The moderators here are only human, we are not robots so do not moderate in the same fashion all the time.
The reason I posted what I did is becuase the OP was not breaking any of the forum rules, nobody needs to judge the poster's actions and whether they are legal or not, so I say we just leave that one be and carry on trying to help.
You said yourself that ripping is technically illegal, but it would be preposterous for us to not allow anyone to discuss these matters.
The OP has a problem with his storage device and wants advice on that, so I think we should keep it on topic