I have had Seagate, WD, and Hitachi drives go bad on me due to power supply issues.  Most recently I built a computer with a Samsung SSD system drive, a new WD 3gb drive, and 2 backup 2gb Seagante drive from my old computer.  The first time I powered the thing on, the PSU must have surged because all three standard drives stopped working.  I lost everything.  The only one that survived was the SSD.  
 
I guess I should ask you Jim, is what I did just a bone headed move, or should you expect the PSU to work correctly on the first go?

I have 2 x 1TB Seagate drives, replaced one after less than a year having it. Got the replacement,  and it went out completely. Now, the other one which I had about 4 years, is going out. It just disapears in Windows, and I have to restart the PC to get it back to show. 
 
I'm gonna need two more storage drives 1TB each. This time I'm going with Western Digital. I have a 300GB WD HDD that I've had more than 4 years, and it's still working great! I know the problems are usually with bigger HDDs like 1TB and bigger. I don't think I'm ever gonna go with a HDD over 1TB in size.
 
 

rumleymusic
I guess I should ask you Jim, is what I did just a bone headed move, or should you expect the PSU to work correctly on the first go?

You should expect the PS to work properly from the get-go.
If you want to be super cautious, you could connect just the boot drive... then boot to see if all is ok (prior to connecting all other HDs).
 
Are you sure it was the PS... and not a dead-short caused by something else?
 

FWIW, We've had WD drives fail too...
I had a WD Black 1TB drive fail about 2 months ago.
 
Use enough quantity and you'll see a percentage of failure from all the manufacturers.
 

Murphy's Law applies to any brand drive - hard drive or SSD.  Reason to Backup - not for IF you will ever need it but for WHEN you will need it.

I don't believe that power supplies surge?? At least not the ones I buy. If you built your own and bought some POS $30 special well that could blow your system up if it is under powered, surge? I don't think so. I have always used at least 750 Watt PS from brands like Cooler master, Antec. 
Power is pretty important especially for those with a lot of stuff inside the box. 

Jim Roseberry
FWIW, We've had WD drives fail too...
I had a WD Black 1TB drive fail about 2 months ago.
 
Use enough quantity and you'll see a percentage of failure from all the manufacturers.
 

 
That's sad news.
 
Aren't there any 1TB drives that are nicely reliable and have good performance at 7200rpm or faster? How much of the 1TB drive is safe to use without the drive failing?
 
Your input means a lot, Jim. Thanks for your comments in this thread.

Are you sure it was the PS... and not a dead-short caused by something else?

 
I guess I can't be sure.  I suppose now that you mention it, it is more likely to have been an odd build up of power in the MOBO somewhere on the first run.  The computer started fine, I installed windows with no problem, but then I noticed the other HD's were not working, not even spinning.   The power supply is a very nice modular Corsair unit.  

thomasabarnes

Jim Roseberry
FWIW, We've had WD drives fail too...
I had a WD Black 1TB drive fail about 2 months ago.
 
Use enough quantity and you'll see a percentage of failure from all the manufacturers.
 

Aren't there any 1TB drives that are nicely reliable and have good performance at 7200rpm or faster? How much of the 1TB drive is safe to use without the drive failing?
 

Hi Thomas,
 
The WD HDs are actually pretty reliable.
The one I mentioned was several years old.  
My point is that buying brand X doesn't make you immune to potential failure.
 
WD, Toshiba, and Seagate all make good HDs.
We've seen slightly higher failure rates with Seagates.
On the flip side, Seagate's warranty/service is great.

Jim:
 
Thanks for the info.