Hard Drive Prices

[Arthur]

If the following article is to be believed, it will be nine months before HDD prices return to pre-Thailand flood levels.

 

KitGuru has been in contact with senior officials from some of the channel’s leading players and the answer is a devastating 9 months.

 

From the time that the first floods hit production, to the time when hard drive prices will return to the sort of levels we had in September 2011, will be a lengthy 9 months.

 

Around the start of summer 2012, we will finally see the channel price for a 1TB drive settle back down around the £25 mark. (Source)

[m25man]

Not a problem if your a Mac User though:-

 

Apple’s purchasing teams have made it crystal clear to hard drive suppliers across Europe that the consignment stocks they are holding (and which have been promised to Mr Job’s company) had better remain untouched by greedy hands, or the consequences will be ‘severe and long lasting’. [/Quote]

 

Source (Whoever say's that money isnt everything is just poor!)

[maniac]

The thing is, they can put this down to a shortage if they like, we all know they have massive stocks of the stuff in their warehouse. Hell when I did temp work for Amazon they had over 500 of the same HDD.

 

A lot of PC componant manufacturers carry little to no stock, and manufacture to meet demand. Retailers may well carry stocks, but the numbers are tiny compared to the actual consumption of these componants. Supply and demand will always dictate the market prices.

[localzuk]

A lot of PC componant manufacturers carry little to no stock, and manufacture to meet demand. Retailers may well carry stocks, but the numbers are tiny compared to the actual consumption of these componants. Supply and demand will always dictate the market prices.

 

Precisely. The demand is estimated to be something like 120 million units next quarter. Retailers having 500 in stock will be nothing really.

[markcuk]

This might just kill the hd market if they push down the ssd prices

[SYNACK]

This might just kill the hd market if they push down the ssd prices

We can only hope

[K.C.Leblanc]

This might just kill the hd market if they push down the ssd prices

 

The trouble is unless they can massively increase production SSD prices will probably go up.

[Dos_Box]

I see Scan are now rationing hard drives to 2 per order. I wonder how long until other suppliers begin to follow suit?

[featured_spectre]

Scan have had that for about a week now...

[Arthur]

Nephilim is right. That's old news!

 

NewEgg are doing the same in the US, but the limit is three drives per customer.

[Arthur]

Another two years before prices return to normal? I hope not.

 

Although Seagate's factories weren't directly impacted by the huge flooding in Thailand, the company has been affected by the inventory shortages of components crucial to its supply chain. All Things D recently interviewed Seagate CEO Steve Luczo, who assessed the road that lies ahead for the industry: supply shortages will continue until at least late 2012, and the industry may not return to normal until the end of 2013. (Source)

[zag]

The mechanical hard disk industry will be dead by 2013, long live the SSD!

[Dos_Box]

Apparently HD prices were rising at 5% per day!

 

Price comparison site Idealo.co.uk has revealed that disk drive prices were rising by more than 5 per cent a day in the aftermath of the crisis in Thailand that sent supply chains into a tailspin.

The worst flooding in the country for more than half a century led to panic buying in the channel and subsequent accusations that vendors, distributors and resellers are profiteering on the back of the disaster.

 

 

Disk drive prices swell 5% every DAY in floods aftermath ? Channel Register

[mac_shinobi]

Time to buy SSDs...

 

when you buy all those SSD's for the SAN you were looking into, if you get a free SSD maybe you can send one my way ?

[Arthur]

HDDs are going to get even more expensive next month.

 

Tied in a strangling knot by the Thai floods, the world could be shy of 70 million disk drives this quarter, sending retail prices rocketing, limiting PC supplies and creating an opening for flash drives.

 

Taiwanese manufacturers in the PC supply chain reckon we will see 110 to 130 million hard disk drives (HDD) this quarter instead of the 180 million needed to satisfy demand, a 50-70 million shortfall, reports Digitimes. Supplies could improve as early as the first quarter of next year but it might take the whole of 2012, and even some of 2013 before supply is fully back to normal.

