WD Green 2TB high Power On Hours and Load Cycle Count – Seed server veteran

[balaG]

Hi everyone,
I ran a DriveDx diagnostics on my old WD Caviar Green 2TB drive (WD20EARS-005B81).

For context: this drive started its life inside a desktop PC, and was later moved to work 24/7 inside a seed server.

The health indicators show 1% remaining life for Power On Hours (98,693 hours) and Load Cycle Count (1,423,265). However, all sector-related indicators (Reallocated/Pending Sectors) are still at 100% OK.

Given its history as a seed server drive, should I retire it immediately, or can it keep running until it actually develops bad sectors?

Thanks for your insights!

[Vegan]

That disk potentially could last but I suggest getting a new disk and retire this ancient disk. SSD are still pricey.

[DataWizard0103]

The key issue here is not the 1% life estimate itself but the 1.42 million Load Cycle Count, which is extremely high and means the heads have parked and unloaded an enormous number of times. A drive can still report zero bad sectors and then fail suddenly because SMART cannot predict every mechanical or electronic failure. If the data matters, make a verified backup first and replace the drive, especially since it has been running 24/7 for years.