Am I the ONLY one who is of the opinion that Seagate is better than Western Digital. Over my computer lifetime. I have bought many a drive. All the seagate ones are working like a charm. Any time I have gotten a Western Digital drive it was crap. I have a 1.5tb drive and it works great. I plan on getting a second soon. As they drop in price I want to do a nice Raid 5 with a half dozen 1.5tb drives and be set for a while. So I don't know Hardware like Hard Drives are iffy. It is not about the company but WHERE it was made. Some HDs have defects, some manufacturers have more HDs with defects. Some manufacturers simply have ONE shitty factory that turns out crap and it is a roll of the dice if it will work.
Bottom line: Check your S.M.A.R.T. regularly and if it is important back it up weekly. If it is really important use off site back-ups. Mozy, and Carbonite, are good choices. Mozy gives you a free 2gb, to boot.
Seagates tend to have basic issues. I've never lost a Western Digital drive, and if you're worried, try getting a few and set up a slick raid 0 or raid 5
Bottom line: Check your S.M.A.R.T. regularly and if it is important back it up weekly. If it is really important use off site back-ups. Mozy, and Carbonite, are good choices. Mozy gives you a free 2gb, to boot.