RAID 0 systems and uptime...?

I was once told (after one of my HDDs quit booting) that "it was said" that RAID systems (he wasn't specific on any types) commonly failed at startup as well as shutdown "if it's gone a long time without shutdown."

Is that last part in quotations true? I tried googling, but got nothing relevant.

I'll also note that the drive that failed (it wasn't /dead/.. almost all my data was retrievable by hooking up a third HDD to be the master drive) had been buggy when I first got the computer -- I just didn't realize what it implied. The replacement drive has been very stable.

That applies for any hard drive. Spinup is stressful.

I see.. Well, how long is 'a long time'? I routinely leave my computer on for two weeks between reboots, but I've once gotten to three weeks and could have gone on longer.

Uh, it's not that simple.

There are any number of reasons why a drive can fail. Leaving it constantly spinning will probably make it last longer than turning it on and off (unless it's just idle for hours at a time or your computer is an oven). However, when you do turn it off, spin up is the most likely time an otherwise reliable drive might fail.

Which is similar for drives that are repeatedly turned on and off, really.