I don't think I've seen any of my Seagate Cheetah's die (or any of the Barracuda's for that matter). I've lost one Maxtor, an older 40 GB 7200rpm IDE model that always ran loud and hot. I've got two Maxtor 80's right now (7200) and they're both cool & very quiet. The 40GB was RMA'd (at 2.5 yrs old)no problems on their website. I got the replacement in about 1.5 weeks, not bad considering ground shipment to/from NH to CA.

-Zeke