Skyrocketing price of mechanical hard drives

[Win7User512]

ASUS: 'We run out of hard disks at the end of the month'

ASUS: 'We run out of hard disks at the end of the month' • The Register

 

[EvilOzzmess]

Karma: it's a beach, and it's alive and well.

Seriously, guess they are all kicking themselves in the arse right about now. Should have stayed in the U.S. and this never would have happened. I know at least out here where I am in the West Coast, we don't have anything happen other than the occasional, very mild monsoon. That's it.

They should move it back home. It will be a win-win... we really need the jobs back now, thanks.

 

[FredeGail]

It's nearing the times where I think that it's even worth buying a Solid State Disk nowadays.

 

[magnetite]

Karma: it's a beach, and it's alive and well.

Seriously, guess they are all kicking themselves in the arse right about now. Should have stayed in the U.S. and this never would have happened. I know at least out here where I am in the West Coast, we don't have anything happen other than the occasional, very mild monsoon. That's it.

They should move it back home. It will be a win-win... we really need the jobs back now, thanks.

I agree. I'm not really a big fan of outsourcing stuff myself.

Just checked my local shop in town and a 2 TB will set someone back $160 to $180 for either a SATA2 or SATA3 version.

 

[mickey megabyte]

It's nearing the times where I think that it's even worth buying a Solid State Disk nowadays.

it's been that time for quite a while now.

you just have to get your head around the fact that the ssd won't replace your hdd - it will complement it.

ssd for os and programs
hdd for data and 'stuff'

 

[EvilOzzmess]

I agree. I'm not really a big fan of outsourcing stuff myself.

Just checked my local shop in town and a 2 TB will set someone back $160 to $180 for either a SATA2 or SATA3 version.

It's what is killing American industry and jobs... not the Government, as is the popular claim. These stunts are what's nailing the coffin down and holding up progress.


But yeah, the WD Caviar Black 64MB Cache, 7200RPM SATA III 2TB drive I was eying on Amazon for a future build (no idea when or even if that will ever be happening - still trying to get stable employment for the past nearly five years now) went through the freakin' roof. It's now just about $204.99! It WAS $100 or thereabouts earlier last week.

And the WD Caviar Blue 16MB Cache, 7200RPM SATA III 500GB now run around $99 (from $40)!

Just ridiculous. Money gouging if ever I've seen it. Disaster, shortage or whatever else... there's no excuse for this. PC sales are way down... they're not helping those purchases to go up right now, that's for sure! As for SSD... lol. Never going into one of my systems, at least not until they can produce a 2TB for around $100, which won't burn out after a certain number of read/writes but I think we all know that is never going to happen in this decade and maybe not even the next.

 

[Trucidation]

As for SSD... lol. Never going into one of my systems, at least not until they can produce a 2TB for around $100, which won't burn out after a certain number of read/writes but I think we all know that is never going to happen in this decade and maybe not even the next.

I was under the assumption the current gen ones last as long as the mechanical HDDs (EDIT: under normal wear and tear, over a period of at least 5 years). Haven't purchased any myself, but that's just me holding out for the laptop-sized ones to get a tad larger.

 

[legacy7955]

It's what is killing American industry and jobs... not the Government, as is the popular claim. These stunts are what's nailing the coffin down and holding up progress.

.

@EvilOzzMess:

Exactly:

The thing is that I am certain now that MOST Americans would gladly pay more for products if it meant that the fellow citizens were gainfully employed making a reasonable wage!


I'd would love to see hardware manufacturing return to the US.....heck I would assume that the old plants are there from twenty years ago that USED to manufacturer things like this in the USA....probably right in California!

Rebuild, rennovate, restart production here.

I'm willing to pay 40% more for US produced product because it helps my neighbors earn a decent living!

In the mean time I think this situation will force ahead the implementation of SSD into mainstream OEM brands not just their premium offerings either.

I'd expect to see companies like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, Acer, Toshiba, Sony, and Samsung all using SSDs in machines in place of the HDDs soon.

