Just checking my supplier levels in Australia, a lot of WD consumer drives are out of stock, but some models still have fairly healthy stock levels. ETAs for additional stock seem to range from 20/02/2026 to 06/03/2026. Plenty of 2.5" consumer drives though.
WD/Seagate enterprise drive stocks look a little better, again with ETAs of end of February 2026 for some out of stock models.
Rats! I was just looking to get back into long term archival and beef up my NAS so I was eyeing a few seagate surveillance 2TB spinners. Bad time to buy HDDs I assume?
Rats! I was just looking to get back into long term archival and beef up my NAS so I was eyeing a few seagate surveillance 2TB spinners. Bad time to buy HDDs I assume?
Just give it a bit once manufacturing kicks into high gear and stock levels are up. Might be able to grab some good deals.
Just give it a bit once manufacturing kicks into high gear and stock levels are up. Might be able to grab some good deals.
I doubt they are ramping up manufacturing as the initial high request might fall flat as soon as the AI hype bubble bursts - or the companies consolidate.
Manufacturing a HDD is not trivial, and establishing a new facility likely takes a couple of years.
(There will still be datacenter demand, so factory shutdowns are unlikely either.)
I doubt they are ramping up manufacturing as the initial high request might fall flat as soon as the AI hype bubble bursts - or the companies consolidate.
Manufacturing a HDD is not trivial, and establishing a new facility likely takes a couple of years.
(There will still be datacenter demand, so factory shutdowns are unlikely either.)
I seriously doubt that is likely to happen any time soon.. well.. atleast it wont burst... maybe deflate...
The entire US economy is propped up on the hype cycle.. and I think someone somewhere in the govt has seen this as well..
If I were in their shoes, I would be shitting bricks now... and do everything to ensure the bubble doesnt burst..
Are we talking about "real" hard drives (i.e., spinning disks) or them solid-state thingies here?
Are we talking about "real" hard drives (i.e., spinning disks) or them solid-state thingies here?
Real spinning drives.
NZ is the same, most stuff is out of stock.
I can still buy SSDs here, especially NVM ones. but SATA SSDs seem to be getting low.
My server has plenty of free space atm but i am pondering getting a 6 or 8TB just so i have a spare for the next year or so.
I did notice a pending sector on one of my old 2TB drives. Zero reallocations, just 1 pending sector so its probably nothing to worry about yet.
I can get Seagate IronWolf drives, anyone know what the quality of those is like?
I usually stick with Western Digital but happy to go with Seagate if they are ok now??
I can still buy SSDs here, especially NVM ones. but SATA SSDs seem to be getting low.
My server has plenty of free space atm but i am pondering getting a 6 or 8TB just so i have a spare for the next year or so.
I did notice a pending sector on one of my old 2TB drives. Zero reallocations, just 1 pending sector so its probably nothing to worry about yet.
I can get Seagate IronWolf drives, anyone know what the quality of those is like?
I usually stick with Western Digital but happy to go with Seagate if they are ok now??
I have a few IronWolf drives spinning and haven't had issues. I also have had a long preference for WD. HGST was my big favorite for a long time. I still have 8 of them spinning for 10 years now. WD gobbled up HGST, though.
Is there any real difference between 3.5" and 2.5" drives in terms of longevity? ChatGPT swears either type will last as long as the other but i somehow don't buy it. Assuming adequate cooling, no mechanical movement etc conditions
this is all about the push for global digital ID/Wallet and total tracking.
monitoring EVERYBODY 24/7 will require huge ammounts of storage and processing - thats why you see a push for datacenters now.
all i can add is that you better hope for a global crash or ww3 because these datacenters will form a new level of slavery!
it's also why nobody can get reasonable DDR5 ram - even phone makers cant get the stuff!
and i'm NEVER buying an NVIDIA prooduct again - EVER.
The AI hype is putting price and availability pressure on RAM, FLASH, hard drives, GPUs, electricity, and water as mega data centers are being built at a breakneck pace to meet the hype.
I was at the local Microcenter yesterday and many SSDs and hard drives were out of stock, and some SSDs now cost 2-3x what I paid for the same item last year.
