New WD 4 TB Black hard drive

[Lynn McGuire]

New WD 4 TB Black hard drive:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Desktop-Hard-Drive-WD4001FAEX/dp/B00A2IM76K/

Sweet! Now I need a reason to buy one
of these bad boys! Not cheap at $303
though.

Lynn

 

[Char Jackson]

New WD 4 TB Black hard drive:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Desktop-Hard-Drive-WD4001FAEX/dp/B00A2IM76K/

Sweet! Now I need a reason to buy one
of these bad boys! Not cheap at $303
though.

Sadly, it doesn't look like HDD prices will *ever* come back down to where
they were pre-flood.

 

[miso]

Sadly, it doesn't look like HDD prices will *ever* come back down to where
they were pre-flood.

My thoughts exactly. BTW, the Hitachi 4T benchmarks a bit better for
basically the same price. Of course, WD owns HGST. Provantage as the
Ultra version for $317.

Fry's had a blow out of sorts on a HGST 4T. They have a smaller cache
version. (32 versus 64). I was out of town during the sale, but noticed
the price was more like $220. Make that I was out of town at the start
of the sale. The drives didn't last long at that price.


But the short warranty 4T USB drives go for around $150 on sale these
days. Maybe the internal drive are due for a drop.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Sadly, it doesn't look like HDD prices will *ever* come back down to where
they were pre-flood.

It wouldn't surprise me that the floods were just an excuse to reduce
capacity. The HDD industry is in its sunset years now, lots of
consolidation going on, which also a sign of this being the sunset
years. SSD's are already available in 512MB sizes, the next step up is
the 1TB size, and I think once the SSD hits those sizes, it's game over
for the HDD industry.

Yousuf Khan

 

[DevilsPGD]

In the last episode of <[email protected]>,

Sadly, it doesn't look like HDD prices will *ever* come back down to where
they were pre-flood.

This is likely at least partially true. A lot of the factories were
likely using older parts, designs, tools, etc that could keep pumping
out small capacity drives at low margin, but would need serious work to
put out modern drives. Why rebuild those factories at all?

Conversely, when the factories were re-built, they were probably
designed with some level of future-proofing in mind, and are therefore
easier to upgrade, so there might never be the glut of drives that we
once had.

This too makes sense given how the industry is giving way to SSDs. While
there will be room for rotating magnetic storage for some time now, the
reality of it is that PC sales are reasonably stagnant and less and less
systems have a hard drive at all, while those that do often have such
large drives that consumers no longer need to add or upgrade their drive
within the lifespan of the system, so massive build-outs aren't likely.

On the other hand, there were some impressive sales last Black Friday on
drives, but this is one of the worst times of the year to buy hardware
(corporations that work on a calendar year have fresh budgets and are
buying, while consumers that can jump on sales are still paying off and
thinking about summer vacations rather than spending money at home).

Once upon a time there used to be sales to extract consumer tax refunds
from their pockets, but I don't recall anything major in the last couple
years.

 

[Noob]

It wouldn't surprise me that the floods were just an excuse to reduce
capacity. The HDD industry is in its sunset years now, lots of
consolidation going on, which also [is] a sign of this being the sunset
years. SSD's are already available in 512MB sizes, the next step up is
the 1TB size, and I think once the SSD hits those sizes, it's game over
for the HDD industry.

Not so fast!

cf. "The Bleak Future of NAND Flash Memory"
http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/users/swanson/papers/FAST2012BleakFlash.pdf

NAND Flash, as it is currently implemented, is a dead-end, and will
definitely NOT be the killer of hard disk drives.

It will take a break-through, such as this one
http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/memory/flash-memory-survives-100-million-cycles
to finally put the nail in the coffin.

Regards.

 

[Rod Speed]

Sadly, it doesn't look like HDD prices will *ever* come back down to where
they were pre-flood.

They already have with the $/TB of the cheapest drives.

 

[Rod Speed]

It wouldn't surprise me that the floods were just an excuse to reduce
capacity.

Just another mindless conspiracy theory.

The HDD industry is in its sunset years now,
Bullshit.

lots of consolidation going on,

There always has been.

which also a sign of this being the sunset years.

Nope, because there always has been.

SSD's are already available in 512MB sizes, the next step up is the 1TB
size, and I think once the SSD hits those sizes, it's game over for the
HDD industry.

More fool you. The likes of google etc wont be moving to SSD, you watch.

 

[Char Jackson]

They already have with the $/TB of the cheapest drives.

When I built my media server a few years ago, I populated it with 15 Samsung
2TB drives. The first 4 were $110 each, the next 4 were $90 each, and the
last 7 were $65 each ($70 with a $5 promo).

