Hard drive prices - and innovation - decline

The price hikes from the Thai flooding in late 2011 are fading fast. So are increases in drive areal density. Is stagnation the new normal?

Hard drive price watching firm PriceG2 - though Storage Newsletter - reported that hard drive prices declined 5% in the first quarter of 2013. While good news for consumers, expect to see even steeper declines this quarter.

Why? Because an accelerating sales decline in PCs is meeting a rising tide of disk drive production.

The bad news? Vendors can afford to do this because they're cutting back on hard drive innovation.

Read more at source:
Hard drive prices - and innovation - decline | ZDNet
 
I used to go down to my local store and buy several WD 500 GB's at a time, for 40 bucks apiece. I still have a lot of those, many of them still under that original 5 year warranty. But recently I bought a 2 TB MyBook, and it failed within the first 2 weeks I had it. They sent me a new one pronto, but still, WD's used to be rock solid. I've got a Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid I had in my laptop, it booted windows 7 in 20 seconds cold. Seagates are 50/50, you either get a good one and it lasts a while, or they crap out immediately or are dead on arrival.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
I picked up 4 2tb drives before the floods @ $69.cad apiece. :thumbsup:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1 Pro, Desktop Mode
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Me
    CPU
    AMD FX-8150
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H
    Memory
    8.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 (9-9-9-28)
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6570
    Sound Card
    Creative X-Fi Titanium
    Monitor(s) Displays
    PX2710MW
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080@60Hz
    Hard Drives
    1x1TB Western Digital WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B1 ATA Device Caviar Black -

    4 x 2TB Seagate ST32000542A -
    1 x 4TB Seagate External
    Case
    Antec
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D14
    Keyboard
    Logitech Illuminated Keyboard K740
    Internet Speed
    60meg cable
    Browser
    Cyberfox
    Antivirus
    AVG Security Suite
I hope the prices for larger SSDs (e.g. 500GB) will come down to an affordable level. Then I would throw out all my spinners.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
I could care less about the manufacturer's, I want a bloody three TB hard drive for 120 dollars already! Or four for 130! Get it together!

But I'd love to see SSD prices go down further and increase storage amounts.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
Back
Top