BackBlaze: Here is the most reliable hard drives

Punctual as every half arrive, BackBlaze data on the duration of the HDD used in its cloud services. The units seem more reliable than 4 TB, in particular devices the model HDS722020ALA330 by HGST, the model ST3000DM001 by Seagate.

BackBlaze is a company that makes a great consumption of hard disks since its business is the storage cloud. For some years now it publishes statistics on the reliability of the HDD used in the company and recently, as it does every six months, updated data. The new statistics are based on the use of 46,038 HDD, 21 different models ranging from 1.5 TB to 8 TB.

If you look at only one capacity, 4 TB models seem currently the most reliable. The Seagate reported a failure rate of 3% per annum. HGST devices are more expensive, but they seem to be more reliable with a failure rate per annum equal all 1.18%. Backblaze manages 17,000 units of Seagate and 11,000 units of HGST, both brands in combinations of 4 TB.

The failure rate of the drives Toshiba and Western Digital is equal to that of other manufacturers, but the units tested are significantly fewer (respectively 145 and 45). As regards the discs 6 and 8 TB, Backblaze has not been enough disks or enough data to make considerations.

As regards the capacity of the smaller cuts, the average life of a disk from Seagate 1.5 TB is five years; regarding 2 TB drives now recommends the use of the units produced by HGST (model HDS722020ALA330) and model ST3000DM001 by Seagate.

Details of the test are shown in the blog of Backblaze. Recall that obviously the conditions of use in which the disks are tested by Backblaze are very different from those of a typical user (typically do not run 24 hours a day, every day).

As we always say, it is in any case well never to rely too much on individual hard drives. In case of problems, only the availability of backups on multiple media or dedicated units allows you to take shelter from disasters and ensure the continuity of their work.