My (windows based) laptop is coming up to six years old now, and it still has semi respectable specs - Core 2 Duo 2.6ghz, 1gb Ram, 500gb HDD, 256mb ATI graphics card. Although the hardware is on its last legs, I am quite proficient with XP and keeping things nice and tidy.
I have minimal start up processes and defrag every six weeks or so.
Now I am experiencing slow downs, but I do not think it is my software being the cause. I am pretty sure it is my HDD being old and decrepit that is doing it.
- Do HDDs get slower with age / use?
- On average, how often should I be replacing my HDD?
- Is there any way of testing / monitoring the HDD speeds?