Fleet failure rate

1.34% avg AFR across all Backblaze-tracked models.

CMR vs SMR

137 CMR (RAID-safe) · 16 SMR (avoid in arrays).

Coverage

15 capacity tiers with a live FR price.

Best value ($/TB) by capacity

TBCheapest driveTech$/TBPrice
26 WUH722626ALE6L4 WD Ultrastar DC HC590 CMR $64.26 €1,547
24 ST24000NM002H Seagate Exos X24 CMR $43.42 €965
22 ST22000NM001E Seagate Exos X22 CMR $32.40 €660
20 ST20000VE002 Seagate SkyHawk AI CMR $32.63 €604
18 ST18000NM000J Seagate Exos X18 CMR $37.33 €622
16 ST16000NM001G Seagate Exos X16 CMR $30.56 €453
14 HDWR31G Toshiba X300 CMR $34.62 €449
12 ST12000VN0008 Seagate IronWolf CMR $44.82 €498
10 WUS721010ALE6L4 WD Ultrastar DC HC330 CMR $40.99 €380
8 ST8000DM004 Seagate BarraCuda SMR $41.77 €309
6 WD60EZAX WD Blue CMR $43.55 €242
4 ST4000VX016 Seagate SkyHawk CMR $53.83 €199
3 WD30EFAX WD Red SMR $64.60 €179
2 ST2000DM008 Seagate BarraCuda SMR $75.55 €140
1 ST1000VX013 Seagate SkyHawk CMR $139.21 €129

Most reliable (lowest AFR)

DriveAFRSample
ST16000NM000J 16TB 0.17% 466
MG11ACA24TE 24TB 0.42% 7,203
WUH722222ALE6L4 22TB 0.45% 45,638
ST16000NM001G 16TB 0.53% 34,729
WUH722626ALE6L4 26TB 0.67% 3,604

Highest AFR (watch list)

DriveAFRSample
HUH721212ALE604 12TB 2.98% 25,665
ST24000NM002H 24TB 2.91% 9,605
MG09ACA16TE 16TB 1.46% 506
MG08ACA16Tx 16TB 1.43% 51,185
ST14000NM001G 14TB 1.24% 10,519

Biggest price drops (FR)

DriveWasNowDrop
HDWG51G 16TB €688 €611 -11%
WD181PURP 18TB €853 €699 -18%
WD101PURP 10TB €507 €393 -23%
WD60EZAX 6TB €288 €242 -16%
WD241KFGX 24TB €1,325 €994 -25%
ST12000NT001 12TB €559 €529 -5%
WD221KFGX 22TB €1,052 €998 -5%
ST6000VN006 6TB €315 €295 -6%
ST4000VX016 4TB €211 €199 -5%
WD60EFPX 6TB €335 €315 -6%

See the live deals feed for the full list.

Method

Failure rates are recomputed from Backblaze's Drive Stats (drive-days and failures) - source: Backblaze thru Q1 2026 - not vendor MTBF numbers; models Backblaze does not track use the manufacturer's series spec. Prices are the cheapest in-stock new Amazon offer per drive in FR, refreshed daily, with $/TB in USD for cross-currency ranking. Explore it all in the full filterable table.