Subj : HDD sales have plummeted this year - so what's next?
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Mon Apr 17 2023 19:00:03

HDD sales have plummeted this year - so what's next?

Date:
Mon, 17 Apr 2023 17:48:07 +0000

Description:
HDD sales may still be strong after enjoying a somewhat artificial high, but 
are they fighting a losing battle against SSDs?

FULL STORY
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Nearline HDD shipments have fallen significantly from the previous quarter 
after a 2021 high, but it may not be a sign of the challenging economic 
landscape, new Trendfocus figures have claimed. 

As the pandemic hit hard, shipments started to drop as businesses reined in 
their spend, but with more companies than ever then undergoing digital 
transformation initiatives, 2021 saw HDD shipments, including nearline 
devices, shoot up. 

Now though, the figures are beginning to deflate. Analysts suggest that this 
could indicate a return to normal from an artificial high, rather than the 
effects of belt-tightening across the globe. Is 2023 the beginning of the end 
for HDDs? 

Other HDD categories appear to have suffered more, though, with 
mission-critical, 2.5-inch, and 3.5-inch drives declining 20%, 15%, and 10% 
respectively during the past quarter. 

HDDs have long been a staple for businesses, consumers, and virtually 
everyone in between, offering several benefits such as significantly larger 
storage capacities compared with SSDs and affordable pricing. With more 
moving parts, though, they are more prone to failure. Read more 

 > These are the best workstations around 


 > PC sales fell sharply in 2022, and not even Apple is safe 


 > Dell warns of a "challenging" year ahead for the PC market 

Favored for increased speed and reliability, SSDs continue to drop in price 
and look to be dethroning HDDs for a number of use cases, including 
mission-critical scenarios. 

Proof that the industry is well underway in its transition to SSDs is cloud 
storage giant Backblazes adoption of over 2,900 SSDs with a combined total 
storage of around 840TB. During 2022, it measured an average annualized 
failure rate of 0.98% compared with 1.37% for HDDs in the same period. 

According to the latest figures, Seagate accounts for around 44% of the HDD 
market with Western Digital following in second place. Toshiba trails in 
third place making up a touch under one in five sales. After something a bit 
more portable? Here are the best mobile workstations



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/news/hdd-sales-have-plummeted-this-year


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