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Backblaze Shares Hard Drive Stats for Q1 2020
As of March 31, 2020, Backblaze had 132,339 spinning hard drives in their cloud storage ecosystem spread across four data centers. Of that number, there were 2,380 boot drives and 129,959 data drives.
This outcome looks at the Q1 2020 and lifetime hard drive failure rates of the data drive models currently in operation in our data centers and provides a handful of insights and observations along the way. In addition, near the end of the post, we review a few 2019 predictions we posed a year ago. As always, we look forward to your comments.
Hard Drive Failure Stats for Q1 2020
At the end of Q1 2020, Backblaze was using 129,959 hard drives to store customer data. For our evaluation we remove from consideration those drives that were used for testing purposes and those drive models for which we did not have at least 60 drives (see why below). This leaves us with 129,764 hard drives. The table below covers what happened in Q1 2020.
Notes and Observations
The Annualized Failure Rate (AFR) for Q1 2020 was 1.07%. That is the lowest AFR for any quarter since we started keeping track in 2013. In addition, the Q1 2020 AFR is significantly lower than the Q1 2019 AFR which was 1.56%.
During this quarter 4 (four) drive models, from 3 (three) manufacturers, had 0 (zero) drive failures. None of the Toshiba 4 TB and Seagate 16 TB drives failed in Q1, but both drives had less than 10,000 drive days during the quarter. As a consequence, the AFR can range widely from a small change in drive failures. For example, if just one Seagate 16 TB drive had failed, the AFR would be 7.25% for the quarter. Similarly, the Toshiba 4 TB drive AFR would be 4.05% with just one failure in the quarter.
On the contrary, both of the HGST drives with 0 (zero) failures in the quarter have a reasonable number of drive days, so the AFR is less volatile. If the 8 TB model had 1 (one) failure in the quarter, the AFR would only be 0.40% and the 12 TB model would have an AFR of just 0.26% with 1 (one) failure for the quarter. In both cases, the 0% AFR for the quarter is impressive.
There were 195 drives (129,959 minus 129,764) that were not included in the list above because they were used as testing drives or we did not have at least 60 drives of a given model. For example, we have: 20 Toshiba 16 TB drives (model: MG08ACA16TA), 20 HGST 10 TB drives (model: HUH721010ALE600), and 20 Toshiba 8 TB drives (model: HDWF180). When we report quarterly, yearly, or lifetime drive statistics, those models with less than 60 drives are not included in the calculations or graphs. We use 60 drives as a minimum as there are 60 drives in all newly deployed Storage Pods.
Lifetime Hard Drive Stats
The table below shows the lifetime failure rates for the hard drive models we had in service as of March 31, 2020. The reporting period is from April 2013 through December 31, 2019. All of the drives listed were installed during this timeframe.
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jwb1
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Posts: 725
Joined: 2011-03-28
Senior Member
Posts: 725
Joined: 2011-03-28
#5788223 Posted on: 05/13/2020 07:25 PM
I'm pleased they have the HGST HUH728080ALE600 helium drive in the table as I have one, its nice to see how it holds up.
Unfortunate you cant buy them retail any more, I was lucky to get mine and a later 10 series helium.
My 08 helium series drive runs a lot hotter than the 10 series, I wonder if that will impact the failure rate. ie will the 10 series be even more reliable?!
I need to use a fan on the 08 drive and it still runs hotter than the 10 series without a fan.
Unfortunately they dont have enough 10 series drives to make the stats tables.
That's interesting. Helium drives are supposed to run cooler and quieter. I can say the single Seagate Barracuda Pro 12tb drive I have which is helium runs cooler and quieter than my HGST/Toshiba drives.
It looks like Seagate has significantly improved their reliability with newer drives. They are even now offering 5 year warranties. Of course, the Seagates in their chart have higher failures, but they are also running more of them than the other brands.
I'm pleased they have the HGST HUH728080ALE600 helium drive in the table as I have one, its nice to see how it holds up.
Unfortunate you cant buy them retail any more, I was lucky to get mine and a later 10 series helium.
My 08 helium series drive runs a lot hotter than the 10 series, I wonder if that will impact the failure rate. ie will the 10 series be even more reliable?!
I need to use a fan on the 08 drive and it still runs hotter than the 10 series without a fan.
Unfortunately they dont have enough 10 series drives to make the stats tables.
That's interesting. Helium drives are supposed to run cooler and quieter. I can say the single Seagate Barracuda Pro 12tb drive I have which is helium runs cooler and quieter than my HGST/Toshiba drives.
