1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Storage HDD Prices

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Behemoth, 21 Oct 2011.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Behemoth

    Behemoth Timelord in training

    Joined:
    1 Nov 2001
    Posts:
    2,670
    Likes Received:
    103
    Was asked by a friend to order him some 500 gig HDD's this week for a project, as I was placing a small order said it wasn't a problem, said that price wise and before postage he was looking at £30 per drive.

    Went to Ebuyer, couldn't beleieve that this chosen drives (he wanted WD Blues) we £37 each ! Thought to myself thats odd, so had a look at Aria, it's the same story there, infact on all the main retailers the price for 500 gig drives has gone up !

    Now I'm not exactly behind on PC tech, but since when did this happen ? I mean 1 TB drives are only a couple of quid dearer and in the end I got him to have 4 1 TB drives instead.
     
  2. Blogins

    Blogins Panda have Guns

    Joined:
    3 Aug 2010
    Posts:
    4,883
    Likes Received:
    267
    Been that way for a while even before the stock shortages. Below 1TB is not worth considering when buying new 3.5" drives.
     
  3. Behemoth

    Behemoth Timelord in training

    Joined:
    1 Nov 2001
    Posts:
    2,670
    Likes Received:
    103
    Ahhh stock shortages, that explains it :) Means whn theres more stuck the prices will drop. Odd really as 500 gb is normally the sweet spot for most people.
     
  4. Yeoo

    Yeoo Minimodder

    Joined:
    1 Sep 2011
    Posts:
    343
    Likes Received:
    26
    Will take time for prices to fall as the companys have to recoup the lost profit this quarter
     
  5. Sloth

    Sloth #yolo #swag

    Joined:
    29 Nov 2006
    Posts:
    5,634
    Likes Received:
    208
    With any hard drive, regardless of size, you're paying for various parts which aren't related to storage capacity. The housing, the connectors, the PCB and related electronics for controlling it, the labor of putting all the parts together, even a theoretical drive with 0GB capacity will cost several quid. Where the difference comes in is the platters, the additional cost of creating higher capacity platters is all that changes the price.
     
  6. longweight

    longweight Possibly Longbeard.

    Joined:
    7 May 2011
    Posts:
    10,517
    Likes Received:
    217
    500Gb is not the sweet spot! Maybe quite a few years ago?
     
  7. Yeoo

    Yeoo Minimodder

    Joined:
    1 Sep 2011
    Posts:
    343
    Likes Received:
    26
    1tb is the sweet spot atm.. this is the drive that every reseller has been calling for this week
     
  8. Dae314

    Dae314 What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    3 Sep 2010
    Posts:
    988
    Likes Received:
    61
    Actually, in the case of WD, there was a recent flood in one of their major manufacturing plants which means production has slowed down.

    source

    Could be part of the reason for a price hike.
     
  9. sheninat0r

    sheninat0r What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    28 May 2007
    Posts:
    696
    Likes Received:
    7
    They have indeed gone up. The Spinpoint F3 1TB is $70 now, up from $55 a few months ago when I picked up a pair. I was also surprised that the 1TB Caviar Black is still at $120, seems excessive for a 1TB drive nowadays.
     
  10. fdbh96

    fdbh96 What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    29 May 2011
    Posts:
    1,894
    Likes Received:
    33
    It's meant to have more cache and faster response times, but $120 (£90?) does seem excessive.
     
  11. Dae314

    Dae314 What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    3 Sep 2010
    Posts:
    988
    Likes Received:
    61
    Here is another article about the flooding in Thailand and how it's affecting HDD pricing. It's more recent and has more information about what retailers are doing in response.

    Sometimes reading the news actually helps lol.
     
  12. YEHBABY

    YEHBABY RIP Tel

    Joined:
    22 May 2010
    Posts:
    3,635
    Likes Received:
    1,640
    Prices going up fast!!!!!!!!

    Just bought a Samsung HD204UI 2TB a few days ago for £58. It was going for around £51 not so long ago. Checked today and its gone up to £71.98.

    £51 ----> £58 ----> £71.98 ----> where next??? £100????


    Or our suppliers just upping prices and using flood as excuse?

    What do you think?
     
  13. andrew8200m

    andrew8200m Multimodder

    Joined:
    4 May 2009
    Posts:
    2,499
    Likes Received:
    255
    There's no drives about now. Distribution who supply the likes of ebuyer and aria (mentioned) are now on strict orders to add $10 to every line and then to increase margin from 1-3% all the way up to 30%. The cost price of an WD20EARX has gone from£43 a week ago to an horrific £82. That means that when stock does sell out the prices of drives that were £55 to the public are now going to cost in excess of £120 within the next few weeks.

    It's very dark times for storage.

    Just check the stock markets, shares have gone mental as profits of remaing stock at WD, Seagate etc has rocketed.
     
  14. YEHBABY

    YEHBABY RIP Tel

    Joined:
    22 May 2010
    Posts:
    3,635
    Likes Received:
    1,640
    Seems to me that suppliers are looking to maximise profit on old stock purchased at cheaper prices, before they have to restock with much more expensive drives. Or can't restock at all.
     
  15. Dougy_D

    Dougy_D What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    30 Jun 2011
    Posts:
    26
    Likes Received:
    1
    This is the beauty and beast of supply and demand!!
     
  16. Behemoth

    Behemoth Timelord in training

    Joined:
    1 Nov 2001
    Posts:
    2,670
    Likes Received:
    103
    Let me re-phrase that, the sweet spot for the average home user. People like ourselves with hundreds of gigs worth of games and media files perhaps not.
     
  17. meandmymouth

    meandmymouth Multimodder

    Joined:
    15 Sep 2009
    Posts:
    4,263
    Likes Received:
    314
    Retailers are probably having a little smile as they'll be able to shift stock of smaller drives People won't be able to afford the higher capacity ones such as 1 - 2TB. It's going to be an interesting few months.
     
  18. debs3759

    debs3759 Was that a warranty I just broke?

    Joined:
    10 Oct 2011
    Posts:
    1,769
    Likes Received:
    92
    At times like this, eBay becomes my friend. Buy before the world realises prices are rising, and sell almost as soon as I get them when prices have already gone up 50% :)
     
  19. confusis

    confusis Kiwi-modder

    Joined:
    5 Jan 2006
    Posts:
    2,406
    Likes Received:
    63
    Also the world's major rare earth element supplier, China, has stopped most exports for a month to artificially inflate prices.
     
  20. jaydeee

    jaydeee What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    25 Apr 2010
    Posts:
    66
    Likes Received:
    1
    I would also take a bigger capacity with just little addition.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page