# Western Digital Hard Drive Prices



## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

One of the things that I check on occasionally is the price of the Western Digital Black 1TB drive with 64MB of cache. Last month, I swore that NewEgg had this drive on sale for $69.99. Now, it's $139.99 with a limit of 1 per customer. I believe it is because some production facilities and suppliers are shut down due to flooding, but still.... dang!

This is important for me because sometimes, I test out some alternative systems using a swappable hard drive bay on my computer.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

Someone mention a shortage in another thread. And we all now what happens when there's a sudden shortage.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

On October 19, 2011, right after reading about the flooding in Thailand I bought a $69.99 Western Digital WD Elements 1 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive from Amazon. That drive is not available directly from Amazon but one of their sellers is offering it right now for $119.96 with the notation "Only 1 left in stock--order soon."

There is a thread over in the Dish Forums Hard disk drive shortage looming started October 20. I didn't think to ask a moderator to move it to this forum area.


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## trdrjeff (Dec 3, 2007)

I almost picked up a 2TB that day it was posted :nono2:

http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_removable_drives/


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

Mark Holtz said:


> One of the things that I check on occasionally is the price of the Western Digital Black 1TB drive with 64MB of cache. Last month, I swore that NewEgg had this drive on sale for $69.99. Now, it's $139.99 with a limit of 1 per customer. I believe it is because some production facilities and suppliers are shut down due to flooding, but still.... dang!
> 
> This is important for me because sometimes, I test out some alternative systems using a swappable hard drive bay on my computer.


This excerpt from Western Digital

Quote 
In mid-October we temporarily suspended production at our two factories in Thailand, which have been inundated by floodwater, to protect our employees and our equipment and facilities. We manufacture approximately 60 percent of our hard drives in Thailand. With the greatest direct manufacturing exposure to the flooded areas, the impact on our business in the short term will be greater than to other HDD manufacturers.

In addition, many of our component suppliers have been impacted, leaving material for hard drive production considerably constrained
End Quote


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Me and my big mouth.... those drives went up another $10-$20 in the past 24 hours.

Shrug.... I still have a spare or two....


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Is it a sign of the times? My daily Newegg email subject line led with "Shop Recertified & Save! $17.99 WD 80GB 7200 RPM HDD." I don't save these, but I wonder when a recertified HDD was last the lead item.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

My latest Tiger ad doesn't even mention HDDs which are usually one of their featured items.

Edit:

On 07/14/2011, this was my order :

Seagate ST320005EXA101 2TB Expansion External Drive - 2TB, USB 2.0
MPN: ST320005EXA101-RK $79.99 *$79.99*

Today, the same item:

Item Number: S130-9000 Model: ST320005EXA101-RK

Shipping: In Stock	
Price: *$149.99*


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## dogbreath (Apr 26, 2006)

Move some facilities to the USA.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

> BANGKOK | Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:58am EDT
> 
> (Reuters) - Thailand hopes industrial estates swamped in the country's worst floods in half a century can be up and running again within three months, the prime minister said on Monday, as the center of the capital finally appeared to have escaped inundation.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011...eedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

http://camelegg.com/product/N82E16822136533 - This is the type of drive that I would get.... or rather... what I used to get. Just look at the price spike.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Looking at NewEgg now, the cheapest 1TB drive is now $139. Everything is limited to 1 per customer. Nothing suggests to me that the price highs have been reached.

It would be interesting to see how both Dish Network and DirecTV react to this. My guess is that the DVRs would probably be reserved for new customers who commit to a super-premium package (America's Everything/DirecTV Premier). And, at the current sizes/prices, SSDs would not make a good substitute for recording high-definition programming. When I had my DirecTiVo, a 40GB hard drive recorded ~35 hours of Standard Definition programming.

At least with personal computers, it is fairly easy to substitute a lower-capacity drive (and prepare to do a lot of deleting). And the cost of a hard drive is still lower than that of a innocent, hard-working, honest victim of the Thailand floods.


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## SPACEMAKER (Dec 11, 2007)

dogbreath said:


> Move some facilities to the USA.


That would be great if you want to pay $300 for a $100 item.


