Hard Drive Prices

[Compman55]

With the flood that spiked hard drive prices, when can we expect them to fall back down. I still find most offereings to still be quite expensive.

Over the next few months, I plan to build a new server for home use and want 2 drives that are 1TB a piece, or maybe 2TB a piece only if the price is right.

 

[MarkDLeach]

Ive been seeing them drop to a somewhat reasonable price already. Sure they are not at their 2011 prices again but I mean they are finally down to about $130 for 2TB compared to $85 from before the floods.

 

[BFG10K]

WD expects full manufacturing capacity by July this year: http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/storag..._58_Million_HDDs_per_Quarter_This_Summer.html

 

[bononos]

Great news... But will disk prices only slide down slowly because of the big backlog of soon-to-be harddrive purchases.

 

[Puppies04]

Great news... But will disk prices only slide down slowly because of the big backlog of soon-to-be harddrive purchases.

Sorry I don't have a link but I read a report from some industry insider who was basically saying there wasn't actually ever a "real" shortage. It was just every company that installs hdds was buying up as many as they could get their hands on "just in case". He summarised by saying the prices should pretty much drop back to their previous prices as soon as full manufacturing capacity or close to full is achieved.

 

[greenhawk]

the prices are getting back down to some what reasonable levels (ie: prices from a year or two ago), but getting back to pre-flood levels will be a while (if the models are not replaced first) will be a while longer. Partly as people that have been putting off buying will be getting back into the market and the others that must have one will still be buying. The dates I have heard keep getting moved back. Normal production might be mid year, but preflood prices were listed in one article to be Christmas.

I just purchased some last weekend as it was easier than finding what could be deleted.

in short, if you want one or two drives, just get them (if you can find a place that does not have a 1 per customer limit still, like most online ones in this country). If wanting several, best to get what you need and make sure you have the option to expand the storage without needing to backup everything. As to which drives, better value in the 2TB drives.

 

[Bman123]

I know i built my rig in november and ended up paying $54 for a 320gb drive, that really hurt. I have so many dvd's that I want to rip to my pc but I can't do it until the prices come way down.

 

[billyb0b]

They will come down as manufacturing ramps up to meet the demand and hopefully more to provide some surplus. Give it some time. I want to buy 2 RE4 WD drives for a NAS and really don't want to pay $450 for each 2tb drive =(

 

[Lonyo]

Give it time.

 

[C1]

Sorry I don't have a link but I read a report from some industry insider who was basically saying there wasn't actually ever a "real" shortage. It was just every company that installs hdds was buying up as many as they could get their hands on "just in case". He summarised by saying the prices should pretty much drop back to their previous prices as soon as full manufacturing capacity or close to full is achieved.

So what's going on in the HDD manufacturing sector?
There's effectively nothing on the shelves locally here at Frys Electronics San Diego even including portable externals. Nothing new seems to have hit the shelves and Newegg prices for 2.5" drives hasnt budged and judging by the reviews, it looks like NE is trying to recycle returned drives (ie, too many people reporting in about receiving defective/unreliable 2.5" WDs).