This is a question that really has no definitive answer since everyone has had good and bad results from all of the manufacturers. Over the last almost 10 years of system building, I can honestly say the only brand that really stood out for failures was IBM with their Desk(Death)stars. That being the case, when Seagate announced their drives would have a 5 year warranty, we went with that. We have done well with them with very few problems. Just our experience, I'm sure others will vary and disagree.