Are There Manufacturer Differences in Hard-Drive Reliability?

Based on the Backblaze hard disk drive (HDD) dataset, we analyze whether the four major HDD manufacturers represented in the dataset – HGST, Seagate, Toshiba, Western Digital (WD) – show differences in short- to medium-term HDD failure rates. Using two different duration regression models, we find – holding constant drive age, capacity, form-factor, and drive temperature – that Toshiba’s failure rate is slightly above Seagate’s. HGST HDD failure rates are the lowest, about 41% of Seagate’s. WD HDD failure rates are significantly above HGST’s, but still only about 52% of Seagate’s. We also document the effects of age, capacity, temperature and drive location on failure rates.