By "reliable" I don't mean secure. I mean that it shouldn't lose my data: maintain my data across hibernations, shouldn't freeze etc.
It seems to me that most Linux distros' priority for bug-fixes is security, but that isn't my priority.

Also, reliability should be maintained after updates.

I think you are talking about stability. I would recommend Debian, as it is known for its great stability. Choose Debian Stable version (version 7, codename "Wheezy").
Ref. www.debian.org

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Thanks. I think stable can also mean which doesn't change much, so I used "reliable". I'll prefer a distro which keeps updated, so I like unstable in that sense

Please tell how do you compare Debian with Slackware?

Go to Ubuntu or CentOS as the requirement is not linked with high security. Although both are secure, they essentially suits desktop usage. Hanging, updating,..etc can also be managed by the User.

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Centos is very stable as its a copy of RHEL, although it may be a bit thin in the desktop/consumer toys area; its really designed for more serious usage.

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you know it is simple for me after over 10 years with Slackware never had a security problems. Why go look anywhere else.

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Dear tyko,
I have not used slackware before, but I know that it is for advanced users.
Debian or Ubuntu comes with automatic dependency resolver. You do not have to install dependency of a software manually. So they are easy to use on desktop as compared to slackware.

Personally I will not prefer you to go for debian unstable, although it is composed of stable software since it may sometime cause problems after updating. If you want to remain updated in software versions, then you can go for "ubuntu" or "fedora". Both are quite up to date and I think not prone to freeze etc. which may occur more in debian unstable.

My preferences:
If only consider great stablity (no freeze, hangs, data loss due to crash), and do not require updates before 2 years (debian stable releases duration): GO FOR DEBIAN, and its official repository softwares. Nothing can be better.

If again reliable and stable (slightly lower than debian, but still enough), but latest softwares: GO FOR EITHER UBUNTU (From Canonical Ltd.) or FEDORA (Sponsored From Red Hat).

Bugs:
As far as bugs are concerned, both security and error bugs are covered by communities developing debian, ubuntu, fedora.

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Problems during/after udating are common with pretty much all rolling release distros (and you can consider 'sid' to be a rolling release).

I've been running debian 'sid' for years now, and never had any freezing problems with it.

Odd to suggest CentOs and ubuntu.

Ubuntu.....either you're going to be using 12.04 LTS which is at least as 'out of date' as debian stable, or your going to be using ubuntu 13.04 or newer, which only have 9 months support. Considering that ubuntu is known to sometimes have issues on updating to a newer version, I'd suggest that anyone who is worried about possible issues either avoid ubuntu totally, or get into the habit of doing a manual reinstall every 9 months or less.....

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Hi tyko, much depends on your specific hardware. Certain newer hardware will perform best with a distro that has a recent kernel, whereas older hardware might run better with an older kernel. (For that matter, the best stability is probably achieved when you use hardware that is certified for your distro of choice; in other words achieving stability requires a combination of software AND hardware decisions.)

Personally, on my work computer that I need to be 100% reliable, I use Scientific Linux (a free clone of Red Hat, comparable to CentOS). In addition to Scientific/CentOS, I also highly recommend Debian Stable and/or Slackware for stability-minded users.

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Go with an ubuntu "Long Term Release"
Ubuntu is made to be user friendly and easy to use for those just migrating from windows. The LTR's don't change very often and because of this are quite stable.

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LTS plus run it well, my signatures first link has some ideas plus "sorted by popularity" you decide...

:Edit\Add:

Let's do some definitions first:
- stable, in the Linux world, is mostly used for distributions like Debian, Slackware, Ubuntu LTS or RHEL (and derivatives). These distribution usually do not update software in their stable releases, except for security fixes or serious bugs. So if you want to have newer software in the lifetime of a release these distributions might not be what you are looking for (unless you are willing to do some work for yourself, compiling from source and packaging newer versions).
- reliable, as you name it, comes down to how well tested a release is. Usually the distributions with a longer release cycle (so not Fedora, Ubuntu non-LTS, ...) are better tested, since there is simply more time to do so. The distributions that come to my mind are the same as above, except Ubuntu LTS, which is known to be released with known bugs. Keep in mind that there will still be bugs found, no matter how much a release was tested.

So, as I see it, you want reliable, but also with newer software. These two things usually are not playing well together, since newer software tends to have more bugs (not always the case, but mostly), so you have to make compromises. Two of those compromises are Debian Testing (reliable with the occasional bug, but not always the newest software) and Slackware -current (reliable, rarely bugs, but while some applications are usually relatively new, like always the latest Firefox, some others are quite old). Hibernating went well for me on both, Debian and Slackware, so that shouldn't be a problem, but bugs/glitches can occur at any time, dependent on hardware and other circumstances. This means of course that, regardless which OS you use, you have to have backups of your data.

I personally would recommend Slackware, but others will recommend other distros.
It would help us to help you if you tell us which applications you need and which of them you need preferably in the latest version.

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Frequent releases generally mean the risk of bugs. All software has bugs — that's why Windows has service packs — and the longer they spend checking, the better it will be. Ubuntu LTS has a longer support period, but it's not tested any longer. Some derivatives of Ubuntu, like Mint or Pinguy, are more reliable because the obvious bugs get removed in Ubuntu before they take it up. There's a lot to be said for never getting any new version, whether of a distro or a program, the moment it comes out.

It also depends on hardware: the more modern your computer, the more stable all new releases will be because it's more likely that some developer, or user of the test release, has something similar.

How does Debian compare with Slackware? Well, they are both very reliable (so long as you're talking about Debian stable). The real difference is that Debian has about 15 times as much ready-to-run software available: Slackers generally compile their own, even to get something like LibreOffice. If you have any fancy requirements, neither is hot on graphical configuration tools. Salix solves both the Slackware problems while keeping its advantages. CentOS has more software than Slackware, excellent configuration tools, and lots of third party support for missing items, but it can be tricky to get all the repositories to play happily together.

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Myth of advance users only for slackware. mmm don't think so i talked a wonderful woman in her upper ages that only understands a mouse how to in stall and set up slackware. it took us 30 min prep on the phone and 15 min to install 20 seconds to type startx and from there she clicked the k and went to add a user. done.
one day I think KISS will be understood.
It is stable it is easy to install and it just works thank you for my rant. and it comes with multiple desktops.

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I might suggest Opensuse with btrfs.

A distro with zfs is also pretty secure but millions of people still run ext4 and a backup scheme. No single on disk solution is data security.

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