We designed our storage pods and software to work in spite of hard drive failures, so paying a $50-$100 premium for a drive just to avoid possibly $5 in labor t

We designed our storage pods and software to work in spite of hard drive failures, so paying a $50-$100 premium for a drive just to avoid possibly $5 in labor to replace it when it fails is not a good practice. We go for the good cheap stuff, and that's how we maintain low prices for our actual product, which is online backup. As long as the drives are reliable-ish, and are inexpensive, that's what counts!