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There's nothing wrong with utilising old drives, but I'd definitely keep your valuable files on something newer - or at the very least, keep several copies (search the 3-2-1 Backup Rule).I have some old, unused HDD's laying around I've considered utilizing for this purpose. I have also considered migrating many of my files off that external drive onto my new SSD since I will likely use them later on now that I finally have the space to do so.
I had an internal 1TB drive that was going strong after 8 years of continuous service, but I didn't want to take a risk - it's now retired, and was replaced with a newer (and admittedly overkill) 8TB version.
All of my important files are backed up on a NAS I built (with an 8TB mirrored configuration), and my camera roll is automatically backed up to OneDrive and Google Photos - though I'm also going to setup automatic photo backups with Immich on the NAS.