That is a very valid criticism, but at the same time, could anyone really do any better? If the manufacturer is going to change the build for the same SKU withi

That is a very valid criticism, but at the same time, could anyone really do any better? If the manufacturer is going to change the build for the same SKU within the time it takes to collect meaningful failure rate data, then I don't know that you can construct a more useful measurement technique than Backblaze has. The data on specific drive models may be of limited reliability, but you do at least get enough data to rank brands based on typical long-term reliability by brand and product line.