Hard drives don't last forever? The elements affect the lifespan of hardware? Tell me about it... I moved to VA last year and had my Colour Classic stored in the basement until recently, which in retrospect was a mistake. When I finally got my little machine unpacked and fired up, I was welcomed by a rather unsettling screaching/hissing sound produced by its hard drive -- it apparently had died a horribly slow death while being stowed away. :'( This has been the second time that I've encurred substantial data loss due to a hard drive failing, granted, in this case nothing really important has been lost since I had most data backed up and most of my productivity software on a cloned drive image on my other computer.

Mechanical components such as the motors in fans or the fluid bearing in hard drives are extremely prone to failure, therefore I do concur that "routine checkups" should be done on a more regular basis to prevent substantial damage from happening.