Seagate is generally considered the best, with Western Digital a close second. Maxtor had a reputation that was on the bad side, but since their acquisition by Seagate, they seem to have increased in quality. I'd still consider it a gamble to go with them though. Samsung, and Hitachi also make decent HDDs. There's Fujitsu, but I don't know anyone who owns one of their drives. That about covers the major manufacturers.