HDD prices rising

Abula

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HDD prices to rise in November due to flooding in Thailand

International suppliers of hard disk drives (HDDs) are expected to raise prices as component costs will rise and demand from PC ODM/OEM makers has significantly increased due to the impact of serious flooding in Thailand, according to industry sources.

Western Digital, Seagate Technology, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and Toshiba as well as supply chain makers of components have had most of their factories in Thailand impacted by the flooding, the sources indicated. The time needed to resume production will be longer than originally estimated, the sources noted. HDD prices are sure to rise beginning November, with the extent of increases depending on the flood damage, the sources indicated.

Demand for HDDs from PC ODM/OEMs was originally flat due to tablet PCs, but has turned strong because makers are worried about shortages arising from the flooding, the sources said. In addition to price hikes, there is likely to be short supply of HDDs, the sources indicated.

Of the global HDD production capacity, 70% is allocated to notebook and desktop ODM/OEMs and 30% is used for consumer and business-use external HDDs, the sources noted.

Wasnt sure it would really happen, but it seems so, Amazon n Newegg already rised the common Hitachi 5k3000 and Samsung F4EG to $109.99 from $79.99 usual price :(
 
I was planning a data backup solution for two different locations at work. I had planned on buying 23 of the Hitachi 3TB 5K3000 drives right as the prices jumped through the roof. As mwroobel pointed out, that drive has gone from $109 shipped to $210 plus $10 shipping which means that it has doubled in price in the last couple of days.
At home I'm down to less than 3TB of space so I was considering buying another drive. Now I'm going to have to wait a while until prices become reasonable again.
 
Newegg is also selling the 3TB Hitachi that was 109 Shipped on special last week for $209.99 + 9.99 shipping now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145493

I hope this is just a short-term panic increase and the prices will drop back down in a week or so.

Other articles say that it will take 3 months before they get up and running again, hopefully there is enough supply in the chains to prevent it from getting too crazy.
 
I am wondering if this is just some companies (newegg) jacking up the prices to see if they can get it, or that other companies (microcenter, same drive is still $129) just haven't gotten around to repricing yet.
 
I am wondering if this is just some companies (newegg) jacking up the prices to see if they can get it, or that other companies (microcenter, same drive is still $129) just haven't gotten around to repricing yet.

Yes, the first. Newegg is infamous for jacking thier prices at the first pretext.
 
According to an article on StorageReview, the supply for this quarter and the next is going to be about half of the demand. That is a huge shortage. I expect prices will come down to about 50% higher than normal and stay there for several months at least.Even once the factories are up and running prices will remain high as demand remains high from all those people who couldn't afford to buy during this huge price hike.
 
microcenter is honoring all hdd prices in their flyers through end of month. 1 per person until they figure out the supply thing. (the 1 per person is not a hard limit, if you're say buying a 4 drive NAS, they'll sell you 4 drives.)
 
Darn. Oh well. I was looking forward to picking up another Spinpoint F4 2TB for $60 when a sale popped up.

I guess it'll have to wait until next summer.
 
Oh, I thought this was going to be about China limiting the production of permanent magnets or something. Hopefully this will be something temporary. Thing is, hard drives have been dirt cheap for a while now and we've been spoiled with that. So guess they're just going to go back to "normal" for a bit.
 
@Abula: call yourself lucky. Here in Europe prices already gone up by 100% for Western Digital drives and about 50% for other brands.

@Red Squirrel: expect situation to stabilize sometime around start of Q2/2012. And no, they are not going back to "normal". Supply/demand ratio was pretty close to even, so when 60% of WDC production is gone missing (30 million hard drives only from WDC), then you have short supply. Add flooding of NIDEC (70% of HDD motors), Seagate issues (they have indirect problems because of flooding, they have hard time getting their production out of country) - and you will come up with big hard drive production shortage until the situation is solved.
 
Looks like newegg is now holding people to 1 drive per purchase, and usually when they do that it means you can purchase 1 every 5 days.
 
Yes, the first. Newegg is infamous for jacking thier prices at the first pretext.

You think that is bad, Newegg is now selling the 64GB Ipad 2 for $749. That is $50 more than APPLE sells it for lol.
 
Looks like they have taken some lessons from the oil industry.

They don't need to. Again, if your supply chain is gone, what can you do ? Just put yourself in WDC shoes for now :
1) 60% of your production in this quarter is gone, you don't have capacity to make those drives.
2) you are legally bound to supply drives to OEM partners (whatever computer manufacturer brand they supply - i mean HP, Dell, Asus etc).

