[Brian]

WD is coming back online faster than initially projected, hard drive industry sees full balance and recovery in 1H 2013.

Western Digital Q2 2012 - 28.5 Million Drives Shipped

[Beenthere]

Sounds like PR spinning to me...

Considering PC sales are down it's highly unlikely HDD demand is up. Projections for 2012 are a continued drop in PC sales so my speculation is the HDD makers have found that price gouging is quite profitable and they now have an illegal cabal similar to the DRAM companies who have been and continue to be prosecuted for price fixing. Thankfully what goes around tends to come around when companies violate law for profit. They can run but...

[ChrisMcPole]

Beenthere, on 24 January 2012 - 03:31 PM, said:

Sounds like PR spinning to me...

Considering PC sales are down it's highly unlikely HDD demand is up. Projections for 2012 are a continued drop in PC sales so my speculation is the HDD makers have found that price gouging is quite profitable and they now have an illegal cabal similar to the DRAM companies who have been and continue to be prosecuted for price fixing. Thankfully what goes around tends to come around when companies violate law for profit. They can run but...

Can't say it better. There IS NO SHORTAGE OF DRIVES. Period. Shameless and rather obvious price gouging is what we're witnessing, both by retailers like Newegg.com and manufacturers that keep spreading that BS about shortages and how we must prepare for another YEAR of crazy-high prices.

Oh yes, and WD can forget about Hitachi. Chinese will never let it go through. You can take that to the bank.

[Kevin OBrien]

Unless there is a huge conspiracy, there was indeed a shortage of drives. Intel saw huge cuts in revenue from it without being able to sell as many processors since there weren't enough hard drives to be shipped with systems. Most stock was sold out when the floods hit or shortly after, lots of 3rd parties (saw a ton on Amazon) gouged buyers, and for most retailers prices went up since demand far outpaced supply.