The hard drive industry is no different than many others in that there are cycles where one manufacturer is the clear leader for a time then someone else takes over a short time later.
The same is true at the bottom of the heap. Someone builds a bunch of junk and the warranty problems eat them up. That same manufacturer may learn from the experience, then almost overcompensate with the best stuff on the market!
Such are business cycles..
I started working on computers in '95, so I've seen a lot of changes. Western Digital had the best hard drives (on paper) but personally I had very poor luck with them.
[note to self] Time to run diagnostics on that WD 100 gig HD in the game box [/note to self]
Maxtor was the real goat for a spell, but I have used more of those than any other, with very good results.
IBM seems to have had the situation where they have had the best drives (on paper) that just don't hold up to real use. Many enthusiasts bought them because of the high performance, but got caught in the unreliability trap. Perhaps the cutting edge of performance is not the best point to buy.
Like Tom, I'm still using an 8.4 gig Samsung drive that has been very satisfactory. It's the quietest drive I have ever had. Perhaps I'll start using more of them....
viz