It looks like Seagate has significantly improved their reliability with newer drives. They are even now offering 5 year warranties. Of course, the Seagates in their chart have higher failures, but they are also running more of them than the other brands.
Mufflore
Senior Member
Posts: 13558
Joined: 2010-05-22
Senior Member
Posts: 13558
Joined: 2010-05-22
#5788226 Posted on: 05/13/2020 07:28 PM
I bought the 10 series drive first and it runs extremely cool and quiet.
The 08 series I bought a few months later and was surprised it runs like a normal drive, hotter and a little noisy.
Perhaps mine has leaked its helium? Its no worse than a standard drive for noise and temp.
That's interesting. Helium drives are supposed to run cooler and quieter. I can say the single Seagate Barracuda Pro 12tb drive I have which is helium runs cooler and quieter than my HGST/Toshiba drives.
I bought the 10 series drive first and it runs extremely cool and quiet.
The 08 series I bought a few months later and was surprised it runs like a normal drive, hotter and a little noisy.
Perhaps mine has leaked its helium? Its no worse than a standard drive for noise and temp.
The Reeferman
Senior Member
Posts: 107
Joined: 2013-11-10
Senior Member
Posts: 107
Joined: 2013-11-10
#5788365 Posted on: 05/14/2020 01:33 AM
I bought the 10 series drive first and it runs extremely cool and quiet.
The 08 series I bought a few months later and was surprised it runs like a normal drive, hotter and a little noisy.
Perhaps mine has leaked its helium? Its no worse than a standard drive for noise and temp.
Sounds plausible. Maybe you can find out what the normal operating temps are and compare them with yours. You kind off already did that with the comparison between your 2 drives. Only the same model would be ideal. I don't know if there is much difference between drives with different number of platters, RPM is the main factor afaik.(beside special gas filled models.)
I bought the 10 series drive first and it runs extremely cool and quiet.
The 08 series I bought a few months later and was surprised it runs like a normal drive, hotter and a little noisy.
Perhaps mine has leaked its helium? Its no worse than a standard drive for noise and temp.
Sounds plausible. Maybe you can find out what the normal operating temps are and compare them with yours. You kind off already did that with the comparison between your 2 drives. Only the same model would be ideal. I don't know if there is much difference between drives with different number of platters, RPM is the main factor afaik.(beside special gas filled models.)
Mufflore
Senior Member
Posts: 13558
Joined: 2010-05-22
Senior Member
Posts: 13558
Joined: 2010-05-22
#5788537 Posted on: 05/14/2020 02:09 PM
I came across this a while back, it took time to locate.
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/helium-filled-hard-drive-failure-rates/
They state the Smart 22 value indicates whether the helium has leaked.
My HUH728080 (He8) drive reports 100 and is not listed as a problem.
But clicking the Smart 22 link shows above 25 is a fail so it does look like mine is running on normal air.
Oh well.
However ...
My HUH721008 (He10) drive also reports 100 and that runs very cool.
I'm not so certain about this value.
Maybe it works in reverse with 100 meaning 100% helium?
Which would mean the 728080 drives higher temp is probably normal.
Sounds plausible. Maybe you can find out what the normal operating temps are and compare them with yours. You kind off already did that with the comparison between your 2 drives. Only the same model would be ideal. I don't know if there is much difference between drives with different number of platters, RPM is the main factor afaik.(beside special gas filled models.)
I came across this a while back, it took time to locate.
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/helium-filled-hard-drive-failure-rates/
They state the Smart 22 value indicates whether the helium has leaked.
My HUH728080 (He8) drive reports 100 and is not listed as a problem.
But clicking the Smart 22 link shows above 25 is a fail so it does look like mine is running on normal air.
Oh well.
However ...
My HUH721008 (He10) drive also reports 100 and that runs very cool.
I'm not so certain about this value.
Maybe it works in reverse with 100 meaning 100% helium?
Which would mean the 728080 drives higher temp is probably normal.
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Senior Member
Posts: 13558
Joined: 2010-05-22
I'm pleased they have the HGST HUH728080ALE600 helium drive in the table as I have one, its nice to see how it holds up.
Unfortunate you cant buy them retail any more, I was lucky to get mine and a later 10 series helium.
My 08 helium series drive runs a lot hotter than the 10 series drive, I wonder if that will impact the failure rate. ie will the 10 series be even more reliable?!
I need to use a fan on the 08 drive and it still runs hotter than the 10 series without a fan.
Unfortunately they dont have enough 10 series drives to make the stats tables.