Not sure if any of you’re familiar with the “Seagate FARM log” (Field Access Reliability Metrics), but it apparently has some very good and useful information that could predict the likelihood of future failures.

While I still think that WD (and HGST) products might be better, I think the FARM log is a huge plus that may tilt my preference.

Here are some tidbits:

smartctl 7.5 2025-04-30 r5714 [x86_64-w64-mingw32-w10-22H2] (AppVeyor)
Copyright © 2002-25, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

Seagate Field Access Reliability Metrics log (FARM) (GP Log 0xa6)
FARM Log Page 0: Log Header
FARM Log Version: 4.19
Pages Supported: 6
Log Size: 98304
Page Size: 16384
Heads Supported: 24
Number of Copies: 0
Reason for Frame Capture: 0
FARM Log Page 1: Drive Information
Serial Number: ZR5ESxxx
World Wide Name: 0×5000c50074467xxx
Device Interface: SATA
Device Capacity in Sectors: 31251759104
Physical Sector Size: 4096
Logical Sector Size: 512
Device Buffer Size: 268435456
Number of Heads: 18
Device Form Factor: 3.5 inches
Rotation Rate: 7200 rpm
Firmware Rev: SN02
ATA Security State (ID Word 128): 0×01629
ATA Features Supported (ID Word 78): 0×016cc
ATA Features Enabled (ID Word 79): 0×000000000000004c
Power on Hours: 1121
Spindle Power on Hours: 1105
Head Flight Hours: 666
Head Load Events: 6023
Power Cycle Count: 31
Hardware Reset Count: 43
Spin-up Time: 10 ms
Time to ready of the last power cycle: 20978 ms
Time drive is held in staggered spin: 0 ms
Model Number: ST16000NM000J-2TW103
Drive Recording Type: CMR
Max Number of Available Sectors for Reassignment: 16384
Assembly Date (YYWW): 2409
Depopulation Head Mask: 0
FARM Log Page 2: Workload Statistics
Total Number of Read Commands: 878344361
Total Number of Write Commands: 1129357785
Total Number of Random Read Commands: 63512
Total Number of Random Write Commands: 69415374
Total Number Of Other Commands: 3027848
Logical Sectors Written: 253838547630
Logical Sectors Read: 246360048921
Number of dither events during current power cycle: 240
Number of times dither was held off during random workloads: 755
Number of times dither was held off during sequential workloads: 572486
Number of Read commands from 0-3.125% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 6622160
Number of Read commands from 3.125-25% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 35795850
Number of Read commands from 25-75% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 42830237
Number of Read commands from 75-100% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 64756260
Number of Write commands from 0-3.125% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 9980882
Number of Write commands from 3.125-25% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 41461952
Number of Write commands from 25-75% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 39660992
Number of Write commands from 75-100% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 25558888
FARM Log Page 3: Error Statistics
Unrecoverable Read Errors: 0
Unrecoverable Write Errors: 0
Number of Reallocated Sectors: 18
Number of Read Recovery Attempts: 0
Number of Mechanical Start Failures: 0
Number of Reallocated Candidate Sectors: 0
Number of ASR Events: 14
Number of Interface CRC Errors: 0
Spin Retry Count: 0
Spin Retry Count Normalized: 100
Spin Retry Count Worst: 100
Number of IOEDC Errors (Raw): 0
CTO Count Total: 0
CTO Count Over 5s: 0
CTO Count Over 7.5s: 0
Total Flash LED (Assert) Events: 0
[…]
Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read errors due to ERC: 0
Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 0:
Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 1:
Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
[…]
FARM Log Page 5: Reliability Statistics
Error Rate (SMART Attribute 1 Raw): 0×000000000db0cbd7
Error Rate (SMART Attribute 1 Normalized): 84
Error Rate (SMART Attribute 1 Worst): 64
Seek Error Rate (SMART Attr 7 Raw): 0×00000000098a098a
Seek Error Rate (SMART Attr 7 Normalized): 82
Seek Error Rate (SMART Attr 7 Worst): 60
High Priority Unload Events: 14
Helium Pressure Threshold Tripped: 0
LBAs Corrected By Parity Sector: 0
DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 0: 0
DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 1: 0
[…]
FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 16: 0
FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 17: 0
Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 0: 0
Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 1: 0
Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 2: 0
[…]
Write Power On (sec) by Head 16: 25222
Write Power On (sec) by Head 17: 25903
MR Head Resistance from Head 0: 367
MR Head Resistance from Head 1: 439
MR Head Resistance from Head 2: 390
[…]
Second MR Head Resistance by Head 16: 392
Second MR Head Resistance by Head 17: 425
Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 0: 0
Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 1: 0
Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 2: 0
[…]
Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 17: 0
Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 0: 0
Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 1: 0
Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 2: 0

We used to have an expert on this, but he kinda disappeared from dslreports in the last few years.