The report reveals stable failure rates overall, highlights the good performance of 4 TB drives, and raises warnings about 10 TB and 12 TB models with increasing failures.
The American company Backblaze, specializing in cloud storage, has published its much-anticipated Drive Stats for Q1 2025, analyzing the failure rates of its fleet of over 312,000 hard drives. The report, recognized for its transparency and usefulness in the IT industry, shows a slight increase in the annualized failure rate (AFR) to 1.42%, up from 1.35% reported in Q4 2024.
4 TB Drives: Veterans Still Performing
One of the most positive findings in the report is the ongoing performance of 4 TB drives, particularly the HGST HMS5C4040ALE640 model, which experienced no failures during the quarter. Another 4 TB model, the HMS5C4040BLE640, showed a failure rate of only 0.34%, confirming its reliability even in high-demand production environments.
Attention to the High-Capacity Segment: 20 TB and Above
In the group of drives of 20 TB or more, the average AFR was 0.72%, lower than the overall rate and, therefore, an encouraging sign. However, the case of the 24 TB Seagate model (ST24000NM002H) stands out, which suffered eight failures during the quarter, raising its AFR to 1.11% and ending its “zero failures” streak from previous quarters.
Zero Failures: Notable Models
Four hard drive models received recognition for not recording any failures during Q1 2025:
- HGST 4 TB (HMS5C4040ALE640)
- Seagate 8 TB (ST8000NM000A)
- Seagate 12 TB (ST12000NM000J)
- Seagate 14 TB (ST14000NM000J)
Three of these models were already part of the “zero failures club” in the previous quarter, further solidifying their reliability.
Models with Higher Failures: Attention Signals
Despite the overall stability, some models show concerning behavior:
- Seagate 12 TB (ST12000NM0007) raises its AFR to 9.47%, up from the previous 8.72%.
- HGST 12 TB (HUH721212ALN604), with an AFR of 4.97%.
- Seagate 14 TB (ST14000NM0138), at 6.82%, compared to the previous quarter’s 5.95%.
- Seagate 10 TB (ST10000NM0086), while slightly improved, remains high at an AFR of 4.72%.
Lifetime Statistics: Stability, but with Nuances
For the lifetime analysis, Backblaze considers only models with more than 500 units in use and at least 100,000 days of accumulated activity. The overall failure rate remains stable at around 1.31%, but significant changes are observed in specific models:
- HGST 12 TB (HUH721212ALE604) shows an AFR of 1.45%, considered acceptable given its average age of 67 months.
- Its sister model, HUH721212ALN604, rises to a concerning 2.06%, placing it under observation for future quarters.
Technical Improvements in Data Analysis
This quarter marks a new methodological phase for the Drive Stats team. Following the retirement of Andy Klein, the new team, led by Stephanie Doyle and Pat Patterson, has migrated data analysis to a more robust platform: Snowflake. This modernization allows for faster queries, reduces manual work, and improves data quality and traceability.
Open Data for the Community
As usual, Backblaze provides free access to its complete dataset, allowing researchers, IT professionals, and enthusiastic users to conduct their own analyses. The only condition is to correctly cite the source and not resell the data.
The Drive Stats report for Q1 2025 confirms that the overall reliability of hard drives remains stable, but highlights that certain models are showing accelerated wear. This type of analysis, unique in the industry for its transparency, continues to be a valuable resource for purchase decisions, predictive maintenance, and large-scale storage strategy.
Source: Backblaze Drive Stats Q1 2025