I want to use a external hard drive (not ssd) for backup. however I have heard that because of the mechanical nature of a HDD, it needs to be powered on and spin regularly to maximize its lifespan.
The question is: If I want to optimise the lifespan of the drive, what is the longest time I can leave it turned off and still keep it "healthy"
I plan to keep off site, and visit it every 6 month. But fear that is to long.
EDIT
@karen pointed to some very good information. -thanks
In how-much-time-until-an-unused-hard-drive-loses-its-data the minimal recomendation for is
Depending on the priority of the data you've stored, you may want to refresh the hard disk more often. If it is essential data, I would recommend no less then 2 years at maximum. If you can withstand some chance of minor data loss (e.g. a few corrupted sectors here and there), go with 5 years.
This is nice to know and show that my 6 month revisit plan is fine. However I am wondering what would be best frequency to optimise the drives lifespan.
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