some hard disks may shorten lifetime
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/59695
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