Why Are Hard Drives Still So Expensive?

To anyone who’s had to purchase a hard drive at some point in the last seven months, it’s been no surprise that the pricing has been outrageous. At the time of the Thailand floods, we were queried about when we thought pricing would go back to normal; we figured summer / fall 2012. But there’s one thing we didn’t consider – with higher hard drive prices meaning vendors are increasing their revenue, why on earth would any go back to pre-flood pricing?

As blunt as that statement may be, it does appear to be true. All vendors are back on normal production schedules, yet pricing is still much higher than it was pre-flood. On the upside, we’re seeing far better pricing than we we did at any point during the last seven months, but that’s not much consolation when a drive you used to be able to buy for $60 now costs $110.

According to the folks at ExtremeTech, one of the most popular drives pre-flood, Western Digital’s 2TB Caviar Green, retailed for about $99. In January, it sat at $114, and today, it’s about $119. A $20 increase isn’t anything major, but this drive’s an exception with regards to that. Another popular choice, the Caviar Black 2TB, retailed for $150 pre-flood and now sits at $209. For a non-WD example, Seagate’s 1TB Barracuda rose from $56 pre-flood to $99 just this past weekend.

So, when will prices “go back to normal”? It’s not going to happen for a while. Most hard drive vendors are posting nice profits, and as a business, all of them would be foolish to change that on purpose. However, as things settle even further, competitive price-slashing might take place, eventually bringing us back down to pre-flood levels, though it’s really hard to speculate. One thing’s for sure – if you need a drive, just buy one. At this point, waiting is going to accomplish very little.