Can I get decent 4TB drives for less than about $30/terabyte now? Where?

 

[miso]

Can I get decent 4TB drives for less than about $30/terabyte now? Where?
Actually the usb 4TB drives are close to that price. I've seen them for
$150 at Frys. Why the internal drives cost more is the question. No
case, no dongle power supply, no usb interface, yet they cost more?

 

[Rod Speed]

When I built my media server a few years ago, I populated it with 15
Samsung
2TB drives. The first 4 were $110 each, the next 4 were $90 each, and the
last 7 were $65 each ($70 with a $5 promo).

Can I get decent 4TB drives for less than about $30/terabyte now? Where?

You aint comparing like with like. Those arent the cheapest $/GB drives.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In the last episode of <[email protected]>,

When I built my media server a few years ago, I populated it with 15 Samsung
2TB drives. The first 4 were $110 each, the next 4 were $90 each, and the
last 7 were $65 each ($70 with a $5 promo).

Can I get decent 4TB drives for less than about $30/terabyte now? Where?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148844R gets
you $35/TB, which is reasonably close. If you watch for sales, you'll do
better.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178338 gives
you a 4TB at $47.50 which beats your first 4 and almost matches the next
4, which is reasonable for the upper end of the capacity spectrum. These
drives will come down as time goes on too, but you always pay a $/GB
premium on the upper end.

 

[Char Jackson]

In the last episode of <[email protected]>,


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148844R gets
you $35/TB, which is reasonably close. If you watch for sales, you'll do
better.

That one is only 3TB, and it's open box, and it's out of stock, and it's
discontinued.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178338 gives
you a 4TB at $47.50 which beats your first 4 and almost matches the next
4, which is reasonable for the upper end of the capacity spectrum. These
drives will come down as time goes on too, but you always pay a $/GB
premium on the upper end.

That one, and the earlier comments about external drives being cheaper, got
me looking. I found this one,
<http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178111>
which is a 4TB Seagate for $150. Unfortunately, the reviews indicate that
different drives are being delivered in this enclosure. Some report 5900 RPM
while others report 7200 RPM. For me, slower rotational speed and cooler
running would be preferable, but it seems there's a gamble involved.

 

[Char Jackson]

Actually the usb 4TB drives are close to that price. I've seen them for
$150 at Frys. Why the internal drives cost more is the question. No
case, no dongle power supply, no usb interface, yet they cost more?

I'm guessing it might be the same reason that wireless routers cost less
than access points.

 

[miso]

That one, and the earlier comments about external drives being cheaper, got

me looking. I found this one,
<http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178111>
which is a 4TB Seagate for $150. Unfortunately, the reviews indicate that
different drives are being delivered in this enclosure. Some report 5900 RPM
while others report 7200 RPM. For me, slower rotational speed and cooler
running would be preferable, but it seems there's a gamble involved.

I have a Seagate 4TB drive about two years old. I recall it having a
terrible review with complaints about overheating. I never had that
problem, but then again, I pealed off the clear plastic Seagate attached
to both side of the drive. ;-)

 

[Daniel Prince]

I have a Seagate 4TB drive about two years old.

Did 4TB drives exist two years ago? I was under the impression that
they were more recent than that.

Is there a web page that lists the dates that each size of drive
first became available to the general public?

 

[Char Jackson]

DevilsPGD,


Current promo has the following at $179.....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...13-Index-_-InternalHardDrives-_-22178338-L04D

...good until 4/4/2013

You posted the same link as above:

His: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178338
Yours: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178338

 

[Char Jackson]

Char,


No, mine is current AND valid, his is not.

Not to belabor the point, but you posted a link to the exact same item.
Compare the URLs and you'll see.

 

[DevilsPGD]

DevilsPGD,


Current promo has the following at $179.....

Just to clarify, my pricing was all /TB, to make it possible to compare
prices against older drives and across families of drives.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?
Item=N82E16822178338&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL032913&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL032913-_-
EMC-032913-Index-_-InternalHardDrives-_-22178338-L04D

...good until 4/4/2013

Same product as I linked (note the ?Item=), I just strip the other crap
because it's not necessary and it makes a friendlier URL.

 

[miso]

Did 4TB drives exist two years ago? I was under the impression that
they were more recent than that.

Is there a web page that lists the dates that each size of drive
first became available to the general public?

I got it before the Thailand floods, and they started in July 2011. So
if not two years, very close. Best Buy had them on sale.

Frys has some Seagate 4T internal drives for $199. Two year warranty
IIRC. This isn't a sale price. The drive isn't on their website.