A couple tricks I've learned over the years is to never rapidly turn the power for something on and off. If you turn something on and it's not working properly, so long as it's not smoking or anything, wait a moment before turning it off, then wait another moment before attempting to turn it back on. Rapidly powering on and off is a good way to lose save games on old battery-backed-up game carts and can be hard on the circuitry.

Almost nothing pre-2000s can be safely hot-swapped. In fact, hot swapping is something that can only ever safely be done with something that specifically advertises this as a strong point of the technology, USB being a prime example. I don't know the specifics of how things like USB make hot swapping safe, but I do know the reasons why it's not safe with things that aren't designed for it: Grounding and Intergrated Circuits.

Most components you connect through an external port have a grounding connection of some kind. If you attempt to hot-swap the item, it's possible to create the current connection BEFORE the grounding connection is made, which can cause damage. The other thing too with multi-pin connections is that not all of the pins are gonna connect up simultaneously, which isn't too big a deal with most electronic circuits, except for Integrated Circuit chips, which are fundamentally designed to have ALL of their pins connected to a power source of some kind. If only some pins of the IC make a power connection and others don't, which could happen when hot-plugging a multi-pin plug, this can damage the chip.

Heat is a pretty big factor too. I personally prefer cooler temperatures over warmer temperatures and I'm sure all of my electronics are thankful for this. :)

Good topic, I've been wondering about this too because one of my voodoo2's died the other day. There was no apparent reason for it, it had been working up until about 6 months ago. The PC was sitting unplugged in the shed since and I fired it up to find that the card hung the system.

No big deal, voodoo2's are easy to come by, but it made me wonder if there's anything I can do more / less of to ensure my hard-to-find hardware lasts the distance (i.e. as long as I do).

Never place hardware in damped environments. (like basement, sheds, barns...) (always put it in dry environments; like just your room, or a empty room that`s not damped.)

Not used hardware parts. store them always in a good sealed anti static electric bag.. Dont put it in other things.

Always make sure to store lead-free (RoHS) electronics at room temperature. Do not subject them to low temperatures at all, especially not below freezing. Lead-free tin will quickly rot away and lead to cracked solder joints, and this process is accelerated at low temperatures.

This is the reason why lead was added to solder in the first place, but since some bureaucrats decided lead is bad for 'the environment' (and all the chemicals used in lead-free soldering are not, of course), we're stuck with electronics that simply die when it's cold.

jwt27 wrote:

Always make sure to store lead-free (RoHS) electronics at room temperature. Do not subject them to low temperatures at all, especially not below freezing. Lead-free tin will quickly rot away and lead to cracked solder joints, and this process is accelerated at low temperatures.

This is the reason why lead was added to solder in the first place, but since some bureaucrats decided lead is bad for 'the environment' (and all the chemicals used in lead-free soldering are not, of course), we're stuck with electronics that simply die when it's cold.

Not only when it's cold. Motherboards that use lead free solder stop functioning when they are flexed because lead free solder is brittle and cracks. The white Apple iBook G3 and G4 were infamous for this.

Devices with tantalum capacitors should be powered up occasionally. Those type of capacitors like to turn into firecrackers if they've been sitting idle for too long. I don't know how long, but I've had it happen and I've read that it's pretty common.

I'm curious about "stiction" on old hard drives. Is this something that can be prevented by powering them up occasionally? Or will they still be just as prone to stick regardless?