Pleased to hear you got the "important" data back
As for hard new hard drives, I think it all comes down to who supplies them! I have had all the main brands from one supplier only to have them all fail at random reguardless of make.. Where as other suppliers all the IBM ones have been bad , another all the seagate etc etc..... Myself I use WD drives they are a tiny bit slower but I have seen some like 6 year old still working fine lol
All I can say is there is only one place I have found that supplies good OEM hard drives but they are a UK based company that will send overseas (I think) if you would like there site addy send me a pm ..... Failing that if you want a reliable drive avoid IBM, HP or any other hybrid of that company.... And make sure its not OEM as for seagate the newer drives seem to be built better than they were a few years back..
Thanks just in my exp.... I know alot would dissagre... Myabe thats of some help to you.