The rise in drive prices is being driven by AI and even HDDs can't hide

SSDs are preferable for many reasons, but with storage prices skyrocketing, there are some scenarios where opting for an HDD makes more sense. The rise in drive prices is being driven by AI and even HDDs can’t hide. News Computing The rise in drive prices is being driven by AI and even HDDs can’t hide What used to be a painless purchase now makes our eyes water.

The AI data center boom has transformed once-cheap solid-state drives (SSDs) and hard drives (HDDs) into luxury items. We’re now living in a world where adding a terabyte to your PC and buying a new backup drive are no longer casual decisions. You probably know about RAMageddon, but the storage hit hasn’t been talked about as much.

A 2TB SSD that sold for around $120 to $200 last year can now approach or pass $400, depending on the model. Even small drives have skyrocketed in price, with 256GB SSDs, once a $25 purchase, now costing several times that. Less than a year ago, I paid $85 for a 1TB portable SSD for macOS Time Machine backups; today, that same drive has a $160 sticker price.

It’s enough to make you wish you had a real time machine.