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Backblaze stats on 27,000 hard drives show which ones keep on ticking
When your business value proposition is delivering inexpensive, reliable cloud backup for thousands of customers, you're going to learn a thing or two about drive reliability. The Backblaze team has been sharing that HDD savvy (gleaned from several years' experience and more than 75 petabytes of storage) in a series of blog posts over the past couple of months, and we've been fascinated to note their discoveries. Now Brian Beach at Backblaze has addressed the eternal question: What hard drive should I buy? BB's StoragePods are packed with consumer-grade hard drives just like the ones you'd buy at Costco or Best Buy, so it's reasonable to use Backblaze's failure stats as a proxy for how these drives might perform on your very own desk with your very own Mac. Granted, drives in a StoragePod are in more continuous use and subject to more vibration than a home-use drive, so your mileage may vary. Of the 27,000-plus drives running in Backblaze's server racks, the vast majority (almost 13,000 each) are Seagate or Hitachi models. There are only a couple of drives that Backblaze won't buy or try -- WD's Green 3TB drives and Seagate LP (low power) 2TB models -- because the BB StoragePod environment doesn't agree with them, possibly due to vibration sensitivity on spin-down/spin-up. Other than that, the company buys drives on a commodity basis, going with the best GB/$ ratio available at a given point in time. Best of the BB batch? Hitachi/HGST's Deskstar 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB models. Beach says, "If the price were right, we would be buying nothing but Hitachi drives. They have been rock solid, and have had a remarkably low failure rate." At the moment, due to price fluctuations, the drives of choice are a Seagate HDD.15 4 TB unit and the Western Digital 3 TB Red. As Beach notes, however, Hitachi's storage unit (originally purchased from IBM in 2002) has been bought (and split) in the past two years, with the 3.5-inch business going to Toshiba and the 2.5-inch product line going to WD. Although HGST is still marketing and making the Deskstar line, it's likely that technology will settle under the Toshiba brand in the future.
Report: Two-thirds of Kickstarter projects have yet to deliver
According to research unveiled earlier this month from Evil as a Hobby, video game Kickstarter projects have shown a delivery rate of 37 percent. The findings are a result of manual data collection during the turn of the new year of 366 total successful projects funded from 2009 through 2012, all of which was divulged in a separate post on the site. The data set notes that 357 successfully-funded projects were due for release before January 2014, of which 2.8 percent were formally canceled by their creators and an additional 2.2 percent were formally listed as "on hiatus." Interestingly enough, those rates decreased year-over-year, with the cancellation rate of 2012's 262 projects set at just 1.9 percent. Evil as a Hobby found that the monetary value of the 119 delivered projects amounts to $16,879,712, which compared to that of the 149 as-yet-undelivered projects: $21,964,861. It's important to keep in mind that 58 percent of the projects are ongoing; each may still deliver to their respective backers. So, the 37 percent delivery rate ultimately denotes the rate at which developers are missing their initial deadlines, which may not be all that uncommon in the gaming space. Steadily decreasing failure and cancellation rates do indicate a maturation of the crowdfunding space as it relates to video games, a growth seen in our own Crowdfund Bookie's findings. During a six-month period in 2013, 186 video game projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo earned over $23 million collectively. [Image: Evil as a Hobby]
Backblaze stats show most/least reliable hard drives: Hitachi leads the pack with lowest annual failure rate
