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 UK price.

Best value ($/TB) by capacity

TBCheapest driveTech$/TBPrice
26 WUH722626ALE6L4 WD Ultrastar DC HC590 CMR $66.47 £1,361
24 MG11ACA24TE Toshiba MG11 CMR $52.61 £994
22 MG10AFA22TE Toshiba MG10 CMR $49.27 £854
20 ST20000VE002 Seagate SkyHawk AI CMR $32.99 £519
18 ST18000NM000J Seagate Exos X18 CMR $38.10 £540
16 MG08ACA16Tx Toshiba MG08 CMR $30.52 £384
14 WUH721414ALE6L4 WD Ultrastar DC HC530 CMR $35.83 £395
12 ST12000VN0008 Seagate IronWolf CMR $43.29 £409
10 ST10000VN000 Seagate IronWolf CMR $48.26 £380
8 HUS728T8TALE6L4 WD Ultrastar DC HC320 CMR $41.12 £259
6 ST6000DM003 Seagate BarraCuda SMR $44.24 £209
4 ST4000VX016 Seagate SkyHawk CMR $52.39 £165
3 ST3000DM007 Seagate BarraCuda SMR $67.73 £160
2 ST2000VX017 Seagate SkyHawk CMR $78.74 £124
1 ST1000VX013 Seagate SkyHawk CMR $152.37 £120

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 (UK)

DriveWasNowDrop
HDWG21C 12TB £500 £411 -18%
ST12000VE003 12TB £580 £430 -26%
MG10AFA22TE 22TB £1,040 £854 -18%
ST6000VN006 6TB £255 £235 -8%
ST4000VX016 4TB £175 £165 -6%
HDWD260 6TB £263 £248 -6%
ST4000VN006 4TB £185 £166 -10%
HDWG480 8TB £388 £348 -10%
WD60EZAX 6TB £279 £262 -6%
WD221KFGX 22TB £1,060 £969 -9%

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 UK, refreshed daily, with $/TB in USD for cross-currency ranking. Explore it all in the full filterable table.