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Samsung by Seagate

Zap

Zap

Elite Member
First I've seen "in the wild" the results of the recent acquisitions.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

Samsung by Seagate Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ/ST500DM005 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Regardless of the Newegg text, the label just calls it a Seagate Barracuda.

Where will Hitachi HDDs fit in with WD? What was the purpose of these acquisitions? Just to increase market share?
 
Zap said:
... What was the purpose of these acquisitions? Just to increase market share?
Click to expand...

The real objective is growth and profitability. Market share is a factor, but strategically the objective is bottom line growth. And, that relates to market perception which relates to stock prices.
 
I'm sure I have these dates slightly wrong, but I see a trend here.

March 2011 - WD buys Hitachi HD division
May 2011 - Seagate buys Samsung HD division
October 2011 - Thailand floods

And hard drive prices go through the roof starting in October 2011. Shocking. All because of the floods? Hmmm. Seagate reported a very large jump in Q4-11 profits. I wonder how they did that with severely reduced production. Sounds like the oil refinery model - reduce production, blame on something else, raise prices dramatically, make more money with less production.
 
I dunno but it sucks because I'm going to be buying a few HDDs to use for my server backup and to add storage and I have to pay these absorbitant prices.
 
Now my head hurts. I have no idea whether I'd rather have a Samsung drive made by Seagate, or a Seagate drive made by Samsung. All I can guess is that the 1 year warranty means its a cheapo drive?
 
I'd imagine they plan to fully integrate Samsung eventually, but it will take time. For example I think Maxtor branded products (sold by Seagate) were still available for a few years following their acquisition back in 2006.
 
Boy, that label sure is bare, compared to most labels. I can't find a MFG date on that label either. That kind of disturbs me.

Oh, and the one-year warranty? FSCK THAT. I'll have to move to WD Caviar Black HDs soon, if I want any sort of warranty coverage at all.
 
Binky said:
Seagate reported a very large jump in Q4-11 profits. I wonder how they did that with severely reduced production.
Click to expand...

They've been dumping recertified drives on the market.

WildW said:
All I can guess is that the 1 year warranty means its a cheapo drive?
Click to expand...

Didn't notice the gimped warranty. That sucks. Even more reason to buy an SSD. Heck, Plextor M3 has a 5 year warranty, as does Intel drives.
 
Zap said:
Didn't notice the gimped warranty. That sucks. Even more reason to buy an SSD. Heck, Plextor M3 has a 5 year warranty, as does Intel drives.
Click to expand...

I think they know this is the HHD's last hurrah.

This will sound like a dumb question, but why isn't WD and Seagate doing the SSD thing?
 
Binky said:
I'm sure I have these dates slightly wrong, but I see a trend here.

March 2011 - WD buys Hitachi HD division
May 2011 - Seagate buys Samsung HD division
October 2011 - Thailand floods

And hard drive prices go through the roof starting in October 2011. Shocking. All because of the floods? Hmmm. Seagate reported a very large jump in Q4-11 profits. I wonder how they did that with severely reduced production. Sounds like the oil refinery model - reduce production, blame on something else, raise prices dramatically, make more money with less production.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the mysterious sand issue of years ago that caused the crazy memory prices.
 
janas19 said:
Lol. How absorbitant are the prices!
Click to expand...
I don't know... when high prices are caused by flooding, I think absorbitant might be the best way to describe it. :biggrin:

Binky said:
I'm sure I have these dates slightly wrong, but I see a trend here.

March 2011 - WD buys Hitachi HD division
May 2011 - Seagate buys Samsung HD division
October 2011 - Thailand floods

And hard drive prices go through the roof starting in October 2011. Shocking. All because of the floods? Hmmm. Seagate reported a very large jump in Q4-11 profits. I wonder how they did that with severely reduced production. Sounds like the oil refinery model - reduce production, blame on something else, raise prices dramatically, make more money with less production.
Click to expand...
Yes, it seems plausible that they might be able to get away with some horizontal output restrictions for a very short while. The key is to have no communication or coordination among the various hard drive suppliers -- otherwise it's an antitrust violation and they're begging to get sued. But they're all wise to the fact that people will excuse some amount of reduced supply based on the flood.

So they all kind of slowly ramp up hard drive production, perhaps a little slower and a little delayed from what they could do if they really had an incentive to move fast, but without explicitly saying so and talking amongst one another. And they profit from the reduced output.

Of course the higher prices will encourage "cheaters" to ramp their own production up a little more and go above the unspoken output restriction. So any antitrust effects of this bubble (if it is even real) will almost certainly be short-lived.
 
Binky said:
I'm sure I have these dates slightly wrong, but I see a trend here.

March 2011 - WD buys Hitachi HD division
May 2011 - Seagate buys Samsung HD division
October 2011 - Thailand floods

And hard drive prices go through the roof starting in October 2011. Shocking. All because of the floods? Hmmm. Seagate reported a very large jump in Q4-11 profits. I wonder how they did that with severely reduced production. Sounds like the oil refinery model - reduce production, blame on something else, raise prices dramatically, make more money with less production.
Click to expand...

(putting on tin foil hat)

It all goes back to global warming. Seagate has a "giant laser" in orbit. They used this "giant laser" to slowly heat up the atmosphere above thailand, leading to enhanced global warming over that particular spot. What most people DON'T know, is that Seagate has been plotting this for decades. They hired a guy name Alan Parsons to handle things for them, internally they term this the "Alan Parsons Project". Unfortunately, WD recently hired a new CEO. He is, strangely, named "number 2". Number 2 caught wind of all of this and preemptively bought Hitachi.
(/tinfoil hat)

Charlie98 said:
I think they know this is the HHD's last hurrah.

This will sound like a dumb question, but why isn't WD and Seagate doing the SSD thing?
Click to expand...

Rumors of the hdd's demise have been greatly exaggerated. SSD's are going to remain much more expensive per GB for the forseeable future. And let's face it, the vast majority of us don't need more than 256-512 gb of quickly-accessible data, right? Will higher hdd prices accelerate adoption of ssd's? Of course. Just don't assume that hdd's are going away because they're actually in a very good place right now (insert .wav of exdeath screaming in agony).
 
Last edited:
bryanW1995 said:
(putting on tin foil hat)

It all goes back to global warming. Seagate has a "giant laser" in orbit. They used this "giant laser" to slowly heat up the atmosphere above thailand, leading to enhanced global warming over that particular spot. What most people DON'T know, is that Seagate has been plotting this for decades. They hired a guy name Alan Parsons to handle things for them, internally they term this the "Alan Parsons Project". Unfortunately, WD recently hired a new CEO. He is, strangely, named "number 2". Number 2 caught wind of all of this and preemptively bought Hitachi.
(/tinfoil hat)



Rumors of the hdd's demise have been greatly exaggerated. SSD's are going to remain much more expensive per GB for the forseeable future. And let's face it, the vast majority of us don't need more than 256-512 gb of quickly-accessible data, right? Will higher hdd prices accelerate adoption of ssd's? Of course. Just don't assume that hdd's are going away because they're actually in a very good place right now (insert .wav of exdeath screaming in agony).
Click to expand...

ROFLMAO.. some funny stuff there!.. who knew nerds could be so funny? 😛
 
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