Linux Format forums

nordle · LXF regular Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 10:56 pm Posts: 1497

It's not Linux specific, but it is hardware and I was going to install Linux.

I keep a spreadsheet of my next build. Update it every 3-6 months. Then build the new box when the price + performance increase seems good.

It's been 5 years.

2 weeks ago I nearly ordered the new parts, but could not get time off work to take delivery. So didn't. My drives (2TB total) are 92% full at this time.

A Hitachi 3TB SATA drive was £130. I've now seen these drives for £630!!!

Apparently it's down the flooding in Thailand. Production stopped 10 weeks ago and now there is no stock left.

Firstly, its horrible for the Thai people clearly, 2/3 of the country under water is horrific.

But from a PC point of view, xmas sales of PC's will be non-existent. IT departments will be bricking it in case they lose too many disks in their SAN's

I'm listening out for any clicking or squeaking from my 5 year old fluid bearings. Smile

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Bruno · Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 5:45 pm Post subject:

Bad news for the Thais indeed! Also not good for system builders. Hard disk price inflation is also bring stoked by PC mfrs buying up what drives that are available so they can meet their xmas orders. According to a computer hardware mag I read, one mfr in particular has gone from keeping 2 weeks worth of inventory to 2 months worth. Many hard disk mfrs are affected, not just those with production facilities in Thailand, as many components are made in Thailand too.

I'm in the same boat as I'm running out of storage on my main box and I was about to upgrade too. If you have partitions and/or drives that are just storage, have you tried a handy hint in the form of tune2fs to remove blocks on the drive reserved for root? I've just freed nearly 50 GB with it. Hopefully I should be able to stretch it out until after xmas, when (hopefully) flood waters and prices will have receded.

Spangwiches · Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:50 am Posts: 77

bobthebob1234 · Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:14 pm Post subject:

nelz · Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:25 pm Post subject:

That's just Moore's Law in action.

It looks like I got my timing right, just for once, when I bought a pair of 2TB drives last week.
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PCNetSpec · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 4:02 am Post subject:

HDD pricing has gone nuts ..

Looking through Ebuyer .. if you want a 2TB internal hard drive .. it would now be nearly £100 cheaper to buy one of these NAS drives:
http://www.ebuyer.com/283921-zyxel-nsa310-2tb-1x-2tb-nas-drive-91-016-007009b
and take the drive out of it, than to buy the same (?) Western Digital 2TB green drive alone:
http://www.ebuyer.com/264274-wd-2tb-3-5-sata-iii-6gb-s-caviar-green-hard-drive-64mb-cache-wd20earx
or nearly £250 cheaper than the WD 2TB black edition:
http://www.ebuyer.com/247563-wd-2tb-3-5-sata-iii-6gb-s-caviar-black-hard-drive-7200rpm-64mb-cache-wd2002faex
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Bruno · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 2:16 pm Post subject:

Ha ha Spangwiches Laughing

, no, pun not intended but well spotted.

Weatherlawyer · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:30 am Post subject: USB drives anyone

Should be good news for USB makers and cloud storage.

And maybe a knock on effect for distros. I am wondering when the full monty Linux Format comes on a stick.
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