I’ve had many deathstars fail.
Old sysadmin trick I was taught was to freeze the drives overnight, have used this trick on multiple occasions, but once the drive heats back up it’s really dead. But you’ve generally got ample time to backup the drive before it dies.
For the most part everything works together, buying non Deere implements and using them with Deere tractors is common. John Deere is a status symbol. Deere also does technology better IMO, that being said I really have no idea what auto-steer tech Case utilizes, they have to have something because no modern farmer is paying attention to their rows that much.