 

[pparks1]

As for SSD... lol. Never going into one of my systems, at least not until they can produce a 2TB for around $100, which won't burn out after a certain number of read/writes but I think we all know that is never going to happen in this decade and maybe not even the next.

You are losing out on a ton of performance. From power off to desktop, my machine is up in around 30 seconds. I can be playing a game in under 1 minute. And my SSD is going to outlast the amount of time I will want to use it before upgrading.

 

[syost]

FWIW, Frys Electronics has not yet raised the price of most of its drives. They have just set a limit of one per person. You can still get a pretty reasonable price on their website. They actually have a couple 2 TB models for under $100.00. Granted, there are two stores in Phoenix which is rather convenient for me but their website isn't too bad.

BTW, it is awfully naive to think that manufacturers could move everything back to the US and things would just be fine. One of the reasons the prices have been so low is because of the lower wages and other costs of doing business in Asia. Insert American wages and you would not be getting anything near where prices have been. The fact is that many of the luxuries we seem to expect to have available at our fingertips are subsidized by Asian, Pacific Rim, labor.

I also assume the person who commented about how things would be so much better if manufacturers were on the west coast must have forgotten that the west coast is on the opposite side of the same techtonic plate. It is just as succeptible to earthquakes, volcanic activity, and tsunami. Just because they haven't happened recently doesn't mean they will not happen. We have just been remarkably lucky. Floods also happen in the United States and (ironically) some of the west coast areas that have the greatest risks of flood such as the vicinity of Sacramento struggle with the prospects of long term water shortages. Throw tech manufacturers back into the mix with agro-business and see who wins. One way or the other, it would not be the consumer.

Stephen

 

[pincushion]

My plan to use a NAS device for back-ups has been put on hold for a while - much more dramatic price increases here in the UK, perhaps similar to the memory hikes when there was a shortage of those.

 

[ACR731]

As for SSD... lol. Never going into one of my systems, at least not until they can produce a 2TB for around $100, which won't burn out after a certain number of read/writes but I think we all know that is never going to happen in this decade and maybe not even the next.

I was under the assumption the current gen ones last as long as the mechanical HDDs (EDIT: under normal wear and tear, over a period of at least 5 years). Haven't purchased any myself, but that's just me holding out for the laptop-sized ones to get a tad larger.

I have a 120gb SSD in my laptop as my main drive, and a 500gb 'regular' drive for storage. The speed difference between the 2 drives is noticeable. Maybe not as noticeable a difference as someone would have seen when switching from an old 56k modem connection over to cable or something equivalent, but you get my point. 120gb is more than large enough when all you have running is the OS.

I'm very satisfied with my SSD's (I own 2) and prefer them for my OC partition over the old HDD's. Sure, the price is still a bit high, but the performance increase was well worth the extra cash.

 

[EvilOzzmess]

@EvilOzzMess:

Exactly:

The thing is that I am certain now that MOST Americans would gladly pay more for products if it meant that the fellow citizens were gainfully employed making a reasonable wage!


I'd would love to see hardware manufacturing return to the US.....heck I would assume that the old plants are there from twenty years ago that USED to manufacturer things like this in the USA....probably right in California!

Rebuild, rennovate, restart production here.

I'm willing to pay 40% more for US produced product because it helps my neighbors earn a decent living!

In the mean time I think this situation will force ahead the implementation of SSD into mainstream OEM brands not just their premium offerings either.

I'd expect to see companies like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, Acer, Toshiba, Sony, and Samsung all using SSDs in machines in place of the HDDs soon.

I agree, I would spend a bit more as well. But I still don't see how SSD's are going to replace HDD's because they still cost a hell of a lot more for what you'd get with a HDD at a much easer impact on your wallet. I'd take a 2TB HDD over a 120+GB SSD any day! I have an old 80GB WD drive that's going on 7 years old right now... I'd like to see how SSD's hold up before considering one (and I personally don't buy the hype of them being better overall because I've never had a problem with any of the several drives I still own).

