Data degradation on a HD

Hello,
I hears recently that all data on a hard drive will eventually 'disappear' (after 4 or 5 years). We all know that hard drives will eventually fail and so it is vital to back things up but is it true that data will just degrade away? How do you keep data, photos etc indefinitely? Is it just a case of transferring everything to a new HD once the current one is a couple of years old? Do you have to run the HD on a regular basis to prevent this happening? I'm just trying to understand this so would appreciate any help you could give.
Tom

Five years sounds about right, but it is variable dependant on how it is used and what make the HD is, but sometimes they will last for 15 years really depends how they are used etc etc

- Simon

What do you mean how they are used? Is it better to use a HD more to keep it functioning (like a car for instance, if you don't start a car for a year chances are it won't start), or does regular use wear it out more quickly?

Yeah exactly like a car, you want to keep the HD running when you're using the computer, don't bother with putting the HD to sleep when idle, if you keep powering down the HD and then starting it again it wears it down (stop/start wear and tear), just like a car the most wear comes when starting the HD while it's cold.

- Simon

tomthesuperdude said:

Hello,
I hears recently that all data on a hard drive will eventually 'disappear' (after 4 or 5 years).

Click to expand...

I can't tell you how many hard drives I have that are 10, 15, 20 years old...and the data is fine. Can data degradation happen...sure...but it's not like at 4-5 years everything is going to turn to "mush"!

- Nick