 

Retail channels in Taiwan have seen a 20 to 30 per cent HDD price rise since the flooding shortages commenced and another 10 per cent rise is expected in December. Vendors with substantial OEM supply contracts get priority – leaving retail buyers scrambling for the scraps. (Source)

[TechMonkey]

I was told by someone that after January Dell will no longer sell HDDs except for warranties as other supplies have been trying to buy their stock!

[Arthur]

NovaTech has some pretty good deals on 2TB HDDs at the moment...

 

 

• Samsung HD204UI - £74.99
  
• Western Digital WD20EARX - £79.98
  

[gshaw]

I was told by someone that after January Dell will no longer sell HDDs except for warranties as other supplies have been trying to buy their stock!

 

That's all very well in theory... when they can ship a 1TB or 2TB SSD for the same price as an HDD... ah they can't yet so there's mass storage out the window. Even the 60-80GB ones need to come right down, or will manufacturers be cynical enough to keep prices high, justifying with the line "well an HDD costs the same price now so what would you prefer?"

 

If the SSD manufacturers could somehow get the 512GB SSD costs down (make a lot in bulk all the same size and flood the market?) then SSD-based SANs could take off, basically replacing 600GB 15k SAS drives and 7200RPM SATA in one swoop (not sure how pricing for those is at the moment, presumably through the roof?).

 

Speed isn't a problem and I'd guess you can run a shedload of SSDs for the same energy as a shelf of HDDs (I remember someone saying at desktop level power draw is about the same but at server grade 15k level there must be an energy saving there)

[timbo343]

Does anyone think that the price of the hard drives will remain high as they know its a demand product. If they can get away with keeping the price high then surely they will.

[timbo343]

Possibly or manufacturers will get greedy and try to make up their lost profits and realise they can get away with it so to speak. Ok, yes the suppliers have being importing hard drives from thailand but think about when their stock runs low, the big companies like hp, dell, etc could start buying the hard drives back from the retailers as they know that the stock is cheaper than what they can get it for which vomes from manufacture. I see it as if you want a hard drive then buy now. Ok the cost may be step but it could get a lot worse. You just dont know whats round the corner. Like someone else said, it only seems to be seagate and WD which seem to be affected. It depends how the other companies sew their business plan. Do they keep the price low and know they can sell the drives or do they raise the

prices to match those of seagate and WD and see now many sales.

[Arthur]

You would have thought storage vendors like HP and EMC wouldn't need to increase prices due to the insane profit margins on their enterprise-class drives.

 

EMC hikes drive prices, blames Thai flood tragedy

El Reg has been sent a copy of a letter from EMC to its Velocity channel partners saying disk drive prices will rise 5 to 15 per cent from 1 January, 2012.

 

It is apparent the price rise is due to drive shortages caused by the Thailand flooding. This has caused retail drive prices to rise and impacted many disk drive OEM deals as well. (Source)

 

HP also jacks up disk prices in Thai flood wake

We thought EMC was the first major enterprise supplier to raise disk drive prices after the Thailand floods. Not so. HP sent out a letter last month saying it was being forced to increase prices as a result of the hard drive shortage caused by the deadly floods in Thailand. (Source)

[Oaktech]

just because i'm at a slightly looser end than usual i just put your location into google earth arthur... it would appear that you are out side sainsbury in chipping norton, on the corner of worcester rd... hows the weather ;0)

[Arthur]

It's a bit wet outside.

 

I wondered how long it would take before someone checked out my location on Google Earth.

Edited December 23, 2011 by Arthur

[JMB]

I tell you what, if you think the prices of HDDs are bad, you ought to try buying blank Blurays from Ebuyer. I'm going to have to speak to the head about this, cos I really don't have this much cash left in my budget...

[gshaw]

I tell you what, if you think the prices of HDDs are bad, you ought to try buying blank Blurays from Ebuyer. I'm going to have to speak to the head about this, cos I really don't have this much cash left in my budget...

 

I guess they must be the platinum master edition versions to frame and put on the wall once you've burnt your 1000th Windows installation disc