I've been plenty of drives (not sure if call it "a lot" given how many years this is over and how many others have even in home environments) and some have give

I've been plenty of drives (not sure if call it "a lot" given how many years this is over and how many others have even in home environments) and some have given SMART warnings before otherwise showing issues (or, in most cases, have been replaced before other issues because of such warnings). A couple have had failures (both full "death" and less systemic errors) without anything being reported by SMART beforehand, but that is the nature of the beast. I suspect you have just been less lucky.