[Elspode]

I have one Western and one Seagate with some pretty serious miles on them, but that doesn't say anything about current editions of drives.

Avoid IBM 7200 rpm drives like the plague. That much, my experience can tell you.

I think the trend in drive QC is basically to eliminate it, and just replace failed drives, blaming the loss of user data on the user's failure to do backups.

Yeah, that sounds like good business policy. We'll probably see this begin to extend into other areas (didn't change your oil at 3k and waited until 4k, and your engine seized? Buy a new car! Toaster failed after 10 slices? Should have cleaned your crumb drawer more often! Etc.)