It's A Digital Disease!

The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/Azadi_23 on 2025-06-03 21:56:51.

Any advice welcome!

1. I would like to get all my old files onto one external storage solution from several old hard drives - what’s a good brand/make/model for around 2TB - 4TB? Which ones to avoid? I bought cheap large USBs that worked briefly and then became corrupted so I don’t want to make the same mistake twice!
2. My newer laptop has a faster processor and can move files very efficiently but cannot read/write from my old external hard drives. My old laptop can access the old drive but is very slow and may crash if I try to put too much on it to transfer from old external HD to new external HD. Any tips?
3. How can I be sure old storage drives are empty of my data? Once I have transferred everything I will delete all files and would be happy to recycle parts if possible. Is there a recommended safety method to be sure my old files are unrecoverable? They’re mostly photos, videos, songs and work/uni text files/PDFs.