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## mikeny (Aug 21, 2006)

Wow. I wanted the Samsung SpinPoint 1 TB 2.5 inch 9.5 mm drive for a laptop which I recently discovered at $109. I had read on Newegg's feedback posts that it had been $89.99 which I entered as part of their 'price alert' feature. B & H had it for that price too.

It's $219.99 now on Newegg!

http://camelegg.com/product/N82E16822152291


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Going the other route, I've become really fascinated with the benefits of solid-state drives. Fast, Fast, Fast!


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

I don't understand the concept of market panic. Drives will be back in production in a few weeks and prices will be back where they were (or lower) shortly thereafter.

Why pay higher prices now? Let them sit on the shelf.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I think it would be more like a few months instead of a few weeks. Plus, there is a adequate substitute in the form of SSD drives, although you don't get as much space. (Oh noes! That means I have to delete junk!)

Too bad we don't have pictures of the flooded plant.... oh wait.... TweakTown and LegitReviews have photos.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

Mark Holtz said:


> Looking at NewEgg now, the cheapest 1TB drive is now $139. Everything is limited to 1 per customer. Nothing suggests to me that the price highs have been reached.
> 
> It would be interesting to see how both Dish Network and DirecTV react to this. My guess is that the DVRs would probably be reserved for new customers who commit to a super-premium package (America's Everything/DirecTV Premier). And, at the current sizes/prices, SSDs would not make a good substitute for recording high-definition programming. When I had my DirecTiVo, a 40GB hard drive recorded ~35 hours of Standard Definition programming.
> 
> At least with personal computers, it is fairly easy to substitute a lower-capacity drive (and prepare to do a lot of deleting). And the cost of a hard drive is still lower than that of a innocent, hard-working, honest victim of the Thailand floods.


Echostar and DIRECTV's manufacturers just won't order new hard drives which will just reduce the amount of new receivers going into the field and refurbs will start being used on new installs as well until pricing gets back in line. They also buy in bulk for months at a time so this won't hit their cost really unless this goes on for an extended time.



SayWhat? said:


> I don't understand the concept of market panic. Drives will be back in production in a few weeks and prices will be back where they were (or lower) shortly thereafter.
> 
> Why pay higher prices now? Let them sit on the shelf.


True for people who just want a hard drive but if you have to buy one you're going to pay those rates and people will keep ordering them if they have to have one no matter what the cost goes to. Most people don't have multiple drives or spares laying around.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Most of our systems are under warranty, but this made me curious. Does anyone know who actually makes drives for systems like HP Proliant servers? The official ones that HP uses, not OEM type. I figured someone else made them for HP.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Just checking the prices through camelegg. They are starting to drop down again, but rather slowly. But, for the entire month of November.... OUCH!


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

I was wondering about that. I've gotten some emails 'specials' lately that don't seem to be too far off what they were a few months ago. Still high, but not as bad.

Tiger has a Seagate 1.5TB for $69


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## hitokage (Jan 19, 2010)

dpeters11 said:


> Most of our systems are under warranty, but this made me curious. Does anyone know who actually makes drives for systems like HP Proliant servers? The official ones that HP uses, not OEM type. I figured someone else made them for HP.


They use a few different manufacturers - they still have the normal labels on them. They buy drives they need, match them to the appropriate tray/sled, and stick on a HP Spares number sticker. I've seen Seagate, Western Digital, and I think one other I can't remember at the moment (Fujitsu?).


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I just checked CamelEgg this morning, and prices are dropping now on hard drives. Mind you, prices are still way above pre-flood prices, but below insane. Examples for Western Digital drives:

750MB 32MB Cache: Dec 03, 2011 08:33 AM $179.99 -> Jan 20, 2012 12:56 AM $139.99
1TB 32MB Cache: Dec 09, 2011 04:41 AM $249.99 -> Jan 20, 2012 12:56 AM	$159.99
1.5TB 64MB Cache: Nov 03, 2011 12:37 AM $229.99 -> Jan 21, 2012 12:52 AM $169.99

Not all prices are dropping. My favorite drive, a 1 TB 64MB cache, is still at $239.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Newegg has several 2TB drives under $150, different brands, RPMs, cache, speed, etc.


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## Matt9876 (Oct 11, 2007)

Back in the day I vividly remember paying $5,000 for a 500MB drive.

