> On top of that it seems like by the time there is a clear winner for reliability, the manufacturer no longer makes that particular model and the newer models

> On top of that it seems like by the time there is a clear winner for reliability, the manufacturer no longer makes that particular model and the newer models are just not a part of the dataset yet. That's how things work in general. Even if it is the same model, likely parts have changed anyway. For data storage, you can expect all devices to fail, so redundancy and backup plans are key, and once you have that set, reliability is mostly just a input into your cost calculations. (Ideally you do something to mitigate correlated failures from bad manufacturing or bad firmware)