How bad will an external USB hard drive get under a steady load of torrents?

Question

Hard disks

There is such an external hard drive . Now it is used as an offline dump and for backups. There is an idea to use it also as a dump for downloading and subsequent long-term distribution of torrents. That is, he will constantly be contacted and, accordingly, he will not automatically fall asleep, as he does now in the absence of those.
How much will this affect his life expectancy? What will be the problems when they begin to appear after the time of active work (months, years ...)?

Answer 1

I would even say that it will be even easier for him than usual, the temperature regime is more pleasant.

Answer 2

just like the usual one.

Answer 3

mnu killed 750 gigs of samsung in less than a year with torrents + dc ++ in LAN. the temperature regime is normal, 35-40 degrees. there were reading errors, terrible brakes, etc.
I would not hope too much that the usb screw will live longer, tk. the manufacturer also understands everything and does not like to lay down excessive reliability.
I have a feeling that if the load even slightly exceeds the requirements of a housewife, it is worth taking only a black wd with sata.

Answer 4

Nothing should happen.

Answer 5

the screw will be easier than usual for several reasons:
USB has limited speed, you rarely see external screws that can write 40-50MB / sec via USB. write more slowly - less load.
in external factory screws, they usually put slow screws (5400 rpm) so that there is enough power via usb. again, wear is less than standard by 7200 rpm.
also because of the previous reason, a bonus follows - it heats up less, which means it lives longer.
Well, the cons are that if you have a wide channel and dofiga torrents, then there is simply not enough speed via USB. It is worth taking the screw immediately from the usb / esat.

Answer 6

I put an external Seagate for 160 gigs under torrents - it worked fine without bending. And the colleagues above correctly say that the temperature regime is really better. But I still really want to use a separate basket with WiFi for such purposes.

Answer 7

my wd (2.5") has been working like this for more than a year, what will happen to him? I have been actively chewing torrents in my server for 3 years now and it’s fine so far

Answer 8

and where did this idea come from that torrents spoil the screws? it seems to me that they are checked at the factory by just a similar method - random reads and writes over a long period of time

Answer 9

My WD died within a year. Since then I have not used external screws for torrents and constant work with them

Answer 10

I have had the most common WD 1600BEV for more than two years, it is used specifically for torrents, and 24x7. The flight is normal.