Online backup firm Backblaze has a lot of consumer-grade hard disk drives spinning away in their open-source Backblaze Storage Pods -- 27,134 at the end of 2013, to be exact. Over the past several months they've been providing us with statistics generated by keeping an eye on all of those drives. First they told us how long a hard disk drive should last, followed by some info on whether or not those pricey enterprise-grade drives really last longer than cheap consumer-grade drives. Now they're back with a blog post on what company makes the most reliable hard drives. With the caveat that these are consumer-grade drives being used in a very high-vibration environment under stressful conditions, Backblaze's Brian Beach noted that they've excluded the Western Digital Green 3 TB and Seagate LP (low power) 2 TB drives. These drives tend to spin down when not in use and then spin right back up, which causes a lot of wear and tear and a high failure rate in the Backblaze environment. It's not that they're bad drives -- they're just not suited for the high-stress environment of a storage farm. As you can see in the graphic at the top of this post (taken from the Backblaze study), Hitachi drives tend to have the lowest annual failure rates for Backblaze, followed by Western Digital drives. Seagate drives have a much higher failure rate, although the larger 3 and 4 TB drives tend to be more reliable than the 1.5 TB model. Of the 1.5 TB Seagate drives, the Barracuda LP is the most reliable, but the Barracuda Green drives are -- to quote Beach -- "dropping like flies." Beach notes that "if the price were right, we would be buying nothing but Hitachi drives. They have been rock solid, and have had a remarkably low failure rate." I've always been a fan of Western Digital drives, so I was happy to see that they also tend to be survivors in the Backblaze world. You can see the relative survival rates for Hitachi, Western Digital and Seagate drives in the graphic at the bottom of this post. For a more detailed look, be sure to read Beach's blog post over on the Backblaze site.
Digital Foundry examines why 360 and PS3 can't take the heat
You could make the argument that system reliability has been the preeminent conversation of this console generation, but it's one often clouded by speculation and a lack of reliable information. Digital Foundry talked to Darren Thickbroom, an engineer for an independent console workshop, who offered a lot of revealing insight into the issue. Thickbroom explained that the massive amount of heat generated by the HD systems -- exacerbated by high-end technology crammed into a small compartment -- contribute to their eventual demise (and all because you played on them so often). And like many "exclusive" games this generation, this is by no means constrained to one console. Though Xbox 360 failure rates are abysmal, Thickbroom noted that more PS3s have been appearing in his workshop. His gloomy prognosis? "It comes down to how much you play it. People might disagree with us, but this is the way we see it: if you handle the machines day-in, day-out with the issues they've got, I'd expect to change them every year." We have the same rule for our underwear, so that part should be easy to remember.
Microsoft responds to Xbox 360 54.2 percent failure rate report, doesn't dispute the data
Admittedly, when we saw Game Informer's survey that pegged Xbox 360's failure rate at 54.2 percent, we were thinking that was a bit steep of a number, possibly bumped up a few digits from some possible sampling errors. So when we were gearing up to read Microsoft's statement responding to the data, we fully expected some harsh rebuttal of the number. Turns out we got disappointed. A spokesperson for Redmond pointed to its superior entertainment value, its "best warranty in the industry" and its "constantly improving design, manufacture, and performance." At no point is there a dispute or even direct reference to the findings, which is really something that could've helped public perception on a nagging issue. How about taking a page from Fujifilm, eh Microsoft?
