The company only tested 2,200 SSDs throughout 2021, but it tested at least 203,168 HDDs in the same year. Notably, long-term data has actually improved the cumulative AFR of HDDs in Backblaze tests.īut here’s the most important point Backblaze uses far fewer SSDs than HDDs in its servers. Long-term data is incredibly useful when gauging drive reliability, but most of the SSDs in Backblaze’s servers are relatively new.
(That said, the impact should be marginal at best.)īackblaze only began using SSD boot drives in 2018, and that presents another problem. But technically speaking, they are not performing the same tasks as Backblaze’s HDDs-this is a variable that could impact the SSDs’ failure rate. These drives do more than just boot the servers, and of course, they read, write, and delete files every day. And given some of the notes in Backblaze’s report, I’m not surprised that it waited so long to publish this kind of information.įirst of all, Backblaze only uses SSDs as boot drives in its storage servers. Backblaze Says This Data Isn’t Conclusive Samsungīackblaze publishes quarterly and annual reports on HDD performance, but oddly enough, this is the first time the company’s shared data on SSDs. And hey, that may be the case! But this data is not conclusive, and Backblaze notes as much in its report. It’s easy to walk away from this data thinking that HDDs and SSDs are equally reliable. Not only that, but the cumulative AFR of SSDs (from 2018 to 2021) is around 1.07%, which is actually less than the 1.40% cumulative AFR of HDDs (from 2013 to 2021). Nearly all of the SSDs tested by Backblaze have an AFR of less than 1%, with some models falling below the 0.6% AFR that Backblaze looks for in its “most reliable” drives. So, what does Backblaze data say about SSD reliability? According to the company’s report, the AFR or Annualized Failure Rate of SSDs is comparable to that of HDDs. (Notably, this measurement accounts for Backblaze’s testing environment, in which drives are added to and removed from servers throughout the year.)
The Annualized Failure Rate shows what percent of SSDs failed throughout 2021. The most valuable measurement in Backblaze’s report, at least for our purposes, is the AFR or Annualized Failure Rate of SSDs and HDDs. Therefore, Backblaze’s data is much more useful than anecdotes from weird Reddit nerds-it provides a clear picture of which drives may work best in a home or business environment. It runs through thousands of drives each year, and it publishes quarterly and annual reports on HDD failure rates.
That said, Backblaze is a cloud storage company. You need to test thousands of drives over a long period of time to find their average failure rate or lifespan, as no two drives are truly identical. That’s because these sorts of tests require a ton of data. Random nerds on the internet can’t test the reliability, durability, or longevity of HDDs and SSDs. Are HDDs and SSDs Equally Reliable? Backblaze Says This Data Isn't Conclusive Which SSDs Are the Most Reliable? Are HDDs and SSDs Equally Reliable? Maxx-Studio/