I'm hoping the AI bubble bursts quickly and prices and availability go back to normal.
Is there any real difference between 3.5" and 2.5" drives in terms of longevity? ChatGPT swears either type will last as long as the other but i somehow don't buy it. Assuming adequate cooling, no mechanical movement etc conditions
Any stats for it will be skewed as 2.5" drives go in laptops which are dropped a lot.
I would imagine 2.5" have some advantages by just being smaller and spinning slower.
But because they spin slower and read slower I tend to stay away from them.
There might be some disadvantages having tinier read heads that maybe more likely to get damaged though.
2.5" drives have a shorter lifespan because they are built cheaply - most dont spin slower than 3.5"
i had a 2.5" WD-Black that died after about 7 years of light use - i think the heads failed.
it was 7200RPM btw.
i have lots of 3.5" drives 2-3 times older that run fine.
scsi drives run even when the bearings sound like a coffee grinder - they built that class of drive much better.
as for the AI bubble perpetuated mostly by NVIDIA and ORACLE or whatever dodgy-larry elison is calling his company now.
it's not connected with the massive push for datacenters directly.
2.5" drives have a shorter lifespan because they are built cheaply - most dont spin slower than 3.5"
Even the 2.5" that don't spin slower have a slower angular velocity over the head due to being smaller. So they are still slower.
I prefer to pick up SAS drives for my home storage, as they outlast SATA drives by a good bit. I assume they are built better, since SAS is what enterprises use, but it's just an assumption, and I don't even have real data to back up my opinion on longevity or the reasons.
Sorta makes me want to go research it.
You can buy 2.5" SAS enterprise HDDs for servers.
Does SAS drives works with normal SATA controllers or a special controller is needed? Just curiosity, I stopped using spinning rust for all purposes long ago (even backup) as I don't have so much data and SSDs are much faster and shock proof.
SATA controller works only with SATA drives
SAS controller works with both SAS or SATA drives
A 12G SAS controller that can run in HBA mode is like £20 and cables/adaptors are a few £ more.
Used SAS HDDs and especially SAS SSDs are cheaper (and much more reliable) than equivalent desktop drives, worth investigating if you need large storage now.
SATA controller works only with SATA drives
SAS controller works with both SAS or SATA drives
A 12G SAS controller that can run in HBA mode is like £20 and cables/adaptors are a few £ more.
Used SAS HDDs and especially SAS SSDs are cheaper (and much more reliable) than equivalent desktop drives, worth investigating if you need large storage now.
100% what M0HZH said. I buy used SAS drives, and it's been a good deal. Often spending as little as 25 USD for an 8TB drive in an auction (YMMV). I find them reliable, and since they are hot-pluggable and enterprise-grade, I can easily swap out a drive when it happens. I currently run both of my NAS systems in RAID-Z2 mode with 2 parity drives to allow for the extended rebuild times of large-capacity drives while retaining redundancy.
The last NAS I built was 3 years ago with used 8tb SAS drives, and so far, none have failed.
Gamers Nexus: The Hard Drive Cartel | Criminal Conspiracy & Price Fixing
TL;DW:
- manufacturers of suspension assemblies have created a cartel
You can buy 2.5" SAS enterprise HDDs for servers.
the problem is: where?
- Amazon? I don't trust(1)
- eBay? I don't trust(2)
- Local resellers? they no more sell HDDs, only SDD and NVME
- ...
(1) I watched a few YouTubers who purchased something like qty.16 Seagate EXOS hard drives from Amazon to build a NAS and filmed the build process ...
but frankly ... I doubt I can be so lucky:
+ I recently bought a glass water bottle... it was shipped in an unprotected envelope and arrived broken.
+ I bought a steel bicycle bottle and it arrived dented as if it had been hit with a hammer...
if I bought a hard drive... how would it arrive? Fried? With fish and chips?
(2) with the exception of one seller, whom I trust, but who only sells SCSI 36/70GB LE/LVD SCA/80 HDDs as HP PA-RISC parts