Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) are in high demand, forcing prices to continue rising for the fourth month in a row. The latest data collected by ComputerBase shows that while the growth rate has slowed compared to last month, pricing is still going up significantly. If this continues, some units may double in price before long.
While not as extreme as SSD and RAM price increases, HDDs are a natural casualty of the knock-on effect, fuelled by a rush to secure capacity before things get out of control. ComputerBase has monitored 12 HDD models over the past weeks and found a clear upward movement since September. During the last four months, HDD prices have increased by 46% on average, and between 23% to 66% depending on model and capacity. A substantial jump for a product that has nothing to do with silicon/memory shortages.
Among the drives that saw the lowest increases, we have the Seagate IronWolf Pro NAS HDD 16TB with Seagate’s Rescue data recovery service bundle, which climbed from €312.99 to €384.99. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the Toshiba Cloud-Scale Capacity MG10F AFA 22TB, which jumped from €336.47 to €558.99.
| Product | 15.09.2025 | 14.01.2026 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seagate IronWolf NAS HDD +Rescue 4TB | €93.94 | €131.90 | 40.41% |
| Toshiba Cloud-Scale Capacity MG10F AFA 22TB | €336.47 | €558.99 | 66.13 % |
| Western Digital WD Red Plus 8TB | €169.90 | €255.00 | 50.09 % |
| Toshiba Cloud-Scale Capacity MG10ACA 20TB | €309.59 | €479.90 | 55.01 % |
| Seagate Exos 28TB (recertified) | €384.27 | €559.00 | 45.47% |
| Western Digital WD Red Plus 4TB | €99.89 | €133.90 | 34.05 % |
| Seagate IronWolf NAS HDD +Rescue 8TB | €155.90 | €234.90 | 50.67 % |
| Seagate BarraCuda 24TB | €307.90 | €499.90 | 62.36 % |
| Seagate Exos M 30TB | €589.07 | €755.90 | 28.32 % |
| Toshiba Cloud-Scale Capacity MG11ACA 24TB | €386.09 | €602.00 | 55.92% |
| Toshiba Cloud-Scale Capacity MG09ACA 18TB | €287.99 | €418.99 | 45.49% |
| Seagate IronWolf Pro NAS HDD +Rescue 16TB | €312.99 | €384.99 | 23.00 % |
| Average price increase | 46.41 % | ||
Rewind the clock and the month-to-month data indicated just a 7.83% increase in October 2025, which is relatively modest compared to SSDs. However, things accelerated between October and November, averaging a 12.05% rise, with some models seeing up to a 20% leap. Subsequent updates showed that the trend continued into December, adding another 12.41% to the mix, plus a further 11.35% in January 2026.
While price-per-gigabyte remains comfortably superior to most SSDs, the increase represents a notable shift from the stable and often declining HDD prices customers had become accustomed to. For example, the Seagate BarraCuda 24TB hovered between $249 and $299 for the most part of last year, before suddenly jumping to $389 in January 2026.
Given HDDs don’t require much in terms of RAM to accelerate caching operations, the price increase seems to stem primarily from ultra-high demand from major cloud services and hyperscalers. Going by the data collected by ComputerBase, this trend doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.
A sobering thought for PC users seeking solace via a storage alternative to increasingly costly SSDs. As things stand, it’s shaping up to be a very expensive year for typical component upgrades.
