What is the life span bracket for Maxtor hard drives?
Do hard disks wear out or become less responsive over time?
Thanks for looking

4-5 years is a good number. You should be able to check the MTBF on Maxtor's website. High RPM drives fail faster (e.g. 10,0000 RPM).

A hard disk is mechanical. They wear out. Responsiveness can be a sign if fragmentation, although it could be bad sectors that need to re-read.

If files don't occupy contiguous space, then they load faster. Each fragment means another access time.

If you decide to use MTBF as a reliability comparison when shopping, be aware the number applies to power-on hours of a population of drives, not an individual drive. MTBF is a statistical estimate of reliability, not a lifespan rating for an individual drive.