HDD industry set to fully recover, but keep the prices high!

[AnitaPeterson]

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ne...ood_levels_prices_will_stay_postflood_premium

Is anyone surprised?
Greedy bastards!

 

[MarkLuvsCS]

I wonder if this will push any mid/high end systems to switch to SSDs with smaller bulk storage drives. SSDs are finally getting really reasonable for the size they offer they can be the only drive for a lot of consumers. 128gb drives would be plenty for a lot of consumers, and once they use a machine with an SSD, I don't think they would want to go back.

 

[dma0991]

They're shooting themselves in the foot. I still have plenty of space left till they give in and reduce their prices. SSDs are getting bigger and cheaper with every generation, it will definitely come to a point where HDDs become irrelevant. Greedy pricks.

 

[frostedflakes]

Demand is expected to outstrip supply for a while still (demand will be higher than it was before the flood due to all the people waiting to buy HDDs until prices went down). Remember reading about this months ago, nothing new to industry analysts. Supply is supposed to return to normal by the middle of the year but prices aren't expected to drop to pre-flood levels until 2013 from what I've read.

 

[taltamir]

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ne...ood_levels_prices_will_stay_postflood_premium

Is anyone surprised?
Greedy bastards!

greedy? its supply and demand. You are not entitled to cheap products.

Market forces are at work. There is competition from other HDD companies as well as from the SSD market.
Counteracted with pent up demand from lack of production due to the floods. And combined with psychology (people justify paying more because "supply is low due to floods")

If they recover some losses then good for them. If they think they can keep it high then they are dreaming (this isn't gasoline)

 

[Blain]

"John Rydning, IDC's hard drive guru, claims that the higher price points will let HDD manufacturers pump R&D cash into newfangled HDD technology...

To be fair, though, HDDs were getting ridiculously cheap before the floods."

Sounds like the moniker "greedy" could be applied to spoiled consumers that satiated their hunger for cheap storage prior to the flooding.

 

[iluvdeal]

The duopoly in the hard drive industry won't help the prices drop any quicker either. I use to bitch and moan about stuff like this but that doesn't change anything, now I just accept it and profit off it by buying their stock.

 

[corkyg]

.

Amen! The whole mentality of something for nothing seems to be growing. I guess it is a generational thing. Reminds me of a book I once read - "The Tyranny of Spoiled Brats."

 

[exdeath]

I called it. I even used the gas price analogy myself on this forum. Totally called it.

Personally I don't care, will never touch a magnetic track recording device ever again. Personally I hope they try and keep prices propped up TOO high and shoot themselves in the foot and go bankrupt as everyone says "#$%* you guys" and finally goes SSD. Meanwhile massive competition in SSD market is bringing prices down while makers of obsolete slow and undesirable "technology" try and keep prices inflated.


Now I'm going to make my next call:

Next time the wind blows the wrong direction, DRAM market is next to jump on the "use a natural disaster to reset the market and inflate prices" bandwagon.

 

[taltamir]

Next time the wind blows the wrong direction, DRAM market is next to jump on the "use a natural disaster to reset the market and inflate prices" bandwagon.

No bet, its a given

 

[bryanW1995]

I called it. I even used the gas price analogy myself on this forum. Totally called it.

Personally I don't care, will never touch a magnetic track recording device ever again. Personally I hope they try and keep prices propped up TOO high and shoot themselves in the foot and go bankrupt as everyone says "#$%* you guys" and finally goes SSD. Meanwhile massive competition in SSD market is bringing prices down while makers of obsolete slow and undesirable "technology" try and keep prices inflated.


Now I'm going to make my next call:

Next time the wind blows the wrong direction, DRAM market is next to jump on the "use a natural disaster to reset the market and inflate prices" bandwagon.

No bet, its a given

DRAM is already set to go up with Elpida's BK.

The problem with ssd's is that as long as they're even 20% more expensive per GB, much less an order of magnitude ++, cheap-o bargain basement dells are going to use hdd's, instead. Heck, I just read last light about the Square Kilometer array, they're going to use TAPE DRIVES for that!!! As long as something is cheaper per gb/tb/pb/etc there will be a use for it. HDD's could keep the same price/gb for a LONG time before they would start to lose mainstream customers.

Sorry exdeath, I know that the tape drive revelation was probably quite upsetting to you, I just couldn't figure out a way to say without drama...

 

[Concillian]

I called it. I even used the gas price analogy myself on this forum. Totally called it.

Yep, you called it... along with every poo flinging monkey who was paying attention...It was pretty obvious what would happen.

Personally I hope they try and keep prices propped up TOO high and shoot themselves in the foot and go bankrupt as everyone says "#$%* you guys" and finally goes SSD.

