Effects of looming HDD shortage starting to hit consumers

The effects of the shortages of hard disk drives (HDDs) following the recent floods in Thailand are already starting to filter through.

Computeractive has learned from one source that some retailers in Greece have almost doubled the prices of HDDs; with a 500 Gb device previously sold for 49 Euros, now on sale for 99 Euros.

Meanwhile one of  the UK's largest electrical and electronics retailers, the Dixons Group, took the decision to ration the number of HDD people can buy to two per person.

It is also likely that the price of electronic goods, such as PCs, mobile phones, external storage devices and tablets could rocket in the run up to Christmas, and stay high well into next year.

The HDD is an integral part of today's computers and is where all a PCs vital programs such as the operating system are stored. Origin Storage Solutions, a UK company which supplies HDD to resellers, said production will be down by nearly a third by the end of the year.

It also warned that while that may not sound a large amount, most manufacturers do not keep large stocks of HDDs, employing Just In Time manufacturing methods. Origin said these subsequent shortages will lead to sharp price rises and panic buying.

Andy Cordial, managing director of the company said: "I can see prices rising by 20-30 per cent and there is no doubt some retailers will try to cash in on the shortage."

The reason the floods will have such an impact is because Thailand is the world's second biggest producer of HDDs after China.

Production from the world's four leading HDD manufacturers; Western Digital (WD), Seagate, Toshiba and Hitachi have been badly hit by the flooding. WD, the world's largest HDD manufacturer produces 60 per cent of its devices in Thailand and two of its factories are still under water.

Western Digital recently released a statement in which it said: "It now expects that the flooding of its Thailand facilities, combined with flood damage to the company's supply chain in Thailand, will have significant impact on the company's overall operations."

Toshiba's factory has been closed because of the Thai Government's evacuation orders and although Seagate and Hitachi factories are still operational they are also struggling.

To compound the situation, the factories of component suppliers Nidec and Hutchinson Technology are also under water. Nidec supplies more than 70 per cent of all motors used in HDDs.

The outlook for full production from any manufacturer is not expected to start before at least March of next year.

Update November 3 2011 - Reader Judy Hunter has written in to tell us of her recent experience buying a new HDD. "I wanted to buy my husband a 2Tb hard drive as part of his birthday present. I rang Maplins in Lincoln about 3.30 pm on Friday 28th to check on availability of the model I wanted. I was told they had 36 in stock and that the price was £89.90.

"I asked for one to be put under the counter for me but was told there was no need as they didn't expect to sell that many in a few hours. I went to the shop at 9.15 on Saturday morning to be told that it would now cost me £179.99 as the price had been increased because of the floods in Thailand.