Safe storage/backup devices: are there any safe hard drives?

Hi,
An old question I know, but having resolved to splash out on an external
hard drive back up system at last - pc totally jammed with pictures -, I now
notice that pretty well all reviews I read come with a number of sad stories
of people who have trusted them and lost all, and of manufacturers being
hard to contact and even harder to get to accept responsibility. 'RAID'
devices have been mentioned as more reliable by some - whatever they are -
but expensive...

Are there any truly reliable and trusted, and affordable, external hard
drives and manufacturers out there, and if so, what should one be buying
these days?

Many thanks,

S