I'm about to upgrade my whole computer setup, but I have this 6-7 year old Seagate Barracuda ST4000DM004 4TB HDD that stores all my games. I'm torn because I want to keep it, but I'm not sure if I can trust it given its age. Should I hold onto it and just transfer my data, or is it time to let go?
5 Answers
If it still works, don't toss it! HDDs are great for mass storage, especially when you need a ton of space without breaking the bank. You can always reinstall games from it if needed. Just remember to back up anything sensitive, though.
No reason to throw it out if it's working! Just use your old drive for stuff you can easily redownload, and keep anything super important on a newer drive if you’re worried. Better safe than sorry, right?
I've got a 15-year-old Hitachi HDD that’s still going strong! If it’s not making weird noises and passes health checks, I’d say keep it. Use it for storing less frequently used files or backups, and focus on getting an SSD for your active games and OS to maximize speed. Most SSDs are affordable now, and your old HDD can serve as a solid backup solution.
Definitely hold onto it! Use it for backups or secondary storage. HDDs have a long mean time between failures (MTBF), so you can still get a lot of life out of it. Just ensure you don’t keep anything too crucial on it unless you have backups elsewhere.
Good plan! Always better to have a backup, especially for important files.
I plan to use it as a backup as well while getting a new NVMe for OS and games. It's nice to have the extra space.
Honestly, if the health of the HDD is still decent, it can work well as cold storage. I’d recommend downloading CrystalDiskInfo to check its status. HDDs typically last a long time, so even at 7 years, it could still be reliable. I'd keep it for backups or low-priority files and upgrade to an SSD for faster game loads; the performance boost is huge!
Right? It's crazy how much faster everything is on an SSD! That's definitely the way to go.
I just checked my HDD with CrystalDiskInfo, and it's running well with 21177 hours. I plan on getting a new 2TB M.2 SSD, so I think I’ll transfer needed files and keep the HDD for backups.
Wow, that's impressive! I’m leaning towards keeping mine too; it’s running fine after all this time. Should I put my OS on the new SSD or keep it on my old one? That’s something I’m trying to figure out.