HDD crisis, fake?

[Repressor]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/HDD-C...s-266676.shtml

In a report from earlier his year, we found out that Seagate even managed to increase its HDD shipments with around 2% when compared to the previous year. Where exactly was that “crisis?”

Quite unbelieveable, really...

[havingfun1]

huh wow. Though is that info reliable?

[blueball]

Doesn't matter if it is. SSDs are getting cheaper all the time

[jim]

I thought it was WD that was primarily affected by the floods, rather than Seagate?

I think the article might be jumping the gun a bit on attacking WD and Seagate.

Nonetheless, I'm a little concerned about the rapidly decreasing numbers of manufacturers.

[IronWarrior]

Doesn't matter if it is. SSDs are getting cheaper all the time

Please show me a cheap 2TB SSD.

[Butuz]

Please show me a fast HDD

2 different technologies to address two very different problems!

Butuz

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

[scaryjim]

WD shipments were down 11% compared to the previous year. That's around 6 weeks worth of production. Overall HDD shipments dropped 4.5%. In that kind of market, it's hardly surprising that a) WD's biggest competitor managed to ship more product, and b) lower supply lead to increased prices which offset the loss of shipment and lead to improved revenue.

I've not been able to scrum up the figures yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if HDD shipments have been growing year on year anyway, which would mean that the adjusted impact on HDD supply is actually greater than the 4.5% reduction compared to the previous year. Let's not beat about the bush - HDD shipments were in a mess for the last 6 months of last (finanacial) year, and still haven't recovered, so there are definitely issues in HDD supply. Crisis might not be the right word, but it definitely isn't fake.

[Unique]

WD shipments were down 11% compared to the previous year. That's around 6 weeks worth of production. Overall HDD shipments dropped 4.5%. In that kind of market, it's hardly surprising that a) WD's biggest competitor managed to ship more product, and b) lower supply lead to increased prices which offset the loss of shipment and lead to improved revenue.

I've not been able to scrum up the figures yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if HDD shipments have been growing year on year anyway, which would mean that the adjusted impact on HDD supply is actually greater than the 4.5% reduction compared to the previous year. Let's not beat about the bush - HDD shipments were in a mess for the last 6 months of last (finanacial) year, and still haven't recovered, so there are definitely issues in HDD supply. Crisis might not be the right word, but it definitely isn't fake.

i'd be more inclined to think that way. imagine how much more sales there would be if prices had continued to go down. it might sound irish, but of course with prices going UP then the amount of money being taken with also go UP, thus sell 25% less product, but increase prices by 50% and if my maths aren't completely wrong, then you make more money (if they are wrong, adjust the figures accordingly as it's just an example). but with reduced prices output could have potentially increased by say 35% by increased demand due to more affordable product in a market where there is both a recession and an increased appetite for large storage by home consumers for media

about 6 months ago i was hoping on 3tb drives to come down to around the £70 mark and 2tb drives around £40/£45, considering they were available for almost £100 prefloods and 2tb drives were commonly at the £50 mark. i was also hoping on 4tb drives to come down to around £120 ish, but we've probably lost at least a years worth of price reductions

could be worse though, imagine getting hit by the devastation of floods destroying your homes, workplaces, loosing your home, your job and friends and family

[Groundbeef]

If its any help I bought a 1000 GB Samsung HD103UJ Spinpoint F 1 for £79.89 (before VAT) in 2008 and have just purchased a Western Digital WD20EARX 2TB Caviar Green for £77.50 (before VAT) I know they are probably different speeds but its double the size.

Although as stated by snootyjim Its a little scary that there are only really two company's vying for your HD cash.

[Zak33]

If its any help I bought a 1000 GB Samsung HD103UJ Spinpoint F 1 for £79.89 (before VAT) in 2008 and have just purchased a Western Digital WD20EARX 2TB Caviar Green for £77.50 (before VAT) I know they are probably different speeds but its double the size.

it's likely the 2tb is actually a tad faster.

I have a 1tb 7200rpm Hitachi Deathstar... fast great drive.. and a new 2tb 5900rpm Green WD

http://forums.hexus.net/storage/2372...-hd-tacho.html

and the green drive is faster.

[shaithis]

I said at the time that they were "extracting the urine"....

The 300% price increases were obviously knee-jerk.....and then people carried on buying them.......

[Shooty*]

Like petrol
And utility bills.

And then people wonder why the companies say "Woo hoo! Record profits! BUt, you know, times are really, really hard. Honest."

[Steve]

No, the crisis existed, but as any good company would, they'd do their utmost to reduce the impact on them. The cleverest would figure out how to profit from it. That's business.

We had trouble sourcing certain drives to replace RAID members, and have observed some drive prices change more dramatically than others, based largely on demand I'd say. The enterprise drives haven't changed all that much... not the ones we use anyway. Although of course it's only the cheap drives in the "throw away arrays" that have had issues, and they're the ones that are more expensive and harder to source at the moment, ironically.

[Butuz]

Yeh mostly 2.5" SAS and some SSD here so not really impacted at all. The people who bought (or needed to replace) racks full of 3.5" SATA drives are suffering. Ouch.

Butuz

[Tunnah]

Aye it wasn't fake, was the most simple of economics - more wanty, more costy