Which HDDs are prone to failure? Backblaze releases statistics for Q2 2026.



Backblaze , which operates a large number of hard disk drives (HDDs) for its cloud storage and data backup services, publishes failure rates for storage devices used in its own data centers, broken down by manufacturer and model. Statistical data for the second quarter of 2026 was released on September 29, 2026.

Q2 2026 Drive Stats: Hard Drive Failure Rates
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-drive-stats-for-q2-2026/

First, here is Backblaze's HDD usage for the second quarter of 2026. Throughout the second quarter of 2026, Backblaze monitored 359,101 drives used for data storage. For this report, we have excluded 3,881 boot drives and 705 HDDs that did not meet the criteria of 'more than 100 drive cycles and more than 10,000 drive days,' resulting in an analysis of 354,415 HDDs. Of these, 1,498 failures occurred, resulting in an overall failure rate of 1.73%.



The following is Backblaze's HDD failure rate report for the second quarter of 2026. The measurement period is from April 1st to June 30th, 2026, and the data includes drive models that met the criteria as of June 30th.

Manufacturer Model Size (TB) Number of units in operation Average operating period (months) Total number of operating days Number of failures Annual average failure rate (%)
HGST HUH721212ALE600 12 2599 78.4 236107 7 1.08
HGST HUH721212ALE604 12 13196 59.4 1190182 109 3.34
HGST HUH721212ALN604 12 9694 83.8 861297 180 7.63
Seagate ST8000DM002 8 6903 114.8 563210 38 2.46
Seagate ST8000NM000A 8 239 40.4 21499 0 0
Seagate ST8000NM0055 8 13112 104.7 1177541 111 3.44
Seagate ST10000NM0086 10 965 101.7 86092 twenty two 9.33
Seagate ST12000NM0007 12 972 78.8 87496 10 4.17
Seagate ST12000NM0008 12 18521 73.7 1671057 145 3.17
Seagate ST12000NM000J 12 1079 twenty two 97746 0 0
Seagate ST12000NM001G 12 13177 63.7 1193856 44 1.35
Seagate ST14000NM000J 14 497 17 43349 0 0
Seagate ST14000NM001G 14 10498 63.2 949396 39 1.5
Seagate ST14000NM0138 14 1235 65.5 110410 twenty five 8.26
Seagate ST16000NM000J 16 171 15.4 14221 1 2.57
Seagate ST16000NM001G 16 35100 43.7 3162117 56 0.65
Seagate ST16000NM002J 16 467 41.7 42086 4 3.47
Seagate ST24000NM002H twenty four 9631 12.2 861587 78 3.3
Toshiba MG07ACA14TA 14 37171 67.1 3368924 179 1.94
Toshiba MG07ACA14TEY 14 989 42.8 89164 6 2.46
Toshiba MG08ACA16TA 16 39932 33.7 3614263 100 1.01
Toshiba MG08ACA16TE 16 6306 51.4 568379 16 1.03
Toshiba MG08ACA16TEY 16 4857 53.5 439243 44 3.66
Toshiba MG09ACA16TE 16 905 6.2 68429 2 1.07
Toshiba MG10ACA20TE 20 25270 12.1 2117524 64 1.1
Toshiba MG11ACA24TE twenty four 9620 5.8 824903 13 0.58
WDC WUH721414ALE6L4 14 8635 64.2 783318 twenty three 1.07
WDC WUH721816ALE6L0 16 2970 53.3 268875 30 4.07
WDC WUH721816ALE6L4 16 26827 37.5 2432374 77 1.16
WDC WUH722222ALE6L4 twenty two 45665 19.1 4146339 63 0.55
WDC WUH722626ALE6L4 26 7212 3.4 462366 12 0.95
total 354415 31553350 1498 1.73


The graph below shows the trend in the mean failure rate by quarter. The 1.73% recorded in the second quarter of 2026 is the highest value in recent years.



