I find the environmental impact argument here to be very dubious. Even if a Linux-like alternative were available for this hard drive, the vast majority of people would be unaware of that or not willing/capable of figuring out how to work it and would throw the device away and replace it anyway. And even if they did save the hard drive, they might just use the money they saved by not replacing it to upgrade their computer or phone a little sooner instead.

Hard drives are a particularly bad example too because the risk of failure goes up as the device ages, so people probably should replace them after a few years of heavy use regardless of software support.

We live in a rich society, electronics are relatively cheap, and people like having shiny new things. We will inevitably continue having more and more electronic waste. Right to repair type laws are great for consumers for many other reasons, but I don’t think they’ll make any kind of meaningful dent in the reduction of electronic waste.