Survey finds Xbox 360 is played five times as often as Wii, five times more likely to fail than PS3
Ready for some numbers this morning? Some scary, scary numbers for Xbox 360 gamers? Game Informer, current king of the smoldering ruins of the print gaming magazine empire, polled about 5,000 of its readers to get a feel for their gaming experiences, including just how many of them had unlocked the fabled "Red Ring of Death" achievement. We'd heard estimates ranging from 16 to 30 percent, but even the most pessimistic guesses don't line up with the survey's findings of a staggeringly high 54.2 percent failure rate. That's five times higher than the PS3's 10.6 percent, with the Wii coming in at 6.8 percent. Mind you, the Xbox 360 was the most played console, with over 40 percent of Xbox gamers button mashing for three to five hours a day, compared to 37 percent of PS3 gamers, and less than an hour's worth of gaming per day for 41.4 percent of Wii owners. However, game consoles should be designed to shrug off marathon sessions and just keep on spewing polygons, something that the first revisions of Microsoft's baby obviously couldn't manage. That said, there are some problems with this survey; as far as we can tell there was no verification made that respondents actually own the consoles that they indicated they did, and we all know how people like having fun at Microsoft's expense. Also, the survey was naturally only of readers of the magazine itself, who don't necessarily line up with the gaming world at large. But, it's impossible to deny there's truth in these numbers. Indeed, it's hard not to think they're too low, as you'll be hard-pressed to find an original Xbox 360 that hasn't thrown up the three-light salute. Even so, there's nothing to be proud of in Sony's 10.6 percent failure rate, or even Nintendo's 6.8, particularly given that system's relative lack of attention. All are much higher than the three percent most consumer electronics companies strive for -- and that Microsoft initially (incorrectly) claimed its console was managing. [Via TG Daily, The Consumerist]
Game Informer: Xbox 360 at 54.2 percent failure rate
digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/17/game-informer-xbox-360-at-54-2-percent-failure-rate/'; The latest issue of Game Informer contains a surprising statistic for anyone who's ever loved and lost their Microsoft-branded home console – according to their survey, in which over 5,000 console owners participated, the Xbox 360's current failure rate due to the Red Ring of Death, E74 or other hardware failure is 54.2 percent. They also calculated the relative death toll for PS3s due to the Yellow Light of Death (10.3 percent) and Wiis, due to ... well, we're not actually sure what color the Wii's light turns to upon its demise (6.8 percent). Unfortunately, for having the highest failure rate, survey participants also pinned Microsoft for having the least helpful customer service representatives. Not that it matters – later in the survey, only 3.8 percent of participants said they'd never buy another Xbox 360 due to its high failure rate. Speaking of which, we're not sure what future techno-utopia this poll was conducted in, but a 54.2 percent Xbox 360 failure rate sounds awfully low. Had the survey's participants been comprised entirely of Joystiq staffers, it would have been a bone-chilling 100 percent. [Via Consumerist]
Dell denies 20 - 30% return rates for SSD-laptops
Alright Avian Securities, looks like you might have some explaining to do. Dell claims that the 20 to 30% failure and return rates for SSD laptops cited by Avian's report "don't even vaguely resemble what's happening in our business." Dell says it wasn't contacted in the study, and that "global reliability data shows that SSD drives are equal to or better than traditional hard disk drives we've shipped." The company says that return rates are "are in line with our expectations for new technology," and an "order of magnitude" better than what is being reported. To be fair to Avian, the original report cited an unnamed "large computer manufacturer," which some in the press assumed meant Dell, thought it was never said explicitly. It looks like we're going to need some more hard facts from both sides to get the true picture of SSD reliability and customer satisfaction, but for now let's nobody panic.
Xbox 360 failure rate at 16 percent?
Warranty seller SquareTrade, sampling from a pool of over 1,000 claims, says that it's seeing an Xbox 360 failure rate at around 16 percent. Most Xbox 360 owners -- at least the early adopters -- don't just fear the RRoD, they've come to expect it, and compared to projected failure rates of 3% for the Wii and PS3 (a stat Microsoft claimed initially), it's obvious that this continues to be a spendy problem for Microsoft and a headache for its customers. As 1UP points out, the 16% stat might be a little high, since the type of user that would seek out a separate warranty is probably more of a power user, and the majority of problems are heat-related, but whatever the true number is, it'll probably continue to rise in the immediate future as we all CoD4 our gen one 360s to death, and then eventually fall as the 65nm and eventually 45nm Xboxes fill the market. [Via Joystiq]
Xbox 360 failure rate at 16%, warranty provider reports
