Lately, I’ve been having trouble with my disk drive, it just loading forever and I can't access my files. Fortunately, I managed to clone the hard drive and secure my data (this was my first time doing so).

I discovered bad sectors and several S.M.A.R.T. warnings.
So, is this drive still usable, or is it time to retire it?

I wouldn't trust it. Get a new one.

_________________
odzyskiwanie danych

But what if I want to use this drive not for daily use, but simply to store movies, installers, and other less critical things, is that possible?
do I need to format the drive if I want to use it again?

Thanks

Full format, check SMART. Or try to do a remap. But it's not worth it.

_________________
odzyskiwanie danych

Alright, thank you for the suggestion

This disk is 500GB and USB boxes are rather inexpensive. I suggest several if you own lots of old 2.5" disks and SATA SSD.

I suggest getting Seatools 5 and use that to zero wipe the disk. Seatools can also run the short drive self test as well as the long drive self test.

The windows disk manager can partition this disk as well as format it.

_________________
USB 3.5" enclosures are $19 USD postage paid from China, I own several