Read this first, updated 6 August 2026. This is an April 2026 snapshot and the market has moved a long way since. The prices below are what things cost in April, and I have left them in place because the comparison is the interesting part. They are not what you will pay today.

What changed: enterprise 16 TB was around $12 to $13/TB in April. Today the cheapest 16 TB on Amazon.com is $29.00/TB new and $24.94/TB used, with a new-drive median of $55.40/TB. Roughly a doubling in four months.

For today’s prices, use the cheapest drives per TB page, which is generated from live data rather than written by hand.

Another week, another round of price shifts. I’ve been watching the trackers all week and there are some genuinely good deals right now, plus a couple of “deals” that aren’t actually deals at all. Let me break it down.

The TL;DR

If you’re in a hurry: the 16-18TB range is where the value is this week. Seagate Exos and WD Ultrastar drives in this range are hitting prices I haven’t seen since Black Friday. If you’ve been waiting to expand your array, now’s a solid time.

For the full, always-updated list: check the best HDD deals page. I update it daily.

My Top Picks This Week

Best Overall Value: 16TB Drives

The 16TB sweet spot continues. In April, both the Seagate Exos X16 and WD Ultrastar DC HC550 were hovering around $12-13/TB on Amazon US, which was excellent for enterprise-grade CMR drives. (As of 6 August 2026 the cheapest Exos X16 is $24.94/TB and it is a used drive; the cheapest HC550 is $28.89/TB. Check the live page before acting on any figure here.) These are the same drives that data centers use. You’re getting server-grade reliability at consumer prices.

Why I like this range:

CMR recording (no SMR nonsense, see my CMR vs SMR explainer if you’re unclear on the difference)
5-year warranties on most models
550TB/year workload rating
Sweet spot for NAS builds

Best Budget Pick: 8TB External Shucks

If you’re on a budget, the external drive “shuck” game is still alive. In April, several 8TB WD external drives were pricing out to under $15/TB, and inside you would typically find a WD White Label (relabeled Red or Ultrastar). (As of 6 August 2026 the cheapest new 8 TB external is $32.50/TB, so the shuck maths no longer works the way it did.) That’s solid value if you don’t mind voiding the external warranty.

Fair warning: I don’t track external drive internals on HDDHunt (too much variance in what’s inside the enclosure), but you can check current external prices on the external hard drives page.

Best Enterprise Deal: 18TB Exos X18

The Exos X18 in 18TB has been creeping down in price and is now competitive with the 16TB models on a per-TB basis. If you can stretch the budget, that extra 2TB per bay adds up fast in a multi-drive array. 8 bays × 2TB = 16TB of extra raw capacity for not much more money.

Check the enterprise HDD page for current pricing.

Deals That Aren’t Actually Deals

The 4TB “Sale”

I keep seeing 4TB drives marketed as being “on sale” at $70-80. That’s $17.50-20/TB, against enterprise 16TB at $12/TB in April. Unless you literally need a small drive for a specific enclosure, there was no reason to buy 4TB at that price.

This one has inverted since. As of 6 August 2026 the cheapest new 4 TB is $23.80/TB and the cheapest new 16 TB is $29.00/TB, so $17.50/TB for a 4 TB drive would now be one of the better prices on the site rather than a bad one. It is a good illustration of why you should never trust a price in a dated article, including this one.

”Refurbished” Drives at Near-New Prices

A few sellers are listing refurbished drives at only 10-15% below new prices. At that discount, just buy new and get the full warranty. Refurbished drives make sense at 40-50% off, not 10%.

What I’m Watching Next Week

Prime Day rumors: There’s chatter about an early summer Prime Day event. Historically, storage drives see 15-25% discounts during Prime events. I’ll be tracking everything closely.
Seagate Exos X20 availability: The 20TB models have been in and out of stock. When they’re available and priced right, they can hit great per-TB numbers. Check the 20TB HDD page for availability.
SSD crossover: SATA SSDs are getting cheaper, and for some use cases they’re starting to compete with HDDs on value. I already dug into this in my SSD vs HDD price per TB comparison.

How to Get Alerts

Right now the best way to catch deals is to check HDDHunt regularly. I update prices daily. I’m working on email alerts for price drops, but that’s still in the works. For now, bookmark the deals page and check back when you’re ready to buy.

If you found a deal I missed, hit me up. I’m always looking to improve the coverage.