Is it safe?

[RossTheGuy]

So my friend offered me a 500GB HDD for free but the said that it was from his old PC which makes it 5 years old. Does that increase the chances of destroying my data or failing? I already have 1 TB one but wouldn't mind havinto 500GB extra.

 

[EchohcE]

If it's 5 years old, it may well be safe, but I'd be wary. It also depends on the brand.

 

[lakimens]

It's an HDD, those don't have an expiry date.

 

[RossTheGuy]

It's a Western Digital one.
So do you recommend me using it for a year maybe 2?

 

[RossTheGuy]

Well isn't it that the age makes the % of failure greater?

 

[Barty1884]

For free? Take it.

Then ensure you run health diagnostics (many free programs for this, each HDD vendor offers there own) and see how it's health stacks up.

Only if it checks out as 'healthy' would I use it to store any data I couldn't afford to lose.

5 years old does not make it good or bad definitively. How often it's been used & any physical stress/damage are much bigger factors. 5 years/ 5 months / 5 days won't be any different as far as viability if it's been dropped repeatedly.

 

[joex444]

HDD death curves are U-shaped. Drives under 6 months old and drives past their warranty are more likely to die.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://www.hdtune.com/
I would install it and see how healthy the drive is with this software.