Backblaze Q1 2026 HDD Failure Rate Hits 1.39%, New Large Drives Show 0.85% Rate
The data indicates that Backblaze's shift to higher-capacity drives is paying off with lower failure rates, suggesting newer HDD technology is more reliable.
Reporting from 1 source: GIGAZINE.
Backblaze reported a 1.39% annualized failure rate across 345,662 HDDs in Q1 2026. The company added 10,220 drives, with 9,404 being 20 TB or larger. Those new large drives maintained a 0.85% failure rate. Several models recorded zero failures, including HGST's 4 TB and 8 TB drives and Seagate's 16 TB model. The overall lifetime failure rate stands at 1.24%.
Backblaze's Q1 2026 report covers 345,662 drives across HGST, Seagate, Toshiba, and WDC. The overall annualized failure rate of 1.39% is up from the previous quarter but down year-over-year. The company added 10,220 drives during the quarter, 9,404 of which were 20 TB or larger. Those newer drives posted a 0.85% failure rate, well below the fleet average. Models with zero failures included HGST's 4 TB and 8 TB units and Seagate's 16 TB ST16000NM002J. The lifetime failure rate across all drives with sufficient data was 1.24%.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.