That's a virtually impossible scenario. Seagate and WD is all there is now. One isn't likely to go bankrupt, and there isn't NEARLY enough flash production in this world to support storage demand without HDDs, like well under 10%.

Hope all you want on this one, it's not gonna happen.

Next time the wind blows the wrong direction, DRAM market is next to jump on the "use a natural disaster to reset the market and inflate prices" bandwagon.

Another captain obvious prediction. some DRAM MFRs have significantly cut production already (one by ~50%) plus Elpedia filing for bankruptcy... This started changing direction 6 months ago... The hard drive shortage actually put a damper on the DRAM price increases, as when there actually were HDD shortages, there was less demand for DRAM, which worked against supply reductions to raise prices.

 

[pjkenned]

The hard drive market just went to a Coke & Pepsi model, except making a store brand competitor with a few million is much easier than making a new hard drive brand at several hundred million. Plus, if I went and made a hard drive company tomorrow, would you buy a drive from me? Guessing you would stay with a proven player.

 

[groberts101]

sheesh.. how many time does this discussion need to be rehashed around here.

HDD will not disappear any time soon since the data storage requirements of todays media is far outpacing SSD size increases and price drops. We're surely getting closer.. but will be at LEAST another 5 years before SSD is a viable solution for most budget conscious users.

I'm still amazed at how few average PC/Mac/laptop users have even heard of an SSD.. let alone actually used one yet. As mentioned above.. until most folks can buy a turn-key Dell with a huge SSD for the same price as one with an even larger HDD?.. they will continue to overlook these SSD's as a viable substitute. And especially when the OEM's price gouge to slip an SSD into the machine as an option.

 

[jhansman]

I'm still amazed at how few average PC/Mac/laptop users have even heard of an SSD.

My brother was showing off his shiny, new MacBook Pro when I made the mistake of asking "What does it use for storage, an SSD?" He just looked at me with bewildered stare and mumbled "I dunno..,"
Y'all remember when, just before the floods, 2TB drives were well under $100?

 

[StrangerGuy]

What's so surprising. HDD manufacturers are so incestious with each other that they are a monopoly except in name.

 

[fuzzymath10]

Maybe piracy will go down. After all, the ones who would pay the current prices are probably the ones who actually rely on huge amounts of data to earn income, or have expensive hobbies (e.g. photography or movie making) meaning they can afford it anyway

Even at $200, 2TB is about ten cents per gig. Other than the "low water" price from before, this is still a very fair price on an absolute scale. If that difference makes or breaks buying a drive today, then what is being stored is clearly not that important.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Even at $200, 2TB is about ten cents per gig. Other than the "low water" price from before, this is still a very fair price on an absolute scale. If that difference makes or breaks buying a drive today, then what is being stored is clearly not that important.

I might consider $100 per TB a fair deal, IF they would offer real five-year warranties. If the warranty is only one year, then I would consider $20 per TB a fair price, since I would likely have to replace them after every year.

 

[lamedude]

If the Carpathia would grow a pair and tell the EFF to get lost there would be 25PB of storage back on the market. But since people didn't make backups they have put on this MegaUpload will be back so you can get your files back charade.
What also grinds my gears is those 10 hour videos of nyan cat and other memes. So many GB's wasted on lulz.

 

[Blain]

Now I'm going to make my next call:

Next time the wind blows the wrong direction, DRAM market is next to jump on the "use a natural disaster to reset the market and inflate prices" bandwagon.

You're a little late with that call...
Posted 01-08-12 post #3

 

[taltamir]

You're a little late with that call...
Posted 01-08-12 post #3

oh man that brings up memories.
My advice to him is still the best advice out there

Sell it now, get cash in pocket.
Eventually comes, buy better ram for a fraction of the price.

End up with more, better hardware AND more cash in pocket. Miss out on nothing.

 

[Smoblikat]

Prices are WAY too inflated now, 100$ for a 500gb caviar blue?

I think 45$ for a 500 is fine, 65$ for a 1tb, id go up to 85 on a 2TB.

 

[richaron]

meh. people are still buying, so no incentive to drop prices.

i'm already waiting for a new cpu & gpu, might as well wait for new hdds too.

 

[corkyg]

BTW - has anyone seen fit to correlate prices with the value of the dollar and what China is doing with the yuan?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

BTW - has anyone seen fit to correlate prices with the value of the dollar and what China is doing with the yuan?

Now that's an interesting correlation - did you actually do it? do you have the data? Please share!

Market forces are at work.

Are they? With only two major players left on the market, isn't this a by-the-book duopoly situation, in which the companies will try to maximize profits?

I take a lot of HD video with my camera, and need insane amounts of space for the raw .MOV files. Sure, I get to edit them and output to .mkv afterwards, but this still requires space. And, frankly, 500 GB drives with $89 price tags is a bit too much.