As a computer component sales monkey, I can tell you that WD drives, ESPECIALLY the Special Edition JB (8mb cache) models are very reliable units. There's a reason that WD offers a full three year warranty on those drives, after all!
That aside, I have seen a few problems with their 80gb BB models (2mb cache), not the least of which was my own recent crash. There seems to be a problem with the onboard controller failing in a build run from June 2003 - December 2003, but WD is very accomodating with replacements. In fact, I just received my advance replacement unit from them the day before yesterday. Send them the old bugger in the box they send you, and done!
