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Are Hard Drive Prices Going Up?

L

larrytucaz

Senior member
I've been looking around at portable hard drives, for backing up system images, and if my mind isn't going bonkers, it seems like the prices are going UP.

It's been some 2 years ago when I was able to 2T portable hard drives for $70, brand new, and when I look now 1T models are going for that much. (During that time I easily got a 1T for $50 or sometimes even $40, again, new.) What gives?
 
I did some reading on the topic, to see if my perspective was skewed.

Not at all--one person mentioned how they were able to easily get a 2T model for $70 before the 2011 floods. Now, it's all you can do to find one for $100.

Computers and their components have always been things you could count on to decrease, or at least hold steady, in their prices even as their speed, performance, and capacity IMPROVED. Why should that be any different now? The Thailand floods were 4 years ago at this point. It's silly that it's still being used as an excuse for higher prices.

In fact, I would even go so far as to say that I think this is something the government should get involved in. I think there's something shady going on. If I was able to so easily get a 2T model, new, for $70 as I was, and in fact that was AFTER the Thailand floods (I got it sometime in 2012 as I recall), there is NO WAY I should be having to pay MORE for it now. That just makes no sense.

The other thing that makes no sense, although I doubt it's for similar reasons (or is it?)--you hardly see portable hard drives for sale on Craiglist anymore (that's where I got the $70 one sometime in 2012, and I'm glad now I splurged and got 2 of them, giving me two-2T models for $140 vs the $200 I'd be paying now). Whenever I go looking, there is NOTHING there. You see plenty in terms of entire computer systems, but practically nothing with respect to portable hard drives. I don't get it (unless people have assumed a "hoarding" stance with these as they have with .22 bullets).
 
was actually thinking about posting a thread asking about this. Bought a couple WD reds right before the floods at a good price and now looking to upgrade storage some more and prices seem the same or higher still. Still see sales, but the vast majority are on external models or laptop versions probably feeling pressure from falling SSD prices. Not sure why internal drive prices are non-competitive compared to the other types.
 
lupi said:
was actually thinking about posting a thread asking about this. Bought a couple WD reds right before the floods at a good price and now looking to upgrade storage some more and prices seem the same or higher still. Still see sales, but the vast majority are on external models or laptop versions probably feeling pressure from falling SSD prices. Not sure why internal drive prices are non-competitive compared to the other types.
Click to expand...

It's just the market forces at work. Demand didn't go down even after production resumed so why slash prices?
 
Prices now are comparable with before the flood in 2011. IIRC, a bare 2TB driver could be had for about $70, today a 2TB WD Green is $79. But hard drives have increased in size in that 3 1/2 years and today the sweet spot is 3TB and 4TB drives. Smaller drives in a product line will always be more expensive per TB, and 2TB drives are now the smallest available drives in Western Digital's Green line.

Compared to _two_ years ago, however, there's little doubt that prices have come down.
 
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