HDD Parts Shortage Lessens: HDD Prices To Drop?

qubit · Dec 2, 2011

Nidec Corp, manufacturer of hard disc drive motors and other HDD components, has reported that after just six weeks since the Thailand floods hit, nine out of its ten factories are operational again, although not all are yet at full capacity. Supplies of HDDs should therefore slowly improve as the parts shortage eases, hopefully with the welcome consequence that the price should drift downwards. Nidec issued this statement about the situation:

We will continue our efforts to further improve the utilization of the factories whose operations have resumed and to bring the company's other flood-stricken factories back into operation to the earliest extent possible. The exact amount of damage and the effect of the floods on the company's performance are being assessed currently. We will continue to report on any actual or potential impact on the company's business performance in a prompt manner.

There's more info in this Nidec update (PDF) and at xbit labs.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

Radical_Edward · Dec 2, 2011

This is good to hear.

Frick · Dec 2, 2011

I am very close to actually needing more storage so yeeeaahh!

Crap Daddy · Dec 2, 2011

I don't believe we'll see the same prices as before the flood soon. But we can hope...

Radical_Edward · Dec 2, 2011

Crap Daddy said:
I don't believe we'll see the same prices as before the flood soon. But we can hope...

I'd give it another month or so for stock to build up.

Completely Bonkers · Dec 2, 2011

The increase in HDD prices helped get volumes up and prices down in SSD. The consequence... SSD is now manufactured in greater volumes and at better prices that would have occurred had the HDD flooding not occured...

I think there will be LESS DEMAND for HDD in the future. Yes, still a lot of demand, but less demand compared to SSD not having taken off so quickly with the help of the flooding.

Supply will be greater than demand... pushing HDD prices down further.

Seagate knows this and is therefore trying to buy up OEMs so they can control what is left of the market. See earlier Seagate news article.

Casecutter · Dec 2, 2011

Crap Daddy said:
I don't believe we'll see the same prices as before the flood soon. But we can hope...

Would unfortunately concur the same!
Before the flood/shortage, it wasn't uncommon for 500 Gb for $40-50 (those are now +$100). 1TB went all the time for $50-60... I don't believe we'll get back to that regularly... and if they would it be 6 months or more...

qubit · Dec 2, 2011

Completely Bonkers said:
The increase in HDD prices helped get volumes up and prices down in SSD. The consequence... SSD is now manufactured in greater volumes and at better prices that would have occurred had the HDD flooding not occured...

Yes, this is the silver lining in this situation.

Sasqui · Dec 2, 2011

Wasn't following the prices when the floods hit or after, how much did they increase... for say a 1TB 3.5" drive?

[H]@RD5TUFF · Dec 2, 2011

They had better if you want me to buy them.

cheesy999 · Dec 2, 2011

Sasqui said:
Wasn't following the prices when the floods hit or after, how much did they increase... for say a 1TB 3.5" drive?

Here in Britain a 1TB drive went from £30-£40 up to between £100-£200

Chaitanya · Dec 2, 2011

fingers crossed. :rockout:

Batou1986 · Dec 2, 2011

Bout damn time, the shortage has been killing my bottom line with computer repairs as ive had to eat the price inflation.

Widjaja · Dec 2, 2011

i'd say they will ride out the price increase for a while after being back to running at full capacity and regaining any lost profit from the floods.

Delta6326 · Dec 2, 2011

Wow that good news! :rockout:

I was looking to buy a WD 750GB, it was going for around $55 one day I checked and it was over$179 :banghead:

Frick · Dec 2, 2011

cheesy999 said:
Here in Britain a 1TB drive went from £30-£40 up to between £100-£200

Same here. A 500GB disk is now €90, cheapest 1TB is about €120.

qubit · Dec 2, 2011

Batou1986 said:
Bout damn time, the shortage has been killing my bottom line with computer repairs as ive had to eat the price inflation.

Why would you have to eat such an enormous price inflation? Doesn't seem reasonable.

[H]@RD5TUFF · Dec 2, 2011

cheesy999 said:
Here in Britain a 1TB drive went from £30-£40 up to between £100-£200

About the same here up from $55-$60 to $100- $135

N-Gen · Dec 2, 2011

You guys might have also noticed (at least locally for me) the surfacing of other "forgotten drives" such as 160GB HDDs. Anyway, hopefully there will be more news of the 5 platter 4TB and 5 platter 5TB drives.

Frick · Dec 2, 2011

N-Gen said:
You guys might have also noticed (at least locally for me) the surfacing of other "forgotten drives" such as 160GB HDDs.

Yeah, those are about €50-60 a pop here.

If you can find them that is.

EarthDog · Dec 2, 2011

I was absolutely floored to see how much prices actually went up. Im certainly glad I am not in the market for a HDD ATM.

@ N-Gen - Yeah, exactly, those lesser capacity drives have been popping up while the selection for others has dissappeared and fairly dramatically.

N-Gen · Dec 2, 2011

Well, 160GB drives are quite available here, but personally I went with a blu-ray writer at €70 where every 10 pack spindle costs €10, so that's €10 per 250GB. I have decent amount of storage and still had to delete some stuff, now I have some breathing space, but still optical media fits nicely for me right now, and I still can use it to watch stuff anyway.

newtekie1 · Dec 2, 2011

Sasqui said:
Wasn't following the prices when the floods hit or after, how much did they increase... for say a 1TB 3.5" drive?

http://camelegg.com/product/N82E16822136284

Basically, all the prices pretty much doubled.

Trackr · Dec 2, 2011

newtekie1 said:
http://camelegg.com/product/N82E16822136284

Basically, all the prices pretty much doubled.

Doubled, yes, exactly. That's what I have found too.

I checked to see 2TB prices.. nothing below 200$.

There has not been, in my 6 years on the scene, a worse time to buy a computer component..

FreedomEclipse · Dec 2, 2011

newtekie1 said:
http://camelegg.com/product/N82E16822136284

Basically, all the prices pretty much doubled.

Prices more then quadrupled in the UK.

we went from $60 for a 1TB Samsung F3 to around $320-340 for one.

Prices have dropped to more 'reasonable' levels now ($171) , but they are still a far cry from what they used to be before.

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HDD Parts Shortage Lessens: HDD Prices To Drop?

qubit

Overclocked quantum bit

Radical_Edward

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

Crap Daddy

Radical_Edward

Completely Bonkers

New Member

Casecutter

qubit

Overclocked quantum bit

Sasqui

[H]@RD5TUFF

cheesy999

Chaitanya

Batou1986

Widjaja

Delta6326

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

qubit

Overclocked quantum bit

[H]@RD5TUFF

N-Gen

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

EarthDog

N-Gen

newtekie1

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Trackr

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