HDD Output To Reach Preflood Levels, But Prices Will Stay At A Postflood Premium
Posted 04/03/2012 | by Brad Chacos

Good news for all you mechanical drive freaks out there: the beleaguered and washed-out hard disk drive industry is on track to pull its head back above water in the second half of the year. Yay! Bad news for all you mechanical drive freaks out there: even though HDD output will fully catch up to previous levels, HDD prices are still going to stay above the "dirt cheap" range they were at before the Thailand floods.

The news comes courtesy of IDC, who says that "HDD vendors are taking advantage of this opportunity to reset prices and recover some of the excessive price erosion that began in 2009." Don't speak business-ease? Basically, HDD manufacturers will be taking a cue from the gas companies and keeping prices at a high level now that they know people will pay the premium. Hopefully they nudge down a bit from where they're at now, though. (We'd like to send our kids to college someday.)

John Rydning, IDC's hard drive guru, claims that the higher price points will let HDD manufacturers pump R&D cash into newfangled HDD technology, but the possibility of a more power-efficient hard disk two years down the line probably won't help to quell the hurt your wallet feels when you're trying to fill a NAS box today.

To be fair, though, HDDs were getting ridiculously cheap before the floods. What are your thoughts about the "reset HDD prices"? Is it a fair move, price gouging, or something in between?