Cheapest Hard Drives per Terabyte (2026)
If your only goal is the lowest possible cost per terabyte, this page is for you. I track every HDD listing on Amazon.com and rank them by price per TB. Nothing else. Whether you are filling a JBOD, building a cold-storage archive, or just want the most gigabytes for your budget, these are the drives that deliver the most storage for the least money right now.
How cheap can you go?
Price per terabyte falls as capacity rises, so the cheapest storage is almost always a high-capacity drive rather than several small ones. Refurbished enterprise pulls sit below new drives again, and below those sit SAS drives, which need a host bus adapter and will not plug into a normal motherboard. Those cards are marked, because the cheapest drive on this page is no use to you if you cannot connect it. I am deliberately not putting a target figure here: prices moved a long way through 2026 and any number I typed would be wrong within weeks. The live table below is the number.
Quick Verdict
- Who this is for
- Budget-conscious buyers, homelab builders, data hoarders, and anyone who needs maximum raw storage at the absolute lowest price per terabyte.
- What usually wins
- The cheapest new drive at 12 TB or above for the best per-TB price. Refurbished enterprise drives if you can tolerate shorter warranties and want the lowest cost per terabyte available.
- Prioritise
- Price per TB, the single metric this page optimises for. Everything else (brand, speed, warranty length) is secondary when raw cost-per-gigabyte is the goal.
Prices updated daily from Amazon.com. All links go directly to the retailer. Details.
Cheapest New HDDs per Terabyte
Brand-new hard drives with the lowest cost per TB available right now. Full manufacturer warranty included.
HUS726040ALS210 HGST 4TB 7.2K 12G LFF SAS Hard Drive
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
HP 857966-001 HPE 10TB SAS 12G MIDLINE 7.2K LFF
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
Avolusion HDDGEAR PRO 14TB 7200RPM USB 3.0 External Hard Drive (for Windows or MacOS, Desktop & Laptop)
Avolusion PRO-H1 Series 14TB 7200RPM USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps) External Hard Drive (for Windows or MacOS Desktop PC/Laptop)
HP 3.5-Inch 4000 GB Hot-Swap 2 MB Cache Internal Hard Drive 693687-B21
Avolusion PRO-T8 Series 14TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive for WindowsOS Desktop PC/Laptop (Black) - 2 Year Warranty
HP P09165-B21 Midline Helium - Hard Drive - 14 TB - Hot-Swap - 3.5 Inch Lff - SATA 6GB/S - 7200 RPM - with Low Profile Carrier
MDD 10TB 7200RPM 256MB Cache SAS 12.0Gb/s 3.5inch Internal Enterprise Hard Drive (MDD10TSAS25672E) - [NOT A SATA HDD]
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
HP 693689-S21 - 693689-B21 HP 4TB 7.2K SAS 6G DP HARD DRIVE
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
HP 693689-B21 4TB 7.2K 6G 3.5IN SAS MDL HDD - 693721-001, 695510-B21
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
Cheapest High-Capacity Drives (12 TB+)
The price-per-TB sweet spot. Large-capacity drives where the per-terabyte cost is at its lowest.
Avolusion HDDGEAR PRO 14TB 7200RPM USB 3.0 External Hard Drive (for Windows or MacOS, Desktop & Laptop)
Avolusion PRO-H1 Series 14TB 7200RPM USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps) External Hard Drive (for Windows or MacOS Desktop PC/Laptop)
Avolusion PRO-T8 Series 14TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive for WindowsOS Desktop PC/Laptop (Black) - 2 Year Warranty
HP P09165-B21 Midline Helium - Hard Drive - 14 TB - Hot-Swap - 3.5 Inch Lff - SATA 6GB/S - 7200 RPM - with Low Profile Carrier
OSENTRiX BX100 14TB USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB-C External Hard Drive for Windows or MacOS Desktop PC/Laptop
Avolusion PRO-G2 14TB USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) USB-C External Hard Drive for Windows/MacOS (Silver)
Seagate Exos X24 24TB internal server Hard drive ST24000NM000C 3.5" HDD SATA3 512MB 7200RPM
Water Panther 12TB 7.2K RPM SAS 12Gb/s 3.5" LFF HDD for Dell PowerEdge Servers | Enterprise Hard Disk Drive in 13G Tray | Compatible with Rack Servers R710 R720 R730 R420 R430
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
Water Panther 12TB 7.2K RPM SAS 12Gb/s 3.5" HDD for Dell PowerEdge Servers | Enterprise Hard Drive in 14G Tray
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
WD-40 Ultrastar HE12 12TB SAS 512E
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
Cheapest Refurbished HDDs per Terabyte
Recertified enterprise pulls and used drives at rock-bottom per-TB pricing. Best for bulk storage where brand-new warranty is not essential.
MDD MAXDIGITALDATA 4TB 7200RPM 128MB Cache SAS 12Gb/s 3.5inch Internal Enterprise Hard Drive (MD4TSAS12872E) - [NOT a SATA HDD] (Renewed)
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
SEAGATE ST4000NM0023 Constellation ES.3 4TB 7200 RPM 128MB cache SAS 6.0Gb/s 3.5 internal hard drive (Bare Drive) (Renewed)
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
Pulled 529FG ST4000NM0023 4TB 3.5 7.2K 6Gb SAS Hard Drive
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
Dell 4TB 3.5 inches 7.2k NL SAS 6Gbs HDD (529FG) (Renewed)
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
HUS726040ALS210 HGST 4TB 7.2K 12G LFF SAS Hard Drive
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
HP 695842-001 4TB SAS Hard Drive Disk (HDD) - 7,200 RPM, 3.5-inch form factor, SmartDrive Carier (SC), Midline (MDL), 6Gb per second Transfer Rate (TR)
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
Seagate Constellation Es.3 St4000nm0023 4 Tb 3.5 Internal Hard Drive
Western Digital Re 4TB SAS Datacenter Capacity Hard Drive 3.5 inch 7200 RPM 32MB Cache | WD4001FYYG |
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
TOSHIBA 4TB HDD 7.2K RPM 3.5" 12Gb/s SAS Hard Disk Drive Model: MG04SCA40ENY DP/N: 1MVTT
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
HP 693721-001 4TB SAS Hard Drive Disk (HDD) - 7,200 RPM, 3.5-inch form factor, Dual-Port (DP), Midline (MDL), 6Gb per second Transfer Rate (TR) (Renewed)
SAS interface. Needs a host bus adapter, it will not plug into a normal motherboard.
How to Choose
Getting the lowest price per TB is straightforward if you follow a few rules.
Buy bigger drives
Price per TB drops as capacity increases. A 16 TB drive almost always costs less per TB than two 8 TB drives. If budget allows, buy fewer large drives rather than many small ones.
Consider refurbished
Datacenter pulls from Seagate Exos and WD Ultrastar lines are often 30–50% cheaper per TB than new retail drives. They have been tested and many sellers include 1–2 year warranties.
Watch the price move
The same drive can swing 20% in a week as stock and lightning deals come and go. Prices here are refreshed daily, so check before you buy rather than trusting a number you saw last week.
CMR vs SMR
SMR drives are sometimes a few dollars cheaper per TB but can be painfully slow for random writes and RAID rebuilds. For bulk sequential storage (backups, archives), SMR is fine. For NAS or multi-use, stick to CMR.
Related Guides and Articles
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