Hard drive prices just went through the roof

[Charlotte]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15534614

I bought a pair of these for £59.99 each last month.  The exact same drive is now selling for £179.99 

[Frere]

Better lock up your HDDs least copper cabling scrotes divert their attention!.....

Frere

[andygates]

Heavy Weather suggests the wisdom of slightly more distributed manufacturing processes.

[tiermat]

I was going to say that Ebuyer are scalping bastards, and would take advantage of anything, but the other suppliers seem to be doing the same (that drive is ~£120 @CCL).

Guess my plans for a NAS shall be shelved for now then

[Biggsy]

Blimey, that's shocking when you've been sure prices per GB would never stop falling.

Perhaps this will make us space-efficient again, instead of keeping every old crap video and RAW photo!

Delete your narwhal p0rn first of all.

[pcolbeck]

Temporary blip. Will prices will fall back as soon as production is sorted out. It's just supply and demand in operation with a temporary scarcity.

[dasmoth]

I was going to say that Ebuyer are scalping bastards, and would take advantage of anything, but the other suppliers seem to be doing the same (that drive is ~£120 @CCL).

Guess my plans for a NAS shall be shelved for now then

Likewise.  I was just about to order four drives when the prices started heading north.  I think (hope!) they'll start dropping again before too horribly long.

[Biggsy]

Temporary blip.

I suppose so, but it is a wake-up call anyway.  We shouldn't get complacent in our expectation of goods prices in general.  Things can change quickly.

[Woofage]

Look at the uniformly-coloured regions in this photo. That's water and that's what the outskirts of Bangkok looked like 2 days ago.



If you have money burning a hole in your pocket, spare a little for the flood relief charities .

[andygates]

But I spent it all commissioning clop!   

[nuttycyclist]

Guess my plans for a NAS shall be shelved for now then

Buggardy blastit.  Same here.  I kept putting it off due to other tasks.

[andygates]

Guess my plans for a NAS shall be shelved for now then

Buggardy blastit.  Same here.  I kept putting it off due to other tasks.

De-duplicating your pr0n.   

[Kathy]

Suddenly feeling so smug we got the NAS a couple of months ago!

[fred the great]

I think you will find that most of the World's hard drive Manufacturer's are located in Industrial Estates in Thailand which have been devastated by heavy flooding and have evacuated all Staff and Employees for there safety.

Other Japanese Companies that I know  have been affected include Honda, Toyota, Sony, Canon and many other lesser known names.

Some have stated that production will be stopped for at least six months

[Biggsy]

I think you will find that most of the World's hard drive Manufacturer's are located in Industrial Estates in Thailand which have been devastated by heavy flooding and have evacuated all Staff and Employees for there safety.

We read that in the article Charlotte linked to in the original post.

[Charlotte]

[fred the great]

I think you will find that most of the World's hard drive Manufacturer's are located in Industrial Estates in Thailand which have been devastated by heavy flooding and have evacuated all Staff and Employees for there safety.

We read that in the article Charlotte linked to in the original post.

I'm well aware of that.

The BBC report doesn't really demonstrate just how  badly  these Industries have been devastated. Most major Industrial Estates here are flooded to about 1.50 metres depth or more , the workforces evacuated and electricity cut off because a few electrocutions have occurred. One or two Companies including Honda are hoping to restart production after six months. Presumably it will be  similar for hard drive manufacture. The 30% loss of production is certainly not realistic in the current situation.

Oh and  Charlotte has now gone bald then?

[Woofage]

The BBC report doesn't really demonstrate just how  badly  these Industries have been devastated.

Indeed it doesn't. I saw a report on NHK (Japanese TV) last week about the flooded industrial areas and it was much more thorough. That Beeb report only skims the surface. I understand the FCO changed it's policy on travel to Bangkok a few days ago and is now warning people not to go.

On a lighter note, here's a photo of some people on a bicycle tour in Bangkok. Note the sandbags outside the pharmacy and the makeshift walkway for when the roads flood each afternoon at high tide (this was a week and half ago).

[Valiant]

Good thing I brought my disks when Charlotte did

[ed_o_brain]

It might be an idea to stock up on Nikon D7000s to resell on ebay close to Christmas.

These are thought not to be held in massive stocks and it will be a while before production is ramped up again... Nikon undertook most the manufacturing of their DX bodies in Thailand. T'is thought that it's delaying product launches too..

Small beer thought compared to the difficulties faced by those directly affected by the flooding...

[Kathy]

I had major problems trying to acquire a Canon lens shortly after the Fukushima quake. I wonder if the flash I want for this Christmas is going to be affected by these floods?

[Woofage]

I had major problems trying to acquire a Canon lens shortly after the Fukushima quake. I wonder if the flash I want for this Christmas is going to be affected by these floods?

Maybe it will be.

I expect that such trivial issues will be quite a long way back in the mind of those displaced by the floods though. It's not just about businesses...

[fred the great]

An extract from a Report today:-

"Flooding in Thailand, which disrupted more than a dozen hard disk drive (HDD) factories, will have a direct impact on worldwide PC shipments through the first half of 2012, according to a new International Data Corporation (IDC) report.
The full extent of the damage to HDD industry factories will not be known until the floodwaters recede, although it’s already clear that there will be HDD supply shortages into the first quarter of 2012".

[starkj73]

I have two 4gb IDE going spare.

All sensible offers considered.

 

[Diver300]

I have two 4gb IDE going spare.

All sensible offers considered.

 

My penknife, which I keep on my keyring, holds 4gb. And where do I get IDE's to connect to nowadays?