"Hitachi manufacturers the safest and most reliable hard drives, according to the Storelab study. Of the more than 200 Hitachi hard drives received, not a singl

"Hitachi manufacturers the safest and most reliable hard drives, according to the Storelab study. Of the more than 200 Hitachi hard drives received, not a single one had failed due to manufacturing or design errors." Study: A Look At Hard Drive Reliability In Russia (August 13, 2010) http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hdd-reliability-storelab,2681.html http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hdd-reliability-storelab... // WD and especially Seagate (Barracuda 7200.11 had major firmware problems) failed miserably. 500Gb or bigger drives were the worst for all manufacturers. Samsung was almost as good as Hitachi. "Storelab notes that read/write head failure is somewhat characteristic for WD drives. Failures primarily occur as a result of physical impact or overheating (WD heads can be sensitive at temperatures above 45°C). Western Digital's construction makes drives particularly vulnerable to shocks and pressure. Unlike other manufacturers, WD does not secure the hard drive axle with a separate screw to the drive cover. "