My main drive is, and has been for the last 2 years, the same Hitatchi drive. No, it wasn't out of choice, I didn't buy the drive, if I had the choice I'd have gone WD, BUT never have I had a problem with it. It just about certainly isn't as quick as it's WD, Seagate or Samsung counterpart, but it has never given me a problem, is quiet and is fast enough to play any game out now with pretty decent load times.
Maybe you got very unlucky, or I got lucky, but they certainl'y aren't a horrific brand of drives from my personal experience