Still vaguely pissed off I got a 3 platter 2tb barracuda from seagate instead of the 2 platter one. Deliberately trying to confuse consumers is a crime.

Floods my arse. The manufacturers used that as an excuse to rape their customers. I can't wait for SSDs to reach the capacity and prices of their HDD counterparts. Then I'll sit and laugh as "Western Digital", "Seagate" and the rest of the unofficial consortium's sales dwindle into nothing.

So they manufacturers are artificially keeping the prices high?

Idiots... they could make the same money by selling more cheaper as they make by selling less more expensive and we could all be happy...

Whilst the two manufacturers re-defined greed/ profiteering to a whole new level, the directors were applauded by big business/shareholders for making a quick buck (billions of them) out of a natural disaster/tragedy, and don't forget the distributors and retailers also eagerly taking their cut with shameless price gouging

People used to be locked up/executed for similar behaviour

I wont forget but what options do I have when I need more storage

Anybody who believes in such Toothfairy Tales are either one of Zer Chosen Few [ZCF], you know, those who were groomed from infancy to believe and act out their superman personnas of which the lack of consience and the manificience of their malevolence are pre-requisites, or they are the, "'Ow wide, pretty please, dahlingss". Economies of Scale and Competition are the commerical equivalents of leveling the playing field, oka Der Kommunism of Das Kapitalists, but when you have 2 Willes waggling out a shared monopoly, benevolence to another is the least of their concerns. Then, the justification of Cleaning Up The Act is something Of Infinity - they not need to clean up anything because they own The Kaboodle.

For prices to drop, you'll either need real competition or clawing back market share - especially when the market is falling. Not when Zer Beancounter's nightmare, "Annual Growth [of Market Share]", is running amok, of course. Seagate's MO is justifying their cheapo-skato-ness whereas WD's MO is ZCF's fav, "Eet's a seekret, jawhol". Especially the areal density and their greeny-looney secrets. These 2 being on different platforms much akin to The Good Cop, Bad Cop Act, Hard Drive prices aren't going to go back to the Good Ole Days, they are going where even Mr Spock has not gone before. Yes, eets guessing time and calling that, "Inside Info". II like, "Hard Drive prices going back to "normal". What planet are people living on, eh? The one which create news and not merely reporting it - especially when The Real News is a word dirtier than any Ole Monopoly could imagine. One reason why "Democratising The Globe" needs Malevolence as its Leader. All Hail Seagate und WD.

I work for a data recovery shop and the HDD prices had a direct influence on our business. It's nice to see that things are going back to normal a bit. However, I hope lower prices doesn't mean bad quality. I'm having a lot of WD disks at work lately. From my experience they're not the best..