Frank wrote:

I have a new build desktop and was intending to move a couple of the
'old' desktop's HDDs across until I saw the manufacture dates on them:
- 14TB Toshiba MG07ACA14TE, August 2019
- 10TB Seagate EXOS X10 ST10000NM0086, February 2018

They're holding my long term collection of photographs and a whole bunch
of seriously important files so I really don't need them to decide to
give up the ghost after being reinstalled.

Anyone got any thoughts?

If they are the only repository of your files then you should back them
up first, while they are still in the old desktop.

Don't ever allow yourself to get in the position where you only have one
copy of an important personal file!

Once you have a trustworthy backup (so in your case two separate
backups) then move the disks as you see fit. If they fail, then buy
some new ones and restore a backup to them..

Since they are HDD they could fail at any time irrespective of age,
though the chance of failure probably increases with age.


--
Graham J

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On 24/06/2025 19:23, Frank wrote:

I have a new build desktop and was intending to move a couple of the
'old' desktop's HDDs across until I saw the manufacture dates on them:
- 14TB Toshiba MG07ACA14TE, August 2019
- 10TB Seagate EXOS X10 ST10000NM0086, February 2018

They're holding my long term collection of photographs and a whole bunch
of seriously important files so I really don't need them to decide to
give up the ghost after being reinstalled.

Anyone got any thoughts?

Frank

The dates tell you nothing about the actual run time

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

I have a new build desktop and was intending to move a couple of the
'old' desktop's HDDs across until I saw the manufacture dates on them:
- 14TB Toshiba MG07ACA14TE, August 2019
- 10TB Seagate EXOS X10 ST10000NM0086, February 2018

They're holding my long term collection of photographs and a whole bunch
of seriously important files so I really don't need them to decide to
give up the ghost after being reinstalled.

Anyone got any thoughts?

Frank

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> writes:

Frank wrote:

I have a new build desktop and was intending to move a couple of the
'old' desktop's HDDs across until I saw the manufacture dates on
them:
- 14TB Toshiba MG07ACA14TE, August 2019
- 10TB Seagate EXOS X10 ST10000NM0086, February 2018
They're holding my long term collection of photographs and a whole
bunch of seriously important files so I really don't need them to
decide to give up the ghost after being reinstalled.
Anyone got any thoughts?

If they are the only repository of your files then you should back
them up first, while they are still in the old desktop.

Don't ever allow yourself to get in the position where you only have
one copy of an important personal file!

Once you have a trustworthy backup (so in your case two separate
backups) then move the disks as you see fit. If they fail, then buy
some new ones and restore a backup to them..

Since they are HDD they could fail at any time irrespective of age,
though the chance of failure probably increases with age.

There’s a “two birds with one stone” option here: source new disks for the new computer, copy to those, use the old disks as the backups (with
an actual backup strategy to make sure they stay current, not just
leaving them to rot).

--
https://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

There’s a “two birds with one stone” option here: source new disks for the new computer, copy to those, use the old disks as the backups (with
an actual backup strategy to make sure they stay current, not just
leaving them to rot).

Indeed. I would be tempted to keep the old PC as-is and share those discs
over the network, that way they aren't disturbed inside the case with any
risks of damage while transplanting them.

After you've taken a good copy on the new PC, you could then designate the
old PC as a network backup server, arranging to turn it on occasionally to
take backups from new to old.

Theo

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On 25/06/2025 09:58, Theo wrote:

Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

There’s a “two birds with one stone” option here: source new disks for >> the new computer, copy to those, use the old disks as the backups (with
an actual backup strategy to make sure they stay current, not just
leaving them to rot).

Indeed. I would be tempted to keep the old PC as-is and share those discs over the network, that way they aren't disturbed inside the case with any risks of damage while transplanting them.

After you've taken a good copy on the new PC, you could then designate the old PC as a network backup server, arranging to turn it on occasionally to take backups from new to old.

Theo

Thanks both. I have a NAS box to which I backup my devices including
these two drives. I can't keep the old PC as I don't have the space and
will need to sell it on.

Frank

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Frank <news@nowherexxx.net> writes:

Thanks both. I have a NAS box to which I backup my devices including
these two drives. I can't keep the old PC as I don't have the space
and will need to sell it on.

In that case I don’t see a problem with moving the drives to the new hardware; if something does goes wrong you can restore from backup.

In several decades I’ve only had one drive fail while being moved, and
that was because I dropped it. (It was a backup drive so got moved to
and from my offsite location once every couple of weeks.)

--
https://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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