I've also had several WD's go bad in the past, say 6-7 years ago when they were still called Caviar drives. Until they released the JB drive I never considered them again. But this drive's specs were just so good, so I caved in and got one. In one word : fantastic! Very fast and reliable, haven't had a problem yet.

I only wish they'd make drives with FDB motors, 'cause this drive is fairly noisy.

I've had troubles with Maxtor, Seagate, IBM and Fujitsu. The only drives I never had a problem with were Quantum (now Maxtor). The Maxtor started to loose it's data, the Seagate (medalist) just crashed, and so did the IBM and Fujitsu. The IBM was one of the dreaded 75GXP models. Supposedly they've improved a lot since then with the 180GXP now.

Actually I'm also looking for a HD now, but I believe I have requirements that most people have not.

Firstly, I want a QUIET HD. So it's only FDB motors from here on. That doesn't leave me with much choice : Seagate, Maxtor and IBM. WD doesn't have them (yet?).
Secondly I want one with a capacity of 200Gb. Byebye Seagate (only max 160gig) and IBM (max 180gig)
I would have still considered the IBM because it's supposedly as fast as a WD, with the acoustics of a Seagate. Only It's downsides are : high temperature (4-5 degrees C higher than Seagates, so active cooling might be required - something I'm trying to avoid, I want to keep my system silent and this automatically means as little fans as possible), and there seems to be an annoying "cricket-chirpy" sound coming from the drive when it's idle. It does this every ten minutes or so when it re-calibrates it's heads. I don't know if I really trust this sound.

So I think I'll go with the Maxtor route. They do have a 200Gb drive, with pretty decent acoustics (though not as good as the Seagates), high performance (almost as good as a WD, in some tests even better) and average temperature.