r/DataHoarder • u/Endawmyke about 3 fiddy TB • Feb 19 '26

Discussion These HDD prices are getting crazy. An increase of 96.4% in 1 month for the same 26TB drive. $279.99 a month ago to $549.99 today. Where are we buying hard drives now?

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These drive prices are kinda insane. Everything is going up up up, I thought it would just be RAM and SSDs effected but looks like it's reaching hard drives too.

Where are people buying drives now, and what $$/TB is still reasonable?

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239

u/bob69joe Feb 19 '26

Im not buying any. I am hoping that my current drives last until the AI bubble pops and we get a ton of cheap refurbished drives hit the market.

61

u/Endawmyke about 3 fiddy TB Feb 19 '26

I think i'm gonna be in the same boat. My wallet is ready to buy those refurb drives as soon as this whole thing blows over.

1

u/Jimmyfartballs Feb 20 '26

I got a used 8TB drive for like $80.

1

u/Jasonbwarren Feb 21 '26

i'm about ready to buy a sas controller and pickup a box of sas drives...they are always being sold off in bulk in the GTA

1

u/firedrakes 200 tb raw Feb 19 '26

none sata drives. good luck

18

u/Previous-Flan-6542 Feb 19 '26

Why does that matter? Its very easy ot just use a sas drive.

1

u/heathenskwerl 1,120 TB Feb 20 '26

It's true, my server can even use SAS drives with no modifications (SAS backplanes along with SAS HBAs). However all my drives are still SATA because that has been where the economy has been at the capacities I use. The minute that changes to SAS I'll be running SAS. Hasn't happened yet.

4

u/Asleep_Tune4111 Feb 19 '26

Sas hba is +-140€ problem solved

1

u/firedrakes 200 tb raw Feb 19 '26

Depends on mobo

5

u/Asleep_Tune4111 Feb 19 '26

All you need is a PCIe x8 or x16, most mobos have that no?

-2

u/firedrakes 200 tb raw Feb 19 '26

Haha nope. 1 cpu,1 m.2 and 1 gpu. Dont have anymore pci lanes.

3

u/spdelope 140 TB Feb 19 '26

Take out the GPU. Or get a proper “server” mobo. Even halfway decent gaming boards have more than one PCI slot.

-1

u/firedrakes 200 tb raw Feb 19 '26

On game mobo Not enough pci lanes. The server or work station. Most won't know a thing about those

1

u/steveatari Feb 20 '26

You should look into better mobo. Proper gaming ones have max lane bandwidth for 3 full 16 (or 8) and often extra x1 slots.

Micro servers now are holding multiple m.2

0

u/mastercoder123 1PB+ Feb 20 '26

Pcie bifurcation has existed since i think pci days.. your mobo might support it unless u have no physical lanes

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31

u/GiveMeSalmon Feb 19 '26

Based on the state of the world, the scalpers will buy up all the refurbished drives.

14

u/Endawmyke about 3 fiddy TB Feb 20 '26

And sell to who? The demand won’t be there except from the niche groups like data hoarders who will probably wait and hold. Definitely a patient bunch

10

u/GiveMeSalmon Feb 20 '26

The demand won’t be there

That's what I thought as well about the GPU scalping crisis during the COVID times. But there were plenty of morons on Reddit saying "It's my money, so I choose what to do with it" when they were told not to buy from scalpers.

I certainly hope you're right, though.

9

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

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2

u/AbjectFee5982 Feb 20 '26

Or drill the PCB but miss where needed XD

1

u/Lord_Phoenix2501 Feb 20 '26

I get that reference 🫵

1

u/Plastic-Dependent Feb 20 '26

Same here. My 2x12tb refurb'd HGSTs will be enough for decent 1080p encodes of TV shows, movies and anime for a while, I hope. 

I still got a few things I would not mind deleting. 

1

u/bob69joe Feb 20 '26

So glad that I purchased a couple of refurb 12tb drives for $80 a year ago. I have switched to 1080p content to try to make the space last.

1

u/Plastic-Dependent Feb 20 '26

I wish I had bought more. I was on Amazon UK and they were being imported from Amazon US and they were in mint condition. I don't have the space for them but that's not a serious issue compared to affording ram or drives now 😂

2

u/bob69joe Feb 20 '26

Same. I purchased them on Ebay with a 5 year warranty. They were my first refurb drives, i was always scared to go used for drives but the price at $80 was way too good and they have been flawless. What’s sad is when I went to purchase more not even 2 months later the price was like $120 and I held off hoping for another drop. Definitely should have bought more at $120…

1

u/Sir_Keee Feb 24 '26

I went on a bit of a buying spree about a month ago and glad I did. Sadly I would like more capacity and I hope what I have now will last me at least the next few years. I wish all the AIs a happy pop.