Most storage devices have an average lifespan of around 3 to 5 years, but this number varies depending on the type of storage and how it is used.
Traditional HDDs tend to wear out faster due to their moving parts, often failing sooner than SSDs, which last longer under typical workloads. MicroSD cards usually degrade quicker with heavy write cycles.
Several factors can affect this lifespan, including continuous operation, which places constant strain on components; storage conditions, such as temperature, humidity, and physical handling; and failure variability, since not all drives fail at the same rate even within the same model.
Studies on survival rates show that some drives last far beyond the average, while others fail early due to component failures like faulty controllers, motors, or NAND cells. Ultimately, the actual lifespan of a storage device depends on both its technology and the conditions in which it operates.
| Capacity | MFR/TYPE | MODEL | DRIVES IN OPERATION | LIFETIME DRIVE FAILURES | LIFETIME DRIVE DAYS | LIFETIME AFR |
| 4TB | HGST (Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) | HMS5C4040ALE640 | — | — | — | 0.40% |
| 4TB | HGST (Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) | HMS5C4040BLE640 | — | — | — | 0.57% |
| 8TB | Seagate | ST8000NM000A | — | — | — | 0.34% |
| 8TB | Seagate | ST8000DM002 | — | — | — | 1.13% |
| 12TB | Seagate | ST12000NM001G | — | — | — | 0.99% |
| 12TB | HGST (Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) | HUH721212ALN604 | — | — | — | 0.48% |
| 14TB | Toshiba | MG07ACA14TA | 39,000 | 1,828 | 64,800,000 | 1.03% |
| 14TB | Western Digital (WD) | WUH721414ALE6L4 | 8,800 | 190 | 13,978,000 | 0.50% |
| 14TB | Seagate | ST14000NM000G | 11,250 | 663 | 17,140,000 | 1.41% |
| 16TB | Toshiba | MG08ACA16TA | 41,000 | 858 | 27,000,000 | 1.16% |
| 16TB | Western Digital (WD) | WUH721816ALE6L0 | 3,070 | 78 | 3,848,000 | 0.74% |
| 16TB | Western Digital (WD) | WUH721818ALE6L4 | 26,783 | 220 | 21,175,632 | 0.38% |
| 18TB | Seagate | Exos X18 (ST18000NM000J) | — | — | — | 1.10% |
| 18TB | Western Digital (WD) | Ultrastar DC HC550 (WUH721818ALE6L4) | — | — | — | 0.35% |
| 20TB | Seagate | Exos X20 (ST20000NM007D) | — | — | — | 0.89% |
| 20TB | Toshiba | MG09ACA20TE | — | — | — | 0.65% |
| 22TB | Western Digital (WD) | Ultrastar DC HC570 | — | — | — | 0.47% |
| 22TB | Seagate | Exos X22 (ST22000NM000E) | — | — | — | 0.92% |
There are several warning signs that indicate a hard drive failure rate. Recognizing these symptoms early can help you back up important data before the drive stops working completely.
The 13 main signs of a hard drive failure are listed below.
This sign means that the operating system or BIOS cannot detect the hard drive, or the drive intermittently disconnects during use. It usually points to severe hardware issues such as controller failure, PCB damage, or degraded connections. The likelihood of complete drive failure is high, and urgent backup attempts should be made if the drive reappears even briefly.
SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) tracks drive health metrics like reallocated sectors, pending sectors, and read error rates. When SMART issues a warning, it means the drive has detected a high probability of imminent failure. The chance of failure is very high, as studies show that once attributes cross thresholds, most drives fail within weeks or months.
Bad sectors are areas of the disk that can no longer reliably store data. A few isolated ones may not mean immediate failure, but a steady increase strongly indicates the drive is degrading. The chance of failure is medium-to-high.
Sluggish performance, such as files taking abnormally long to open, often results from the drive retrying reads due to bad sectors. This symptom builds gradually and indicates a medium-to-high chance of eventual failure.
If the system cannot load the operating system because the drive’s boot sector or system files are unreadable, it often means severe corruption or physical damage. The likelihood of failure is very high.
Overheating, burning odors, or visible PCB damage mean electronic components are failing. These symptoms carry a very high chance of total failure, often with little warning.
If the drive won’t spin or keeps attempting to with clicking noises, the spindle motor may be stuck or failing. This is a complete mechanical breakdown with an absolute chance of failure.
When the operating system cannot mount the drive or reports corrupted metadata, it suggests severe corruption or failing sectors. The chance of failure is medium-to-high.
Hard drive lifespan can be estimated using the manufacturer’s MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) or TBW (Terabytes Written, for SSDs) rating.
For example:
On average, laptop hard drives last between 3 to 5 years before failure risk rises significantly.
Hard drive lifespan refers to the expected amount of time a drive can operate before wearing out. Hard drive failure rate refers to the statistical probability of a drive failing within that time frame. Understanding these metrics is also important when considering erasing hard drive data before disposal. lifespan measures time, while failure rate measures risk.