The high mean failure rate (MBF) was due to the extremely high MDF rates of 7.63% for the 'HGST HUH721212ALN604,' which was released about 7 years ago, and 9.33% for the 'Seagate ST10000NM0086 (10TB),' which was released about 8 and a half years ago. On the other hand, the three drives with zero failures were the 'Seagate ST8000NM000A (8TB),' 'Seagate T12000NM000J (12TB),' and 'Seagate ST14000NM000J (14TB).'

The following table shows the 'lifetime failure rate' for drive models that recorded more than 500 drives and a cumulative operating time of more than 100,000 days by the end of the second quarter of 2026. The overall average failure rate increased slightly year-on-year to 1.41%.

Manufacturer Model Size (TB) Number of units in operation Average operating period (months) Total number of operating days Number of failures Annual average failure rate (%)
HGST HUH721212ALE600 12 2599 77.4 6351520 111 0.64
HGST HUH721212ALE604 12 13196 57.7 25209144 1224 1.77
HGST HUH721212ALN604 12 9694 79.8 27776092 1858 2.44
Seagate ST8000DM002 8 6903 107.3 33679046 1418 1.54
Seagate ST8000NM0055 8 13112 97.1 46308955 2515 1.98
Seagate ST10000NM0086 10 965 92.1 3652808 328 3.28
Seagate ST12000NM0007 12 972 31.7 37413220 2307 2.25
Seagate ST12000NM0008 12 18521 69.8 44683877 2612 2.13
Seagate ST12000NM000J 12 1079 21.5 730603 twenty two 1.1
Seagate ST12000NM001G 12 13177 62.3 26300571 723 1
Seagate ST14000NM001G 14 10498 61.2 20975305 795 1.38
Seagate ST14000NM0138 14 1235 56 2878064 464 5.88
Seagate ST16000NM001G 16 35100 43.1 47227179 876 0.68
Seagate ST24000NM002H twenty four 9631 12.1 3640687 323 3.24
Toshiba MG07ACA14TA 14 37171 65.4 78387008 2293 1.07
Toshiba MG07ACA14TEY 14 989 41.1 1324965 64 1.76
Toshiba MG08ACA16TA 16 39932 33.2 41520709 1213 1.07
Toshiba MG08ACA16TE 16 6306 49.9 10113070 341 1.23
Toshiba MG08ACA16TEY 16 4857 52.1 8475023 564 2.43
Toshiba MG09ACA16TE 16 905 6.1 169812 6 1.29
Toshiba MG10ACA20TE 20 25270 12.1 9324427 202 0.79
Toshiba MG11ACA24TE twenty four 9620 5.8 1694377 twenty three 0.5
WDC WUH721414ALE6L4 14 8635 63.5 17127349 254 0.54
WDC WUH721816ALE6L0 16 2970 52.8 4934292 162 1.2
WDC WUH721816ALE6L4 16 26827 37.2 30895588 471 0.56
WDC WUH722222ALE6L4 twenty two 45665 19 26618389 423 0.58
WDC WUH722626ALE6L4 26 7212 3.4 736527 17 0.84
total 353041 558148607 21609 1.41


According to Backblaze, the industry as a whole is steadily moving towards larger capacity drives, and while drives of 20TB or more were once rare at Backblaze, they have grown to account for more than 25% of the total dataset in the second quarter of 2026. Going forward, new HDD deployments will continue to focus on high capacity.

As part of the topic of increasing capacity, Backblaze discussed 'Small Magnetic Recording (SMR) drives.' Unlike conventional magnetic recording (CMR), where recording tracks are arranged in a single row, SMR tracks overlap like roof tiles. By overlapping parts of each track with the next, more data can be stored while remaining readable, and depending on the implementation, this could increase capacity by approximately 10% to 25%. However, while SMR can improve both cost per terabyte and power consumption, Backblaze explained that because the overlapping tracks make the shape of the workload important, data placement and other factors are crucial, and it cannot be simply replaced. As of September 2026, Backblaze's drive lineup does not include SMR drives, but SMR is being developed throughout the hard drive industry, and its introduction in the future is possible.



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