How long does a typical hard drive last?

There are several factors that have to be considered to get an idea of how long a drive should be expected to last. The quality of the drive and the operating conditions have the biggest influence on the life of the drive. Bottom line is that most drives last between 2 and 5 years, but any disk drive can fail at anytime.   You should also be aware that most desktop and home computers use the least expensive drives available, which may be more likely to fail than a more expensive drives designed for servers.  See "How Long Should A Hard Drive Last".