HDD's time to buy now?

aim54x on 22/05/2014 - 11:18

I have been sweating it for a little while now, having missed my HDD rotation schedule due to the unexpected prices (fallout from the 2012 floods in Thailand) and have been hoping to delay the purcahse of new HDDs until prices were close enough to my planned upgrade point. This however means I am nearing the critical storage mark within my system and its backup layers, prices are still not as low as I had hoped but at the same time the unrest in Thailand worries me.

The planned rotation would be:
-replace 500GB scratch drive (this one worries me, HD Sentinel tells me to monitor as error levels are high)
-upgrade 1TB storage (only have 150GB left)
-upgrade 2TB backup (currently a WD GREEN)
-fill out NAS (2x empty slots atm, 2x2TB WD RED - ie buy 2x 3-4TB NAS Drivers either WD Red or Seagate NAS)

Should I:
a) buy enough to see me by (ie buy a 4TB to go into the backup, bump the 2tb into main storage and the 1tb as scratch, retiring the 500GB)
b) as a) but buy 2x3TB for NAS at same time
c) complete full rotation/upgrade

TL:DR
should I buy more HDD's in case Thailand goes to shit and prices skyrocket again.

Computing

Comments

  • ozhunter on 22/05/2014 - 11:26

    Apart from that one incident, hard drives drop down in price so you should only buy it as you need it. If I'd were you I only replace that 500GB hard drive.

  • pinoy on 22/05/2014 - 11:34

    i guess you aren't aware but chances are you will be getting hdd's made in china.

    • aim54x on 22/05/2014 - 13:38

      Even HDD's made in China were affected last time….as long as componentry is made in Thailand then there is a possibility that there will be an effect. Over a third of WD's production is out of Thailand.

      • pinoy on 22/05/2014 - 16:07

        why u worried? leave the worrying to other people ex. such as my boss who regularly need to purchase from 5 to hundreds of hdd at a time (incidentally work@datarec/forensics firm in melb cbd).

        plan & buy for what you will use now. and for your paranoias sake then a spare or two to keep your nerves relaxed.

        • aim54x on 22/05/2014 - 16:20

          Because I have to buy at a few drives in the near future….If you bothered to read the original post I am trying to work out if I should buy the half dozen drives I need (to secure my storage needs for another 24 months) or just get the one or two that I urgently need.

          Unlike your boss I can't write off my drives as a tax deduction (I would if I could work out a way), sadly I only photograph for personal work and have not taken up any billable work.

  • LYRICALRAVER on 22/05/2014 - 19:31

    when 3tb drops to under $100 - that will be the best time to buy.

  • Baysew on 23/05/2014 - 10:06

    Hedge your bets - 500Gb replace now. Its full of errors
    1TB replace now. It's just full.

    Wait and see on the others.

    Thailand has history with the military being in control.

  • LYRICALRAVER on 28/05/2014 - 22:44

    hey Baysew, what's with the Thailand comment? it's got nothing to do with HDD's! LOL

    • Baysew on 30/05/2014 - 17:46

      Don't mention Thailand !

      The Op mentioned it twice "fallout from the 2012 floods in Thailand"
      & "the unrest in Thailand worries me"

      aim54x mentioned it "as long as componentry is made in Thailand then there is a possibility that there will be an effect. Over a third of WD's production is out of Thailand."

      We may have mentioned Thailand 5 times but I think we have got away with it.

      Apologies to Fawlty.

      • aim54x on 30/05/2014 - 17:52

        Thanks for the replies…. I'm leaning towards updating the external 2tb and rotating the other drives to retire the 500gb.

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