2TB HDD

alexs2602 · 10 May 2012 at 08:40

I've been looking for a while and though I have no immediate requirement for one I am looking to buy before the year is out. I've been keeping an eye on things and lately it seems the new Seagate drives are the best from what I gather(up to 1TB per platter, 7,200RPM etc and [therefore] good read/write rates) and in general prices do seem to be falling(£80 for 2TB, £120 for 3TB in some places if I recall correctly - even if that may be due to sales I expect normal non-sale prices will soon reach that level).

So basically I was looking for the lay of the land from people who've probably kept a keener eye on things than I have. Should I expect prices to continue falling? Any idea to what level? Are there better drives? To be honest, I'm not too concerned about prices falling too much more because compared to a few months ago we seem to be getting really good prices but money's money and the less it costs the better.

Clav · 10 May 2012 at 10:28

Eventually the prices will return to what they were pre-flooding. But you are still looking at a wait of months. But even then, HD's always go out of date relatively quickly. In a few months you could probably pick up a 3TB for that price and a few months after that a 4TB etc etc. But if you think like that you'll never buy anything.

If you want a 2TB now and can afford it now and don't mind that in a relatively short time there will be something cheaper and/or bigger then just buy it.

Essexraptor · 10 May 2012 at 10:53

Clav said:
Eventually the prices will return to what they were pre-flooding. But you are still looking at a wait of months. But even then, HD's always go out of date relatively quickly. In a few months you could probably pick up a 3TB for that price and a few months after that a 4TB etc etc. But if you think like that you'll never buy anything.

If you want a 2TB now and can afford it now and don't mind that in a relatively short time there will be something cheaper and/or bigger then just buy it.

This basically

Otherwise you'll sit on the fenc forever. In a few months time the question will change to "Shall I get a 2, 3 or 4TB model?"

And on and on.....

alexs2602 · 10 May 2012 at 18:38

I should be clearer - I can't actually afford a new hard drive right now and I don't need one right now due to not being able to fill it up at my current residence. When I am living in the right residence and have the money I'll get it.

It'll probably only be 2TB though due to being a student and only having just over 1TB of stored data right now. And even that took a while to accumulate. I find it hard to believe it'd be a wise decision to get a 3TB drive, let alone 4. If I were to get a 3TB drive my 1TB would be immediately relegated to a back up or emergency drive. Though I think with SSDs also falling in price I'd rather get the 2TB and put any other money left over towards a SSD for OS and progs.

I'm just trying to get an update on the current market since things seem to have changed a lot since I last looked about 3 months ago.