Enterprise SSDs cost 18.6 times more than HDDs as 30TB drives hit $22,600 — hard drive supply is sold out through 2027
A 30TB TLC enterprise SSD now costs $22,600, 6.5 times higher the $3,460 it fetched around this time last year.
An 18.6 times difference in price separates a 30TB TLC enterprise SSD from an equivalent hard drive, with the flash storage now at $22,600 and the disk priced at $1,216. This pricing gap is highlighted by the August update to VDURA's Flash Volatility Index, which reveals a 5% increase in flash prices in July. The hybrid SSD-plus-HDD configuration costs $51.6 million for 25 petabytes (PB), compared to $12.86 million for a similar hybrid system.
However, finding hard drives is challenging, as Seagate and Western Digital have sold out their nearline HDD output through 2027, forcing buyers to pay spot prices. The demand for flash storage is rising, with NAND contract prices surging 10-15% quarter over quarter, driven by a 70-75% jump in Q2 and an 80% increase in Q1. VDURA's senior vice president, Erik Salo, attributes the steep flash pricing to structural factors, noting that their Q1 2026 TLC figure has already risen from $10,950 to $17,500 since the index's launch.
Meanwhile, Western Digital CEO Irving Tan and Seagate CEO Dave Mosley have stated that their products are sold out for 2026 and that nearly all nearline capacity will be allocated through 2027 under build-to-order contracts. VDURA's mixed-fleet configuration pairs 5.78PB of flash with 22.68PB of hard drives; those without supply contracts or supply agreements are forced to pay premium prices, pushing the hybrid system's cost even higher.
Written by urgent.news from Tom's Hardware's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
