LostXOR

I can back that up; the drives I ordered were packaged in an antistatic bag, surrounded by an air filled cushion thing, in a hard cardboard box. (Assuming what I got was the “air pockets” it’s a plastic sleeve made of many pressurized sections that completely encloses the drive; definitely adequate IMO. I can dig up a pic if you want).

They’re not indistinguishable, downloading a video results in the same amount of data being transferred much more quickly. But your ISP couldn’t care less either way.

I think a two disk dual boot is safe. I’ve had that setup for a while and Windows hasn’t broken anything yet (though I only use it maybe once a month).

Also make sure you have file extensions enabled in Explorer, it makes it waaay harder for something like this to work.

Seems like a reasonable donation prompt; it’s infrequent, unobtrusive, and can be easily dismissed and disabled. Some people are so sensitive to the idea of any sort of soliciting that they forget projects do need money to function.