I currently have 1 Hitachi 80GB, a Maxtor 40GB, a Maxtor 160GB and a Maxtor 300GB.
I only bought the Maxtors and the Hitachi cause they are much cheaper than other brands over here.
Otherwise I would go with Seagate, but they are hell expensive.
I had 2 disks die on me in the past. A Samsung and a WD.