Hi
I've personally have never had any new hard drive die on me. Since 1997 I've had new drives almost exclusivly by Quantum and Maxtor. They are quiet, stable, reliable and the Maxtor Fireball 3 is almost completly silent.
BTW my main PC's OS hard drive is running on a 2001 IBM Deskstar 60GXP, it's been perfect.
I have had old second hand drives die on me, mainly by seagate (could be because of the the mail though I suppose).
BTW My original A1200 had a Connor 245MB drive, I had no trouble with it.
srg