2TB hard drive shortage hits Apple's BTO iMacs with 5-7 week wait

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 40
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member
    Apples Drive have the Apple logo on them. We in the old mac users from before OS X called the apple logo on the drive as the drive being blessed. I would think that Apple has to wait for the drive manufacturer to build a drive and bless it with the logo to make it an official Apple drive. Wether it has an Apple rom on the drive is highly unlikely.
  • Reply 22 of 40
    In July, I bought a Promise Pegasus 12 TB RAID (6x2 TB Drives) from the Apple Online store for $1,999,



    \t

    Quote:

    PROMISE PEGASUS R6 12TB-CAF

    1

    $1,999.00

    Ships: Aug 8

    Delivers Aug 15 by Standard Shipping

    Part Number: H5187VC/A



    Today, that same device is $2,499 in the Apple Online Store -- an increase of 25%.



    Promise Pegasus 12TB (6x2TB) R6 RAID System
  • Reply 23 of 40
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post


    Given this fact, it is hard for me to accept that Apple is having difficulty obtaining drives, unless the Mac Pro assembly lines hav e different stock sources than the iMac lines. And even if that were true, why wouldn't Apple ship drives to the iMac facility?



    Dunno. Drive shortages don't seem to be a likely cause for the iMac delays.



    Could be that the Pro drives are higher end than the iMac line, and that thus Apple has a different contract with that supplier that guarantees it better access.



    All I know is when I look on Newegg at the HD prices, I go "OMG"
  • Reply 24 of 40
    Well, that is bollocks!!!



    Play, Amazon, PC World and Argos have all doubled their 1TB drive prices, at the beginning of the year I could buy a 1TB WD or Seagate drive for £47, now they are £110????
  • Reply 25 of 40
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    I didn't know so many HDs were made in Thailand. I thought it was Japan and South Korea. Good luck to the Thai people, I hope they get over their flooding soon.
  • Reply 26 of 40
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ascii View Post


    Good luck to the Vietnamese, I hope they get over their flooding soon.



    You mean the Thai, right? I think Siamese is still acceptable in some regards.
  • Reply 27 of 40
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    You mean the Thai, right? I think Siamese is still acceptable in some regards.



    Ooops... edited.
  • Reply 28 of 40
    I waited 8 weeks to get my 20MB HyperDrive in my Fat Mac - that was back when Apple sold 30,000 Macs per quarter.
  • Reply 29 of 40
    misamisa Posts: 827member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post


    Given this fact, it is hard for me to accept that Apple is having difficulty obtaining drives, unless the Mac Pro assembly lines hav e different stock sources than the iMac lines. And even if that were true, why wouldn't Apple ship drives to the iMac facility?



    Dunno. Drive shortages don't seem to be a likely cause for the iMac delays.



    That's not looking at it correctly.



    The iMac's use 3.5" WD Caviar Blue(7200RPM), the Time Capsules use Caviar Green(not 7200RPM), the Macbook Pro's use Seagate 2.5" drives (Momentus 5400), the Macmini's can use 7200 or 5400 Segate, Samsung or Western Digital 2.5" drives



    So only the iMac's and MacPro's use 3.5" drives, but the Mac Pro's might be RAID/Enterprise models if they are consistent with the use of workstation/server parts.



    Someone with a real Mac Pro could verify, as iFixit doesn't have any Mac Pro's.





    As for sourcing parts, Apple has the option of SSD's if there was really a critical shortage of Hard drives, so I don't think Apple is going to go "oh noes, no more hard drives." In fact it would be perfectly within their line of thinking to just go standard on SSD's and make the spinning drives secondary options.
  • Reply 30 of 40
    drwamdrwam Posts: 38member
    Please remember that the drives in the current generation of iMacs are custom units. Apple decided to get "too cute" with their engineering. Rather than using older methods, Apple switched to having the system use the drive internal drive temp sensor via custom firmware connecting to the system via a special SATA cable. This effectively made iMac drives Apple only and not user upgradable--IMHO, both are bad things for users. PowerMacs can use any old drive on the market. Just try walking into a store to buy a drive that will work in your new iMac.

    So, I suspect that the Apple suppliers for these custom units of 2 TB size were all in the area of Thailand affected. They now have a shortage on their hands, and it has been made more acute by engineering decisions that are elegant but user unfriendly. I personally hope that their engineers can find a way to undo this proprietary drive firmware nonsense.
  • Reply 31 of 40
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DarenDino View Post


    Well, that is bollocks!!!



    Play, Amazon, PC World and Argos have all doubled their 1TB drive prices, at the beginning of the year I could buy a 1TB WD or Seagate drive for £47, now they are £110????



    That's what happens when something is in short supply.
  • Reply 32 of 40
    Lol, I was on gizmodo and thought it said 57 weeks. I was like, where did this upsurge in popularity come from!
  • Reply 33 of 40
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ascii View Post


    I didn't know so many HDs were made in Thailand. I thought it was Japan and South Korea. Good luck to the Thai people, I hope they get over their flooding soon.



    It's not just the drives. Certain components for virtually all drives are made in Thailand.
  • Reply 34 of 40
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by drwam View Post


    Please remember that the drives in the current generation of iMacs are custom units. Apple decided to get "too cute" with their engineering. Rather than using older methods, Apple switched to having the system use the drive internal drive temp sensor via custom firmware connecting to the system via a special SATA cable. This effectively made iMac drives Apple only and not user upgradable--IMHO, both are bad things for users. PowerMacs can use any old drive on the market. Just try walking into a store to buy a drive that will work in your new iMac.

    So, I suspect that the Apple suppliers for these custom units of 2 TB size were all in the area of Thailand affected. They now have a shortage on their hands, and it has been made more acute by engineering decisions that are elegant but user unfriendly. I personally hope that their engineers can find a way to undo this proprietary drive firmware nonsense.



    Given that 2 TB drives from all sources have skyrocketed in price (see some of the examples above), your theory doesn't seem to apply.
  • Reply 35 of 40
    I bought my iMac on Black Friday with the 2 TB drive in it. Good timing. It just arrived two days ago.



    I thought free shipping and $101 off was the best part, but this certainly is good news. Whew!
  • Reply 36 of 40
    2 TB hard drive is not exactly the most popular custom configuration for the average customer. Hopefully this shortage will be over soon even though it does not affect the majority of Imac users.
  • Reply 37 of 40
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    I wonder what data centers use for their drives. Though that might still be a relatively low number of drives. Only 500x2TB drives per Petabyte. Apple surely sells more 500 2TB Time Capsules in a week. That's only 26,000 a year and they showing 1-2 business days (though those were probably packaged months ago).
  • Reply 38 of 40
    .



    Some might maybe need a 2TB



    ¿ If they have some BIG ASS Single Files ?



    But since 'Shit Happens'



    Rather have 4 x 500GB



    Eggs in one basket, etc etc









    .
  • Reply 39 of 40
    conrailconrail Posts: 489member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BC Kelly View Post


    .



    Some might maybe need a 2TB



    ¿ If they have some BIG ASS Single Files ?



    But since 'Shit Happens'



    Rather have 4 x 500GB



    Eggs in one basket, etc etc




    Don't forget cables. Lots and lots of cables.
  • Reply 40 of 40
    .



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Conrail View Post


    Don't forget cables. Lots and lots of cables.



    .



    4 is "lots" ?









    .
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