8kun, ruqqus, & mewe are the only other sites I would recommend. Since my hard drive went IMF self-destruct mode last November, and took out all the login info, voat is no longer an option. With no password recovery, and their idiotic rule that one has to have a certain amount of hero cookies to post (or even to answer a post with a link), I'm not inclined to start over, so I'll just be a lurker there. Gab, minds, and all the other options censored my posts more than once, and got my FU response. A new one (I don't recall the name of) requires an app, and I don't do that crap, so it's out. Never figured out how to work 4chan. Yeah, not many options.
How old was the HDD when it failed? And how often had it been used?
Unknown. I buy all my PCs** used** from eBay, from one particular seller that has the OS pre-installed and pre-activated, so I never have to agree to the TOS, or interact with M$ directly. Yeah, I know M$ is going to get some personal info just by using the OS, but that can be limited. Every PC I have bought from him lasted 3-4 years, so now I know doing a bare-metal/clone copy of the hard drive is essential. I have several new/blank WD 1TB hard drives waiting in my parts-bank, so hopefully I can at least double the usual 3-4 years lifespan. Not sure how many times one can copy a hard drive....if it is like DVDs, not many before it degrades.
like DVDs
Do you mean DVD-RW?
HDDs have no write cycle limit like DVD-RW/flash storage. One sector can be written to indefinitely. The HDD lifespan is just limited by mechanical parts.
In addition, optical media degradation is .
We still have many intact HDDs from the 2000s. But beyond 4 years of age, the risk of failure increases.
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