nas-drive-data/price-trends/README.md
deeddy df733199b4 price-trends: add sale-frequency data (how often drives discount)
Per-model and weekly computed figures: how often each current 8TB+ drive
goes on sale (best price 5%+ below its own rolling-median baseline) and how
deep. NAS lines discount several times more often than enterprise; similar
depth. Computed values only, compiled from Amazon price history.
2026-09-16 23:32:27 +02:00

4.5 KiB

NAS drive price trends

Monthly median price-per-terabyte for current 8TB+ NAS hard drives (US, new, in stock), from Jul 2024 to the latest month, split into the two tiers people choose between: consumer NAS (WD Red / IronWolf class) and enterprise (Exos / MG / Ultrastar).

The chart below tracks both tiers from Jul 2024 to the latest month. Prices held flat around $20 per terabyte for over a year, then climbed sharply from late 2025 to roughly double, and have stayed there since. Consumer NAS and enterprise drives moved almost in lockstep the whole way.

Median dollars per TB, consumer NAS vs enterprise

The trend

Median price-per-TB sat flat around $20/TB through 2024 and most of 2025, then roughly doubled to the mid-$40s/TB from late 2025, and has held there since. Both tiers moved together: among new drives, enterprise is not the price-per-TB bargain it's assumed to be, and both got hit about equally. The usual driver is the AI datacenter buildout pulling high-capacity nearline supply.

Sale frequency

A companion view, in sale-frequency-by-model.csv and sale-frequency-weekly.csv: how often each current drive actually goes on sale, and how deep. For each day we compare a drive's best price to a centred rolling median of its own recent price, so a genuine dip counts but the long price climb is not mistaken for a discount, then count the days sitting 5%+ below that baseline. Same scope as the $/TB series: 8TB and up, US, new in-stock prices, compiled from Amazon price history.

NAS drives (WD Red / IronWolf class, including the Pro lines) go on sale several times more often than enterprise/datacenter drives - roughly one day in ten vs one in forty - though the cut is about the same size when it happens (~10% typical, ~30% at the deepest). Seagate IronWolf Pro goes on sale most often; Exos and Ultrastar barely move. Interactive weekly chart + sortable table: nasdisks.com/articles/nas-drive-sale-frequency.

Files

  • monthly-median-per-tb.csv - columns: month, consumer_usd_per_tb, enterprise_usd_per_tb. Computed monthly medians only.
  • sale-frequency-by-model.csv - per drive: brand, line, capacity_tb, segment (consumer = NAS lines incl. Pro, enterprise = datacenter), pct_days_on_sale, typical_discount_pct, deepest_discount_pct, sale_events, days_observed.
  • sale-frequency-weekly.csv - weekly share of tracked days on sale per tier: week_start, consumer_pct_days_on_sale, enterprise_pct_days_on_sale.

Interactive version

Method

For each month, take each drive's average price-per-TB across its logged days, then the median of those per-drive values across drives (so a model with more logged days doesn't skew the month). Scope: 8TB and up, US, new in-stock prices, compiled from Amazon price history. CMR/SMR and specs from datasheets.

8TB and up because small drives carry a much higher price-per-TB (fixed per-drive costs spread over less capacity), and which small SKUs happen to be in stock would swing an all-capacity median for reasons unrelated to prices actually moving.

This folder publishes computed statistics only (monthly medians and the sale-frequency aggregates), not the underlying per-drive price observations.

Takeaway for buyers

Because the two tiers track each other, there's no reliable price-per-TB win from picking enterprise over consumer among new drives. Buy on price-per-TB and CMR vs SMR, not on tier. The one genuine discount is the recertified/refurbished enterprise market, which sits well below new prices but comes with shorter reseller warranties and prior drive hours, so it isn't included here. And since these are supply-driven prices, they are unlikely to snap back to 2024 levels soon; plan around the current floor rather than waiting for a rollback.

Using this data

The monthly medians and sale-frequency figures here are free to use, with a credit to nasdisks.com (a link back is appreciated). They are computed aggregate statistics, provided as-is, and separate from the repository's CC BY 4.0 license, which covers the drive specs and CMR/SMR data.