[SOLVED] Need some inputs

[KenZe]

My main drive is a 250 Gb crucial SSD (New OS Win10) and my old drive is a seagate 2 TB ST200DM001 (old OS Win7) that is almost full and I want to format it and check its health. Now a friend of mine tries to sell me his old 2Tb seagate Surveillance drive ST2000VX003 (still in good health) for this task. I mainly use my pc for game.
Question.
Is it ok to get the 2Tb surveillance drive and use it to transfer all my data while I format/fix my old 2Tb and probably use the Surveillance drive as permanent data storage drive?

 

[Ralston18]

Yes but there are caveats:

There is always a risk with "older/used drives" but there can be (and are) problems with new drives.

The real issue is to accomplish the swap (data transfers) without losing data.

First back up all data and ensure that the data is recoverable and readable.

Then Copy (not move, not "drag and drop") the desired data from old Seagate drive to the "new" Surveillance drive.

Plan it all out first to identify the folders and files you need to transfer.

Especially gaming data. Many games and applications expect to find their respective data at a specific location (drive, folder, file).

Moving data elsewhere may result in the game not finding the data. You may or may not be able to change where the game or app is looking.

Protect the Seagate drive using "Read Only". Copy the folders and files to the Surveillance drive.

Ensure that the Surveillance drive is fully functional and working with all games and apps.

Then, only then, format/fix the Seagate drive.

 

[KenZe]

Yes but there are caveats:

There is always a risk with "older/used drives" but there can be (and are) problems with new drives.

The real issue is to accomplish the swap (data transfers) without losing data.

First back up all data and ensure that the data is recoverable and readable.

Then Copy (not move, not "drag and drop") the desired data from old Seagate drive to the "new" Surveillance drive.

Plan it all out first to identify the folders and files you need to transfer.

Especially gaming data. Many games and applications expect to find their respective data at a specific location (drive, folder, file).

Moving data elsewhere may result in the game not finding the data. You may or may not be able to change where the game or app is looking.

Protect the Seagate drive using "Read Only". Copy the folders and files to the Surveillance drive.

Ensure that the Surveillance drive is fully functional and working with all games and apps.

Then, only then, format/fix the Seagate drive.

Thanks Ralston18 will surely do as you suggested. I thought surveillance drives are exclusive only for CCTV use and never for PC till my friend said I can use it and because i have doubts I need to confirm from people who really know this so I came here. Big thanks for the guide and confirming.

 

[dreamteam]

Is it ok to get the 2Tb surveillance drive and use it to transfer all my data while I format/fix my old 2Tb and probably use the Surveillance drive as permanent data storage drive?

NO. the surveillance type drives were not intended for this.
if you want to make a perfect copy use Acronis True image which is the main tool supplied by many drive manufacturers.

 

[Ralston18]

This has become an interesting post.

Here is a link that I came across:

https://www.howtogeek.com/662440/what-exactly-is-a-surveillance-or-nas-hard-drive/

I found a number of other links that seemed to go one way or another with regards to usage.

The biggest drawback may be the design issue of surveillance drives being primarily for "writes" versus continual "reads" and "writes".

@KenZe - suggest that you hold off on doing anything pending additional input, ideas, or suggestions.