Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of strongest storms ever, heads for central Philippines.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/world/asia/philippines-typhoon-haiyan/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

 

While tragic and I hope no lives are lost....but with this super storm hitting, anyone afraid they will raise the prices of hard drives again and should we stock up now?

One hopes that when they rebuilt the manufacturing facilities after the last catastrophe, they were very well "storm-proof" (at least more so than before).

 

But if you have near-term plans to buy more drives, it certainly wouldn't hurt to get them now.

 

Was trying to hold out for black Friday prices but after seeing this I don't know if I should wait or not.  I just know the manufactures will scream shortage even if there isn't one just to make more money.

Right now you can get a 3TB drive for $100 - check the good deals page.

 

I'm not very optimistic about BF/CM HDD deals.

 

I can't really see 3TB drives going for less than $80. In order for a 4TB drive to match the current prices of 3TB drives they'd have to drop to $133. I suppose it's possible but at that price the quantity is likely to be limited so you're unlikely to get many at that price. I think that only thing that will really drive down the price of 4TB drives is the widespread availability of 5TB drives.

 

So I guess what I'm saying is this - if you're going to need more capacity in the next 1-2 months there is no guarantee that you're going to be able to purchase a drive much cheaper than $33/TB - which is just about where it was right before the floods.

Remeber always factor in the hidden port cost. i.e. if your server is full with 10HDD that 11th HDD costs conceptuality much more.

... I don't know if I should wait or not.

 

It's really a simple question of whether or not you need more drives now.  If so, remember what I said earlier:

 

... if you have near-term plans to buy more drives, it certainly wouldn't hurt to get them now.

 

... On the other hand, if you don't need more storage now (or in the near future), there's no reason to panic in anticipation of an event that may not happen.    Of if you want larger capacity drives (5TB or larger) you have no choice except to wait until they're available -- and simply pay what they cost.    For example, my next batch of drives will be 5TB WD Reds .. regardless of the cost.

 

I agree that SATA ports are a thing to be considered along with case capacity however there are so many variations that it is hard to make an A vs. B comparison.

 

My original strategy was to maximize cost effectiveness. I wanted the largest drives available that used the least power. This allowed me to conserve HDD bays/ports and use the least amount of power possible. What I've learned over the past few years is to stop overanalyzing the issue and just purchase the best value drives. A few extra watts here or there doesn't realy add up to a lot of extra cost in the long run. At the moment the best value (IMO) is 3TB drives. Now if there is some glaring issue - like I'm out of SATA ports or drive bays then that would have to be considered. Again, just my opinion so feel free to disagree but it works for me.

I wasn't- until I saw this post!!