but they're still generally more reliable than Seagate or Toshiba.
Do you have real data to support this statement? Or, is this just anecdotal based on past experience? If so, how old is it and what is the population size? Is it only the 2.5" externals? This is a subject that interests me as I have a theory as to why one of those companies makes poor 2.5" form factor drives.
Part of my line of work is in hardware support, so I'm exposed to a lot of failing/failed hardware. There are just certain brands that die more frequently... and my observations are typically well reflected in overall longer term reviews of these drives from these manufacturers on sites like Amazon, Newegg, and CDW (amongst others); and robustness is frequently reflected in overall warranty length offered on the equipment as well. Western Digital is the
only major manufacturer
still offering any warranty over two years on non-enterprise grade drives, IIRC.
You might say I'm only providing anecdotal evidence as I can't point to hard scientific numbers to back the claims, but overall statistical observations both by myself as a tech, other observant techs that say similar, and overall on the internet from a fairly large spectrum of users is relatively decent enough to know I'm not just blowing smoke.
As for a
pure conjecture theory, I've had a long standing one on what happened to Seagate's quality (more recently) as well as Maxtor's (before they were bought out by Seagate) over the past decade and change. I call it the Quantum Curse. Seems like every manufacturer who bought the remnants of the old Quantum Corporation eventually are cursed to produce the same quality drives that Quantum was infamously known for, and that the curse kicks in within about 24 months of acquisition. (Used to joke that the names Bigfoot and Fireball were apropos names as they were good descriptors of how they died.)
Anyway, here's the theory: Once upon a time, Quantum was one of many hard drive manufacturers before massive industry consolidation, and they produced crap drives for consumer grade computers back in the mid to late 90's. A few years later, Maxtor buys Quantum when they get into financial trouble from this practice. Two years after that acquisition, Maxtor's quality takes a nosedive. A few years later still, Seagate buys Maxtor when Maxtor gets into similar financial trouble. Two years after that, Seagate's quality takes a nosedive. I imagine when the time comes that Seagate is absorbed, it will be the remaining undoing of whatever manufacturer buys them out, be it Toshiba or WD at this point.