As for SSD... lol. Never going into one of my systems, at least not until they can produce a 2TB for around $100, which won't burn out after a certain number of read/writes but I think we all know that is never going to happen in this decade and maybe not even the next.

You are losing out on a ton of performance. From power off to desktop, my machine is up in around 30 seconds. I can be playing a game in under 1 minute. And my SSD is going to outlast the amount of time I will want to use it before upgrading.

Mine is just as fast after SP1, and that's with only 5400RPM. I can also transfer huge ISO's within only 1 minute. Not even exaggerating.

FWIW, Frys Electronics has not yet raised the price of most of its drives. They have just set a limit of one per person. You can still get a pretty reasonable price on their website. They actually have a couple 2 TB models for under $100.00. Granted, there are two stores in Phoenix which is rather convenient for me but their website isn't too bad.

BTW, it is awfully naive to think that manufacturers could move everything back to the US and things would just be fine. One of the reasons the prices have been so low is because of the lower wages and other costs of doing business in Asia. Insert American wages and you would not be getting anything near where prices have been. The fact is that many of the luxuries we seem to expect to have available at our fingertips are subsidized by Asian, Pacific Rim, labor.

I also assume the person who commented about how things would be so much better if manufacturers were on the west coast must have forgotten that the west coast is on the opposite side of the same techtonic plate. It is just as succeptible to earthquakes, volcanic activity, and tsunami. Just because they haven't happened recently doesn't mean they will not happen. We have just been remarkably lucky. Floods also happen in the United States and (ironically) some of the west coast areas that have the greatest risks of flood such as the vicinity of Sacramento struggle with the prospects of long term water shortages. Throw tech manufacturers back into the mix with agro-business and see who wins. One way or the other, it would not be the consumer.

Stephen

Ah! But you see, how are we going to sustain an entirely consumer-based economy? I think the current standing of that speaks loud and clear. If we don't bite the bullet on a few more dollars to pay our own citizens to produce products here at home (which might even lower the prices because they won't be having a HUGE gasoline price factored in to be sailed over here) then we're going to be truly screwed (and we already are, in case you didn't read the first half of the above).

BTW, out where I am - which is the low desert - we only get very mild monsoons and it never floods more than maybe 1". As for earthquakes? Tiny, insignificant jolts are all we get. Nothing that would be catastrophic and shut down production altogether. Not unless the commies and arabs decide to bomb the hell out of us (which I hear now is a credible threat, but not likely to happen).

As for SSD... lol. Never going into one of my systems, at least not until they can produce a 2TB for around $100, which won't burn out after a certain number of read/writes but I think we all know that is never going to happen in this decade and maybe not even the next.

I was under the assumption the current gen ones last as long as the mechanical HDDs (EDIT: under normal wear and tear, over a period of at least 5 years). Haven't purchased any myself, but that's just me holding out for the laptop-sized ones to get a tad larger.

I have a 120gb SSD in my laptop as my main drive, and a 500gb 'regular' drive for storage. The speed difference between the 2 drives is noticeable. Maybe not as noticeable a difference as someone would have seen when switching from an old 56k modem connection over to cable or something equivalent, but you get my point. 120gb is more than large enough when all you have running is the OS.

I'm very satisfied with my SSD's (I own 2) and prefer them for my OC partition over the old HDD's. Sure, the price is still a bit high, but the performance increase was well worth the extra cash.

As I've said above, I have a HDD going on 7 years - still operating just fine. I'd rather have longevity than performance because I don't make as much money, and HDD's are still (apart from currently and hopefully not permanently) the best bang for the buck. And you said it yourself, the performance isn't all that much greater... so for me, again, the price to performance ratio isn't really worth it. And right now, I don't trust them as much. Flash memory is fickle in my experience with the USB thumb 'drives'... I've had several corrupt on me over the years. So I'll be sticking with the old faithfuls, proven to be long-lasting and reliable (if you get a good one that wasn't improperly packaged and banged up during the S&H process).

