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  • =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=9CAre_Hard_Drives_Getting_Better=3F_Let=E2=80=99s_?==?UTF-8?Q?Revisit_the_Bathtub_Curve=E2=80=9D?=

    From Lynn McGuire@[email protected] to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt on Thu Oct 16 23:01:28 2025
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage

    “Are Hard Drives Getting Better? Let’s Revisit the Bathtub Curve”

    https://www.backblaze.com/blog/are-hard-drives-getting-better-lets-revisit-the-bathtub-curve/

    “If you’ve hung around Backblaze for a while (and especially if you’re a Drive Stats fan), you may have heard us talking about the bathtub curve.
    In Drive Failure Over Time: The Bathtub Curve Is Leaking, we challenged
    one of reliability engineering’s oldest ideas—the notion that drive failures trace a predictable U-shaped curve over time.”

    “But, the data didn’t agree. Our fleet showed dips, spikes, and plateaus that refused to behave. Now, after 13 years of continuous data, the
    picture is clearer—and stranger. ”

    “The bathtub curve isn’t just leaking, and the shape of reliability
    might look more like an ankle-high wall at the entrance to a walk-in
    shower. The neat story of early failures, calm middle age, and gentle
    decline no longer fits the world our drives inhabit. Drives are getting better—or, more precisely, the Drive Stats dataset says that our drives
    are performing better in data center environments.”

    I suspect that the hard drive manufacturers are getting better at
    telling which drives will fail early.

    Lynn

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Char Jackson@[email protected] to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt on Mon Oct 20 23:31:04 2025
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage

    On Thu, 16 Oct 2025 23:01:28 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    �Are Hard Drives Getting Better? Let�s Revisit the Bathtub Curve�

    https://www.backblaze.com/blog/are-hard-drives-getting-better-lets-revisit-the-bathtub-curve/

    �If you�ve hung around Backblaze for a while (and especially if you�re a >Drive Stats fan), you may have heard us talking about the bathtub curve.
    In Drive Failure Over Time: The Bathtub Curve Is Leaking, we challenged
    one of reliability engineering�s oldest ideas�the notion that drive
    failures trace a predictable U-shaped curve over time.�

    �But, the data didn�t agree. Our fleet showed dips, spikes, and plateaus >that refused to behave. Now, after 13 years of continuous data, the
    picture is clearer�and stranger. �

    �The bathtub curve isn�t just leaking, and the shape of reliability
    might look more like an ankle-high wall at the entrance to a walk-in
    shower. The neat story of early failures, calm middle age, and gentle >decline no longer fits the world our drives inhabit. Drives are getting >better�or, more precisely, the Drive Stats dataset says that our drives
    are performing better in data center environments.�

    I suspect that the hard drive manufacturers are getting better at
    telling which drives will fail early.

    It all sounds like good news to me.

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2