There's nothing quite like finding information that confirms your own prejudices. None of us has anywhere near enough experience with hard drives to form a truly informed opinion
as to which brands are most reliable, but my experience over the last decade has always favored WD and their HGST/Toshiba subsidiary.
Now comes actual data from a company that has a statistically valid sample:
http://www.itworld.com/article/2938996/hardware/when-will-your-hard-drive-fail.html
I continue to recommend the retail boxed version of the Toshiba/HGST 3 Tb 7200 rpm drive which Newegg routinely has for sale between $84 and $94, as the sweet spot for price/value/speed/capacity.
as to which brands are most reliable, but my experience over the last decade has always favored WD and their HGST/Toshiba subsidiary.
Now comes actual data from a company that has a statistically valid sample:
http://www.itworld.com/article/2938996/hardware/when-will-your-hard-drive-fail.html
I continue to recommend the retail boxed version of the Toshiba/HGST 3 Tb 7200 rpm drive which Newegg routinely has for sale between $84 and $94, as the sweet spot for price/value/speed/capacity.