On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 01:01 PM, Randy Barnett wrote:

Although I should probably retire them now that I think of just how old they are getting.

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Age really generally has a lot less to do with it than hours in service or, more precisely, how many times a drive has had to spin up.  The biggest stresses on a HDD occur when it is spinning up from rest.  Once it's up and spinning, it's quite a bit like a gyroscope and it takes minimum effort on the motor to keep it spinning.

Many backup drives get used very seldom, only when backing up, and even if that's twice a month, 24 spin-ups per year is far fewer than many internal drives get from people shutting down (or restarting, sleeping or hibernating) the machine.

If you look at the SMART stats for most backup drives compared to most system drives (or even data drives that are internal and constantly used) most will be proverbial "babes in the woods" even after years of service.
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Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 20H2, Build 19042  

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.

           ~ André Gide