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Two of the biggest hard drive makers have already moved almost all of the mechanical drives they’d set aside for 2026, removing a key fallback for shoppers put off by rising SSD prices. With HDD allocations thin, affordable expansion options for budget PC builders and casual storage upgraders look set to be constrained this year.

  • Seagate and Western Digital report they have largely sold their 2026 stock of mechanical hard drives, shrinking the immediate supply of cheaper spinning drives.
  • That squeeze comes while SSD prices remain elevated, meaning the usual trade‑off—choose slower but cheaper HDDs—may not be reliably available for bargain upgrades.
  • End users who planned to add bulk storage for media, backups or cheap capacity could face higher prices, longer wait times, or be pushed toward pricier SSD alternatives.
  • Secondary impacts could include stronger demand in the used/HDD resale market and pressure on retailers to ration inventory or raise prices until manufacturers ramp production or reallocate future shipments.
  • How long the tightness lasts will depend on manufacturers’ production plans and demand from data centres and OEMs; customers may need to watch stock alerts and consider interim storage strategies.
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun