I think its the manufacturing (or, more accurately - where they are manufactured)

I bought 3 500GB (ahem ... 465GB I guess) drives from Seagate this spring.

The two drives that had "Made in China" stamped on them died - one would power down after it warmed it (though was cool to the touch outside), the other suddenly couldn't format past 51% without freezing up). The Singapore drive kept humming along.

I'm kind of happy that the refurbs I got under the warranty are "Refurbished in Singapore" - however, with the reduction in warranty, and the quality of the line coming out of China, these will probably be the last Seagate drives I buy - and I'd been buying from them for 15 years now.

It was a nice ride - even if the early Barracuda 4GB SCSI got hot enough to cook on.

Stupid decision, guys. You'll pay for it dearly.