Put 1+2 together, and the end result is that pretty much WDC will be gone (or rarely seen) from retail market for next few months, as most of their hard drives will go to OEM, only very few to retail market. That means that there is a real reason why did WDC hard drive prices skyrocket and will probably go even higher.

Now add to the calculation the logistic problems of Seagate (they can make the hard drives, but can't move them away because roads are flooded or damaged); add to the calculation that subcontractors have huge damages as well (as i mentoined NIDEC above), and you must understand that this has nothing to do with "oil industry" methods. When the whole produce X hard drives, sell same amount and suddenly 30% of production is gone, suppliers can't supply you with parts so even more % of production will be gone, then you have to understand the panic and extreme pricing.
 
And I thought RAM prices had gone to stupid for a while.

EDIT: So much for building my new backup server. Have to run in gimp mode for the near future.
 
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LOL anyone else notice Newegg is limiting all hard drives to 1 per customer? I've been building different server configs to decide what is the best/cheapest for a colo I want to do eventually, and looks like I can't have more than 1 of the same drive. Going to have to buy elsewhere if I build a server. :p Not really happening any time soon anyway, was more just playing around and thought that was pretty funny.
 
Micro Center is at least allowing 2 per person and is still selling the 3TB Hitachi OEM's for $124.99. Get 'em while you can.
 
I just received 8 new WD20EARX last week and was unhappy that the price hadn't been moving down for 4 or 5 months, but now, they're 33% pricier !

I should be able to last a few months but if it really takes two or three quarters before going back to normal then I'm screwed big time.

The European Commission is reviewing the merging of Seagate and Samsung, and Hitachi and WD on antitrust grounds, but now they'll have another argument to block them : production is far too concentrated !
 
The European Commission is reviewing the merging of Seagate and Samsung, and Hitachi and WD on antitrust grounds, but now they'll have another argument to block them : production is far too concentrated !

Actually exactly the opposite. Samsung and Hitachi are least affected. Seagate/Samsung merge is already OK'd by EU, and Hitachi/WD will be probably allowed as well due this flooding.
 
The European Commission is reviewing the merging of Seagate and Samsung, and Hitachi and WD on antitrust grounds, but now they'll have another argument to block them : production is far too concentrated !

How will that solve the problem? If they are forced to move their plants to non-optimal cost locations, the price will go up anyways. And the company that gets to stay in the optimal locations gets a free advantage and eventually kills off the other guys unless they are taxed to offset.

EU brilliance at its best..raise prices and generate more tax revenue. :rolleyes:
 
Western Digital is the most effected, however as supply goes down, all manufactures will raise prices.
 
WD might be the most affected, but because of there size it's affecting every company's supply capabilities.. doesn't matter what brand the price has gone up and were limited at distribution level to how many we can buy.
 
lol just my luck. I was going to buy a couple HDD last week but procrastinated. Went to finally buy them today and they shot up in price. I guess I'll wait a few more months. Time to stop ripping blurays to my server ><
 
microcenter is honoring all hdd prices in their flyers through end of month. 1 per person until they figure out the supply thing. (the 1 per person is not a hard limit, if you're say buying a 4 drive NAS, they'll sell you 4 drives.)

They had a sign up limiting people to two drives but they had tons and tons of drives in stock. They were still selling for the sale prices.
 
This could get scary depending on how long it takes for the floods to recede and the factories to be rebuilt.

I hope the companies learn from this and stop outsourcing everything to a single plant. Probably not.

I always try to keep some spare drives around, so at least I should be ok for the next few months provided I don't get multiple failures.
 
i really dont want to wait till next year. It seems i should buy now as soon as i can before the price goes any higher...
 
I order 2 HDD on OCT/17/2011 before the prices went up.:D

Order Summary. Qty Product Description Price
Shipped from TN, USA - Tracking #:
2 Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136792
Standard Return Policy $299.98 ($149.99 ea)

Subtotal $299.98
Tax $0.00
UPS 3 DAYS $0.00
Order Total $299.98
 
I went ahead and purchased the last two 3TB drives I need to complete my array. They were not needed until Feb/Mar 2012 time frame.

Hopefully they are fully functional and I don't get any failures.
 
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I went to fry's a couple nights ago and seen some guy leaving with 3 shopping carts full of hard drives.
 
Probably a retailer buying cheap for resale... I know we've done it buying drives en mass from tigerdirect since there price advertised was lower then the price our distributors were quoting us.
 
What morons to put almost all the hard drive manufacturing in the world in one spot.
 
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