 

[pparks1]

I'd take a 2TB HDD over a 120+GB SSD any day! I have an old 80GB WD drive that's going on 7 years old right now... I'd like to see how SSD's hold up before considering one (and I personally don't buy the hype of them being better overall because I've never had a problem with any of the several drives I still own).

For running my OS and launching applications, I would much rather have the SSD. You feel the way that you do because you haven't used an SSD in your system yet. I felt the same way and you can find posts from me years ago saying the same thing. I didn't buy my SSD because of previous problems with mechanical hard drives, I bought them for performance. I didn't buy into the hype either at first. But I finally bought one because the 80GB had dropped to less than $300 and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Without question, it was the most noticeable upgrade that I have done in years. I don't regret it at all.

You are losing out on a ton of performance. From power off to desktop, my machine is up in around 30 seconds. I can be playing a game in under 1 minute. And my SSD is going to outlast the amount of time I will want to use it before upgrading.

Mine is just as fast after SP1, and that's with only 5400RPM. I can also transfer huge ISO's within only 1 minute. Not even exaggerating.

No matter how you feel personally about the technology, the SSD's are faster and will make your machine faster. There are no iff's, ands or butts...these SSD's have random access times around 0.1ms...and can get to every single file anywhere on the file system this fast. That's quite a bit better than your mechanical hard drives which are in the ballpark of 12-15ms.

I came from a WD caviar Black 1TB. After my machine would post, from 'starting Windows', to the logon screen and to my desktop with icons took 38 seconds. Replacing that with my Intel X25-M G2 SSD, from 'starting Windows', to the logon screen and to my desktop with icons is 18 seconds.

i just ran malware bytes against my laptop. It's an 80GB Intel 320 series, and I've used about 62GB of space on it. I ran a quick scan, which scanned 237,384 things and it completed in 2:15.


If you are happy with your standard mechanical drives and don't need them faster, then by all means stick with them. If you are looking for a noticeable increase in performance, give an SSD a shot. I've never heard anybody say they regret buying their SSD...only that they regret not buying it sooner.

 

[pparks1]

Today, the 2TB Samsung that was $79.99 is now $229.99
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

 

[3D Jed]

quote from The Register re Thailand

The country's worst floods in over half a century have so far claimed the lives of at least 317 people, affected more than nine million, and inundated 700,000 homes: 14,000 factories are under water and over 660,000 workers out of work.

 

[arkhi]

HDDs are like gasoline, in every sense of the word.

 

[legacy7955]

quote from The Register re Thailand

The country's worst floods in over half a century have so far claimed the lives of at least 317 people, affected more than nine million, and inundated 700,000 homes: 14,000 factories are under water and over 660,000 workers out of work.

My sympathies go out to all the people over there affected by the devastating flooding.

It seems as if it could take them over a decade to recover from this.

 

[lhorwinkle]

The thing is that I am certain now that MOST Americans would gladly pay more for products if it meant that the fellow citizens were gainfully employed making a reasonable wage!

Not true. Completely untrue. Most people go QUITE the other way. Businesses know that. Why don't you?

 

[legacy7955]

The thing is that I am certain now that MOST Americans would gladly pay more for products if it meant that the fellow citizens were gainfully employed making a reasonable wage!

Not true. Completely untrue. Most people go QUITE the other way. Businesses know that. Why don't you?

Um you might have been correct a decade ago BUT over the past years the general public in the USA has begun to realize that off shoring most manufacturing has severely damaged the middle class, and the ability for the economy to provide new jobs....

The get it cheap ride drew unsuspecting masses in..and for a while the con job worked but now the ugly reality and side effects are showing up in droves...a disappearing middle class, reduced tax base, also a lack of value added manufacturing has endangered our national security.

ALSO .....if Germany could keep manufacturing alive and robust and making a pretty penny on it there is NO reason the US couldn't do it.

Cheap isn't good if your neighbors are all out of a job or way under employed.

If a nation doesn't "make things" it ceases to become a viable society.