If you read Amazon reviews looking for the perfect product, it doesn't exist 🙂 There will always be product failures AND some users are simply absolute morons! Choose a drive with an overwhelming number of positive reviews and you should be fine.
I have used both WD and Seagate external drives with various systems for years and never had a problem. But I would still always go with two redundant drives with a second one stored offsite (your office, bank, relative, etc.) which greatly reduces the possibility of data loss due to equipment failure, fire, or theft.
I did a lot of enterprise risk management consulting over the years and driving risk down to absolute zero is impossible and extremely close to zero isn't practical but a pair of redundant drives in separate locations provides a very good probability of safety for your important files. The most important thing is you must follow a regular schedule in creating these redundant copies and if a problem occurs with one drive, make a backup of it using another system before trying it on the system where the other drive failed.
Many people never make any sort of backup and get away with it but risk management is like buying insurance; by the time you realize you need it then it is too late to do anything about the problem.
Rodger
EOS 1DX M3, 1DX M2, 1DX, 5DS R, M6 Mark II, 1D M2, EOS 650 (film), many lenses, XF400 video
