my very first was a Conners 210MB frm a Wearnes 486DX2-50 (AMD!!!)
then came the 270MB Quantum LPS
then the Quantum 6.4GB Fireball EX (crashed after 3yrs)
then the Seagate ATAIV 20GB (2001)
then the Seagate ATAIV 40GB (2002)

i had bad expereiences with the Quantums as back in uni time, all my housemates who owns a Quantum had their drives crashed just after the warranty period. and it HAD to happen during CRITICAL Assignment time... sigh. i bought WDs for my Aunt and Bro's setup, not too bad either. but i trust more on Seagate, somewhat... followed by WD and Samsung. no Maxtor, IBMs, Quantums for me..

well to me, i think of all the manufacturers are now about the same quality, it still boils down to luck (maybe batch related - china/thailand/singapore).

first on brand selection, i believe is based on experience (reliability). each one of us have good trust on products that we own that did not fail, and bad experience shy us away from that brand that did fail... OR recomendation from friends from their experience. so with different comments from alot of forumers, u can tell that all

then comes the performance... WD has been reputed to be a performance oriented brand... but i guess there will be a suitable brand for each application (server, gaming, mobility, capacity, size, etc.). so review sites will give u numbers that would help u decide on ur next purchase

my 2 cents...