This is ominous news. Seagate / WD (yes, same company) are cutting back their RMA windows significantly.
Being as I have been working user support for the last year, I can tell you I have seen a large amount of bad drives of both these brands, especially Segate labeled ones. I have done many more RMAs on machine deployed in the last 6-9 months, than I have on the older 2-3 year old machines that are out in the field.
Gonna have to say the cut in RMAs is a tell tale sign of the declining reliability of these traditional drives. The 250GB models have been the most prevalent fatalities, with the 120GB models a little behind them.