The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/ArtinP on 2025-03-11 18:46:31.
Hello everyone. I am digitalizing and archiving many photos, videos and documents on external HDDs. I currently have one Seagate 14TB and a WD 16TB drive and I am saving everything on both in case one fails one day.
The 14TB will soon be full and I was looking into a 20+TB drive. Now I learned that they all use Helium nowadays (most likely also the ones I already use) and I fear that one day they simply will be empty and won't work anymore. I used to buy new hard drives on a regular basis because I ran out of space but with the available sizes becoming bigger and bigger, I use drives longer and longer.
So I hope you can help me with the following questions:
How long do Helium drives live?
Is the live time dependent on the drive running or is it also running out when I simply use it as storage?
Which HHD is the best for long time storage or should use a different technology?
Thank you in advance.