Weekly Storage Price Briefing: 18TB Leads the Index, 28TB Leads Listings
This week's read: capacity medians and buyable listings split. 18TB is the best capacity tier by median $/TB, while the sharpest named row is Seagate Exos ST28000NM000C 28TB recert at ServerPartDeals for $610.00 ($21.79/TB). Capacity tiers are index medians; named rows are current buyable listings with condition data. Data through May 29, 2026.
Notable capacity moves
18TB is the lowest current capacity tier in the index at $25.09/TB. No qualified capacity tier got meaningfully cheaper this week; 18TB held closest to flat at +7.5%. The index leader is not the same as the cheapest named listing; use the tier view for market shape and the listing rows for actual buy decisions.
Current best-value drives
Current rows with clear condition data: Seagate Exos ST28000NM000C 28TB recert at ServerPartDeals for $610.00 ($21.79/TB); HGST Ultrastar HUH721212ALE600 12TB refurb CMR at ServerPartDeals for $261.95 ($21.83/TB); Seagate Exos ST25000NM000E 25TB recert at ServerPartDeals for $549.00 ($21.96/TB); Toshiba MG07ACA14TE 14TB refurb at ServerPartDeals for $309.00 ($22.07/TB). If recertified or refurbished drives are off the table, compare against Western Digital Gold WD241KRYZ 24TB new CMR at BestBuy for $554.79 ($23.12/TB) and Toshiba X300 HDWR51JXZSTB 18TB new at BestBuy for $421.82 ($23.43/TB). These are not interchangeable: condition and recording tech matter before the lowest $/TB row becomes a buyable recommendation.
Market lows
18TB has the lowest 30-day index average at $25.00/TB. A listing-level low worth checking now: Western Digital Gold WD241KRYZ 24TB new at BestBuy is at $23.12/TB. This row is useful because the current listing is at or below its own tracked low; high-priced historical lows are filtered out.