dropped external drive

[Jbasya]

Hello Brian! I dropped an old 1tb wd "my passport" drive today, from about waist high, which luckily for me is a mere three feet.  It seems to be OK--but can I trust it? Is there something I can do to test it? I don't need it anymore but I was hoping to donate it somewhere rather than throw it out. Thanks!

 

[Brian]

If you need to get data off, and are able to do so, get it off now. I wouldn’t trust that drive. Especially if it was spinning at the time it was dropped. It might be ok if it was powered off. Or not. The problems is, diagnostic software can give false results. It might pick up bad sectors or not. The drive could start clicking in a month or so, or not. 
 

Either way, I wouldn’t trust that drive and a 1TB model is very inexpensive to replace. I also would not donate it. Either put it on a shelf or find an electronics recycling center. 
 

It is not fair to the person that you give that drive to that may put important data on it and the drive fails just to make you feel better for “not throwing it out.”