Prices on hard drives should be falling due to the popularity of tablet computers and smart phones.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

The new Ultrabooks have SSDs. In another few years the HDDs will be the latest dinosaurs in the tech world.


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

I don't think so. I think you're going to get the hybrid balance. You'll have your SSD for the stuff that needs to be blazing fast (page & swap files, system libraries, application code) and then regular 'rotational' drives which are ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE cheaper for 'slower' storage.

For example, I don't need the kind of seek and transfer rates for my iTunes library or the several terabytes of video that I have. So I can have my $500 SSD as my system drive (these days buying me between 0.25 and 0.5GB) and $500 worth of "spinning rust" that, today, will buy me something like 10TB for video, backups, etc.


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## B Newt (Aug 12, 2007)

I would like to see a computer boot up with a ssd as the boot drive. Interested how fast it will boot compared to a regular hard drive.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

About 12 seconds on my laptop.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Well, they're getting back down slowly. Tiger is running a 2TB Seagate internal for $99 after rebate and a 2TB WD NAS for $149

Maybe a few more months.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Several 1TB models now under $65 again, finally.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=2459

I've also seen 2TB and 3TB models under $100


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

If I get a hard drive now, it would probably be for my own NAS. Must investigate that.


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

Periodically Newegg runs email specials like this one. Since I like the Qnap I bought.


> QNAP Diskless System Network Storage + Western Digital Red 2TB HDD + Western Digital Red 2TB HDD
> 
> Combo Discount: -$78.99
> Combo Price: $359.99


I also saw the 3TB Red on email special with the Promo code for $125 each.

I'll have to see how the WD red NAS drives hold up. Three year warranty however, I also remember when Warranties had climbed even higher on Hard Drives before they dropped them back to One year in many instances.

I have decided that a NAS needs a NAS drive. Seagate makes them too. You pay more but it may be worth it.

TBoneit


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Mark Holtz said:


> If I get a hard drive now, it would probably be for my own NAS. Must investigate that.


Tiger Special:

WD Red 2 TB NAS $85


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

And if you want a full system....

Seagate Business Storage 2-Bay 4TB Network Attached Storage (STBN4000100) for around $300


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

SayWhat?



SayWhat? said:


> And if you want a full system....
> 
> Seagate Business Storage 2-Bay 4TB Network Attached Storage (STBN4000100) for around $300


Just a reminder that would be a 2Tb if mirrored and 4Tb if striped. IMHO striping increases the risk of data loss due it only requiring either drive to lose all the data. To me that is a doubling of the risk.

To me the Newegg description is more accurate as it shows 2 x 2Tb drives.


> Seagate Business Storage 2-Bay 4TB (2 x 2TB) NAS(STBN4000100)


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178332
$329.99 and free shipping
FWIW............... The reviews were not that good on this unit.

TBoneit


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Yeah, I know. And it doesn't really change even if you go to 3 or 4 drives. You really have to go with bigger drives which jacks the cost up. I'm wonde4ring though if there's a combination configuration. Let's say you go to a 4 bay enclosure with 4 2TB drives. Drive 0 and 1 mirror each other. Drive 2 and 3 mirror each other. Then Drives 1/2 and 3/4 stripe for a total of 4 TB. Or is that too stupid?

I was looking at this stuff for a while, but it made my brain hurt. Somebody suggested using a PogoPlug configured with ArcLinux and several USB EHDs. Did some reading there and kept seeing mixed reviews. Also, they apparently won't recognize any drive larger than 2TB.

For now, I picked up a 3TB EHD to add to the 2TB already in use. Since it's connected to one PC on the LAN, I can use it from the other boxes. I plan on using the 3TB the same way from another box . That'll give me 5TB in addition to the 2 1TB drives in the main PC. The laptop is only a 320GB, so I should be able to do a full backup of it on the 3TB as well as the user files of the main PC and the two secondaries. I'm not overly concerned about transfer speeds, so I think the USBs will work for me for now.


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

With four 2 TB drives you should be able to go to RAID 5 - striping with parity, for a total of 6 TB. That can withstand any one drive going down.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Newegg: Seagate Backup Plus 3TB USB 3.0 Black Desktop Hard Drive STCA3000101 $99 w/promo code shown on page

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178110&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL111913&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL111913-_-EMC-111913-Index-_-ExternalHardDrives-_-22178110-L0E


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