Backblaze Drive Stats for 2024

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Drive Brand Reliability & HGST/WD/Seagate

  • HGST was absorbed into WD; its Ultrastar line lives on, Deskstar is gone.
  • Some readers infer WD (especially large 16–22 TB models) now looks “best,” but others argue modern HDD vendors are broadly comparable, especially for enterprise‑tier drives.
  • Seagate is widely perceived as weaker, with repeated references to problematic models (e.g., earlier 3 TB lines, IronWolf failures). Others report long-lived Seagates, especially enterprise Exos.
  • Several note that HGST historically performs very well in Backblaze data, but individual users still report the opposite in their own small fleets.

Usefulness & Limits of Backblaze Drive Stats

  • Many use these stats to choose drives for NAS/home servers and credit them with peace of mind.
  • Others stress the data mainly shows relative patterns, not guarantees, and often applies to models that are no longer current when the report appears.
  • Multiple commenters emphasize batch effects: failures often cluster in drives with adjacent serials or same procurement batch; this limits how predictive global AFR numbers are.
  • Some conclude the right lesson is to “plan for failure” (RAID + backups) rather than chase small AFR differences.

RAID, Backups & Home Storage Practices

  • Strong recurring theme: RAID is for availability, not backup. Offsite or cloud backup remains essential.
  • Debate over RAID levels: many advocate mirrored setups (RAID1/10, ZFS mirrors) over RAID5/6 for large drives; concern about rebuild-time and read‑error risks.
  • Best practices suggested: mix brands/batches, buy from multiple vendors, avoid identical serial sequences, and rely on scrubbing (e.g., ZFS) to catch bitrot.
  • Several run single large disks plus cloud backup, accepting downtime risk in exchange for simplicity and cost.

HDD vs SSD, Noise & Heat

  • Some are shifting bulk storage to TLC/QLC SSDs as prices drop; others argue HDDs still win for heavy-write workloads.
  • One thread discusses environmental cost of SSD manufacturing versus HDD plus lifetime power use; conclusions are unclear.
  • Heat is repeatedly cited as a major enemy of drive longevity; poor chassis cooling and cramped NVR/NAS boxes are blamed for failures.
  • A few wish for “underspinning” HDDs to reduce noise, but others doubt modern mechanics allow wide RPM ranges.

Backblaze’s Role, Content Marketing & Scale

  • The reports are praised as high‑quality “content marketing” that genuinely benefits the community; readers lament that major clouds don’t share similar stats.
  • Some note Backblaze now operates around 4.4 exabytes of raw storage, prompting side discussions about 64‑bit limits and very high‑density chassis.
  • A separate thread questions Backblaze as an investment: respect for the product, but concern over profitability and competition with hyperscalers.