The website ExtremeTech http://www.extremetech.com/computing/129874-hdd-pricewatch-higher-prices… has been tracking the prices of hard disk drives and solid state drives from manufacturers like Western Digital, Seagate, Samsung and Hitachi. Following the floods in Thailand, hard drive prices skyrocketed as manufacturers struggled to keep up with demand. 

For the first time since 2011, prices seem to have stabilized, but at a new high, according to the report. In Q2 2012, prices are down from the beginning of this year, but have not yet dropped to Q3 2011 prices. Prices are now, on average, about 40 percent higher than pre-flood prices. 

Solid State Drive Prices Drop

It’s not the same story for Solid State Drives (SSD) though. With the HDD shortage, experts predicted that SSD demand, and, subsequently, prices, would spike. That didn’t happen, so SSD prices continue dropping, falling by about one-quarter from Fall 2011. 

Even with storage capacity at about $1/gb, you still get more storage capacity and performance for your money with an HDD… about twice as much capacity in some cases. Hybrid drives, such as Seagate’s Momentus and the new hybrid drive Toshiba has announced for a September 2012 launch, may be the solution to this challenge. We’ll still see notebooks with flash drives rather than HDD storage solutions, but, in general, the HDD format is not going away any time soon. And, chances are, SDD prices will stabilize within the year, rather than continuing to drop at this rate. 

Even More for Your Money as HDD Capacities Grow

There’s more good news for the HDD format, too. Hard drive capacities are getting even bigger. While you’re paying more money (or the same amount) you’re getting more storage for that money. Several manufacturers are dropping lower-capacity HDD from their lines as it just doesn’t make sense to invest in a small drive. 

As it becomes possible to store even more data on one storage device, reliable back-up procedures become even more crucial. It’s also important to have a data recovery service you can trust on file in the event of a data recovery emergency. 

If you’re putting all your eggs in one basket, you want to make sure that basket is safe, because omelettes are only fun with a side of bacon, not in data recovery.