Working with a sufficient sample size of over 1,000 claims, SquareTrade, a warranty seller, has projected the Xbox 360 failure rate at 16.4% -- and likely climbing. Comparatively, the company reports failure rates hovering around 3% for PlayStation 3 and Wii, based on less accurate sample sizes numbering in the hundreds. SquareTrade found that the ghoulish "Red Ring of Death" accounted for 60% of hardware failures it's documented and supposes that figure could keep growing. "It is reasonable to believe these failure rates will increase over time, since the Xbox 360 failure issues tend to increase with prolonged use where overheating appears the main culprit," SquareTrade CEO Steve Abernethy told 1UP.Admittedly, SquareTrade does not track specific versions of the console, but it's fair to assume, as Abernethy does, that "most, if not all" recorded hardware failures have occurred with the original Xbox 360 motherboard. Microsoft openly acknowledged these defects (and has apparently improved the design of the console versions currently on the market) when it made a costly, but necessary extension of its Xbox 360 warranty last summer. True, the Xbox 360 failure rate may continue to grow in the short term, as more original units start to glow red, but it could conceivably shrink in the coming years as the revised hardware install base overtakes the original population. 1UP also notes that SqaureTrade's reported Xbox 360 failure rate may suffer from a lack of randomness within its sample pool. That is, frequent console users are more likely than casual users to seek out the services of a warranty provider, and are also more likely to experience hardware failure due to overheating from constant usage; thus, SquareTrade's samples are likely skewed by a disproportionate number of this user type. This doesn't discredit SquareTrade's findings, but it serves as a reminder that an absolute measure of Xbox 360's failure rate is difficult to determine.
Store managers detail PS3 failure rate at less than 1%
The inquisitive folks over at Ripten decided to do a little research on the failure rate of current next-gen consoles. Their conclusions should come as no surprise, with the PS3 resulting in a low failure rate. What is surprising however, is the failure rate for one console in particular appears to be higher than previously anticipated. An EB Games associate singled out the Xbox 360 console by advising "failure rates for all other consoles were not high enough for EB to consider revising their policies" further claiming the failure rate of the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii to be "less than one percent." An EB Games manager reiterated the low failure rates of the Nintendo Wii by exclaiming that "zero [consoles] have come back defective." A Best Buy manager then went on record saying "a quarter to a third" Xbox 360 consoles sold, come back defective, confirming the 33% failure rate percentage. The methods used to determine failure rates for these consoles appear to be too elementary to really prove anything concrete. Nevertheless, this story allows us to breathe a little bit easier, as it continues to prove our console of choice can still fold like a champ and have a longer lifespan than that of its direct competition.[Via digg]
Micromart won't repair three red light 360s
UK electronics repair specialist Micromart is throwing in the towel in the war against the red ring of death. Micromart, who acts as a repair service for major retailers, announced that their company will no longer fix Xbox 360s that display the three ring of light error stating that its a problem that is both too common and too expensive to fix. "We were seeing about 30 a week before we pulled the plug on the service" said a Micromart rep and that the motherboard is the main cause of failure in the consoles. Micromart will still repair 360s that display other errors, but from now on will be directing customers to Microsoft if they experience three red light problems.The negative press the Xbox 360 has been receiving due to hardware failures keeps on surfacing. How long will it take until Microsoft cracks and either discusses the problem or acknowledges that they are looking into resolving the hardware failures? Only time will tell, but we have to agree that this is getting a little old by now.[Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]
Xbox 360's failure rate at 30%?
The Xbox 360's biggest source of negative press revolves around one glaring issue ... its perceived failure rate. And the media keeps churning out the bitterness.After writing an article on the Xbox 360's potential problems, tech site Smarthouse started receiving emails from customers who've had bricked 360 experiences. And after receiving more than 100 horror story emails and getting info from an Aussie EB Games manager, they're estimating that the Xbox 360's failure rate is somewhere around 30%. Though, this magical 30% failure rate number is coming from one EB Games manager, which Smarthouse feels can be justified since they've received numerous broken 360 emails. So, take such mathematical analysis for what it's worth.We can't emphasize enough that the hardware failure issue is one of the only problems that has tainted the 360's image. Yet our friends over in Redmond refuse to address the problem specifically. Our experiences at X3F have been mixed as I'm on my third 360 and both David and Richard are still cooking along on their original consoles. What about you, how many 360s have you gone through?
