Well, I'm fine with the AVGP, wasn't really a performance craver anyway, the SV35 is much expensive if I back-to-back order it here, Hkari85 is from Penang, postage could be much worst... so yeah, I'll stick to whatever options I have right now, currently saving up for smaller case for pure NAS setup.
Looking at Linux setup for my future sharing options, Windows Server is faster though in terms of background performance, but I'll get to find out later.

Were you using RAID on those failed WD GPs? I believe the GPs is not cater for hardware RAID though
I'm cheap skate on using those NAS system, pretty expensive IMO, and I need apps that require runs on Windows (most of it) so yeah my requirement is different, will look into Linux alternatives.

I did RMA for my Samsung and WDC, Seagate being the easiest and fastest, while WDC is also fast but not as easy and fast as Seagate. DIY is cheaper...

PC Image did only 1-year for the Green? Whose the Salesman? Let me complains...
PC Image have always honor the full warranty period by the manufacturer, provided you still have the receipt with you, but the RMA process is tedious when it passed the 1-year, it'll takes more than few months

Green's problem is the head park issue, if you going to use it intensively, then Blue or Black, but my Black also have issue once and RMA it last year, there's always issue with every single HDD out there, problematic rate is another issue...
Otherwise get the AVGP which has extra 1-year warranty but of course need to back-to-back order for most retailer as it's not a common demand.
Black's warranty is good but you pay for the extra warranty, plus its heat issue is another which is too high for 24/7 usage, on a hot day can shoot up to 48C with fan blowing it... That's in my room (really hot room) during "summer" in my main PC of which only runs in the night time right now due to the worries of overheating of the overall system.

Erm, can I know how long you use each drive before they fail on you?
I have 1 Green before, 1TB failed just after warranty finish, now it's one darn expensive paper weight, failure reason is bad sectors growing so I didn't use it any more worries of losing data.
Also how long have you been using the Toshiba?

For storage purpose, yes, for booting your OS, it can boot, but not recommended.

Seagate 1TB Expansion, cheap and well, it's up to your luck.
My company uses it for daily backup purpose, about 2~3 times a week plugged overnight (they have others as incremental backup).
So far the usage is being moderate I must say, no issue so far.
If you're using for critical data, buy 2 copy or maybe 3 as you can afford to make several copies for mirror backup, in case 1 down, you have another copy.

Most importantly is when you do operation (read or write) on the hard disk, make sure it has as least shock or vibration as possible to prevent physical bad sectors, this will permanently destroy any data, hard disk can be laid on any surface as long as it's stable along the operations.

If you're going to use it in rugged environment, best is to save up for external SSD, or couples of USB3 flash drive (big in size?) but due to wear and tear, flash drive chips will wear out in 2~3 years if you use it daily. I believe SSD will have much better durability in this case.

RM210 ~ 250

Nah, just some marketing gimmick, I believe there's a statistic posted sometimes ago study the hard disk failure rate over the spent of within a year up to several years, 1-year being the least, 1%? Just some gimmick to lure ppl into buying WD, mine locally only have choice of WD, so I have no choice.

I am now tend to buy the CCTV line (Purple currently) for its 1-year longer warranty and for its slightly better durability? Well, we shall see when I got mine.

Neither is better than the other, it's "luck", some can use over decade, some broke within few days
Hitachi is still active but only on 2.5"? Correct me on this.
Samsung's HDD is bought by Seagate.

6TB is already on the street but local still selling 4TB with much higher price, I'm stick with 3TB, much worth per GB.
Can't wait for the 6TB arrival but doubt the price will drop soon, new tech always high at first few batches.

I had a Green 1TB, died just after warranty so I gave up on that, right now I have a normal Green, a CCTV Green and newly bought just broke the shield Purple (all 3x 3TB).
So far they have not much issue since I don't use them when not needed, plan to move the Purple to replace one of my Samsung 2TB in the 24/7 tiny server.
I do have 1 1TB Blue and 1 1TB Black for my OS and Games, Black had already been through RMA once, so if you going to ask me about durability, I would say... that's all depends on luck. The Black also been through 3 years before it start causing issue (bad sectors) and luckily enough I manage to backup all the data inside.
So far I only did 3 RMA myself, 2 Samsung and 1 WD Black. All were painless, but Seagate service is way better in both speed and its packaging, 4 days compare to a week, also Seagate packaging is bigger (more foam).

Wow... 10 platters, talk about helium, now wait for review to do the talking.
Wonder how the price will affect current HDD.

WD Purple or SG CCTV equivalent, they're build for 24/7 and much higher temperature durability.
WD: Western Digital
SG: Seagate

I think that's the one Seagate Video HDD, I only have choice of WD here so I went Purple, last time was AV Green, slightly much expensive and it has 1 more year of warranty so it's much worth it for long term investment.

I met a clerk (girl lai de) very lihai at assemble those CPU, scary see-ing her tear off the clips.. haha. *ahem* back to main topic...

You will need to ask about the warranty and stuff, whether you gets 3-year or just 1-year, possible some won't entertain warranty or some shop has very bad RMA experience, just sell cheap only.
Other than warranty, yes, it's a darn good deal for 1TB 2.5" external HDD.

Source of the statistic... not mentioned?
I've met few failed WDC and also Hitachi, which none on Seagate yet on my long experience so I think I won't rely on such one sided information though.
There's actually a batch of WDC 320GB which failed on few desktop at my clients, that's probably some really bad batch, but since they're out of warranty, I can only replace them with new one.

You're buying from advertisement at Groupon?
It's understandable that Groupon sometimes much cheaper but I wonder about the service.
If the retailer is reputable one and they have good history of providing good RMA service then I can say, go ahead with the purchase.
I myself still buying from local retailer due to ease for RMA service, but recently has bad experience with PC Image so I'm avoiding that for the moment.

She will tear apart your gaming system and experiment with it I'll cry de
Anyway, those HDD is about luck, for my case, my Seagate 320GB that I bought back at 2007 only last me 1 or 2 years (can't remember the exact date) then sent for warranty once, but using it until now and saved many PCs from losing tons of data. Planning for a bigger one for saving even more but that will wait until I have enough dough.. haha...

For Seagate and WDC, the warranty service is local and I can just deal with them easily; just sent to their service centre and wait for RMA to return with new one, and they're fast as well; within 1 week.

As for Adata, I'm not sure about this, can't even find their website on SEA (South East Asia) here, so I assume you'll need to send oversea (Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, etc.) for RMA which is a pain and expensive, which is why it's sometimes not recommended to get those brand unless you can refer back to the supplier/retailer for RMA.

I've a client that uses this WDC passport, I think their controller is very complicated and not friendly for any OS, means if you're using XP or 2003, you need to install SCSI driver for the Ext Hard disk (yes, SCSI!!) If you're using Linux, I assume that as well, which defeat the purpose of having portable hard disk that can plug in any where, so far only 2003 needs to install the driver to works, XP... probably Windows update settle it automatically.
As for the controller, it could have been integrated with the hard disk which means either one dead, you can't retrieve data yourself, you'll need to send to specialist to extract data the "special" way, not very friendly in another way, Seagate Expansion is just another normal hard disk inside, tear open the case, and you got yourself a 2.5" hard disk that you can use on any machine and vice versa...

Skipped that and go for Cobian backup for my case, I think it's much flexible in terms of backup ability, in of its own preferences. (Btw, Cobian is FREE )
And yes, critical data works always rely on multiple backup copies, and cycle them daily for offline backup in case of... erm... well.. anything. This is what Insurance can't cover