Backblaze Drive Stats for 2024 (backblaze.com)

Article summary

Backblaze has released its 2024 hard drive failure rates, showing a decrease in annualized failure rates for all drives. The report highlights the performance of different drive models and manufacturers, with some models showing zero failures for the quarter. The data is based on 301,120 hard drives used to store data, with 4,060 boot drives and 301,120 data drives. The report also notes the retirement of the author, Andy Klein, after 10 years of writing the Drive Stats reports.

Main themes

• Hard drive failure rates
• Drive manufacturer comparison
• Data storage trends
• Drive reliability
• Cloud storage
• Hardware benchmarking

What commenters say

• The HGST drive models have shown a significant increase in failure rates, possibly due to the company's acquisition by Western Digital.
• Modern mechanical hard drives are highly reliable, and the vendor does not significantly impact the failure rate.
• Some commenters have had negative experiences with specific drive models, such as Seagate's Ironwolf NAS drives, while others have had positive experiences with the same models.
• Using drives from different manufacturers and models in the same device can help mitigate the risk of widespread failure due to incompatibilities or batch issues.
• The Backblaze Drive Stats reports have been valuable for informing purchasing decisions and understanding drive reliability, but some commenters have had different experiences with the same drive models.
• The reports have also highlighted the importance of having a backup and testing it regularly, as even reliable drives can fail.
• Some commenters have noted that the Drive Stats reports are a form of content marketing, but they are still valuable for the information and insights they provide.
• The retirement of the author, Andy Klein, has prompted comments of appreciation for his work on the Drive Stats reports over the past 10 years.