many of the responses to this question involve degradation of the device itself due to reading/write.
I’m curious If i had data on a device and I left in in a drawer or attic for years, how long could it sit there before it just goes bad on its own? No reading and writing. Say you wanted to save home movies or photos etc. Something you don’t look at every day but would one day like to dust off and show your family.
leaving it unused in a drawer should be ok, having multiple copies is best for that sort of thing
some of my drives are a tad slow, so get a usb fast stick and copy the stuff over