for the most part, seagates are very reliable and if you ask alot of people in the know seagate will most likely be in their top three. the problem with the mb's appears to be a contained incident with only the 2.5" drives with a certain firmware. as far as which external drives are good, it all depends on what you want to do with your drive. Ive heard nothing but great things about OWC drives. I have a bunch of lacies and haven't had a single problem including one thats about 4 years old and still running strong, but you'll find alot of people have had them fail. keep in mind that those two drive manufacturers almost always use seagate drives in their enclosures
my favorites although a little pricey, are glyph drives. they come in a cool plastic carrying case, and a crazy good warranty that will have you feeling confident.
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