Backblaze Drive Stats for Q2 2024

As of the end of Q2 2024, Backblaze monitored 288,665 hard drives and solid-state drives in its cloud storage servers, excluding 3,789 boot drives, resulting in 284,876 drives for analysis. The annualized failure rate (AFR) for Q2 2024 was 1.71%, an increase from 1.41% in Q1 2024 but a decrease from 2.28% in Q2 2023. Notably, two drive models had zero failures during the quarter. The report highlighted the migration of older drive models, including the last of the 6TB Seagate drives, which had a lifetime AFR of 0.86%. The oldest operational drive is a 4TB HGST drive nearing ten years of service. The report also noted an unusual spike in the AFR of the 12TB HGST drive, which rose to 7.17%. Backblaze continues to analyze drive performance over time to optimize replacement strategies. The analysis categorized drives into quadrants based on their failure rates, with most performing well. The report concluded with a discussion on the potential use of AI and machine learning to predict drive failures, emphasizing the need for a robust model trained on historical data.

- Backblaze monitored 284,876 drives for Q2 2024 analysis.

- The annualized failure rate increased to 1.71% from Q1 2024.

- Two drive models reported zero failures in Q2 2024.

- The oldest operational drive is a 4TB HGST nearing ten years of service.

- Backblaze is exploring AI/ML techniques for predicting drive failures.