To keep the prices low the drives of today need to be made cheaper, and with the Chinese way of making junk with short life spans, they want you to keep rebuying more crap with short life spans.
The other BIG problems is that low grade crap creates more pollution winces customers have to replace their stuff much more often. This is not just computer parts... It's everything made from china today... He'll, Chinese stuff made 5+ years ago wasn't this bad. I'm including shoes and socks that lasts weeks. Toasters that costs $30 that look good but can't toast... They either burned everything to black or toast only one side... Then fall apart in 6 months. Unlike the $10 toasters from the past that would last you 10 years.
The $50 bicycle wheel I bought last year has warped or broken 5 times in 300 miles, unlike the previous 2005 wheel that lasted me 3000 miles! Nope, I need to get a $120 wheel to equal the quality of yesterday's $40 version.
A 4TB HD should have a 5 year warranty... It's not some USB stick that holds a few GB for transport, it's something that holds tons of people's data.