The UK Storage Price Index tracks the real cost of data storage — the price per terabyte (£/TB) — across hard drives, SSDs and NVMe drives on Amazon.co.uk, using live prices and 182 months of Keepa price history back to 2011. Updated 4 September 2026.
HDD£17.49cheapest £/TBavg £62.11 · 445 tracked
SSD£50.00cheapest £/TBavg £163.01 · 233 tracked
NVMe£85.72cheapest £/TBavg £174.50 · 211 tracked
Average £/TB over time, by drive type
Average cost per terabyte across every drive we track, by technology. The long-term direction is unmistakable: storage keeps getting cheaper per terabyte, with SSD and NVMe steadily closing the gap on mechanical hard drives.
Average £/TB across all tracked drives of each type (mixed capacities), from Amazon.co.uk via Keepa. Cheapest-available £/TB is always lower — see the cards above.
Cheapest £/TB by capacity
Bigger drives almost always cost less per terabyte. Today's cheapest £/TB at each capacity we track:
Price per terabyte is simply a drive's price divided by its capacity in terabytes — the only fair way to compare storage value (a £90 4 TB drive is £22.50/TB; a £60 2 TB drive is £30/TB, so the pricier drive is better value). Prices come from Amazon.co.uk via Keepa and refresh several times a day. See our £/TB explainer and storage prices guide.
Why storage prices are climbing — and buying conditions explained
Why are hard drive and storage prices rising in 2026?
The main driver is AI and data-centre demand. Hyperscalers building AI infrastructure are buying huge volumes of high-capacity “nearline” hard drives for training-data lakes, plus HBM and DRAM for their GPU servers. Drive makers (Seagate, WD, Toshiba) have prioritised these enterprise orders, and memory makers have shifted wafer capacity toward HBM for AI accelerators — tightening supply and pushing consumer HDD, SSD and RAM prices up after years of steady falls.
Is it hard drives, SSDs or RAM that’s affected?
All three, for linked reasons. HDDs: AI data lakes need cheap bulk capacity, so nearline hard-drive demand surged and lead times stretched. RAM / DRAM: memory fabs reallocated capacity to HBM for AI GPUs, tightening DDR5 supply and lifting prices. SSD / NAND: knock-on tightening as makers chase higher-margin enterprise and AI orders.
How much have storage prices gone up?
For most of the last decade the cheapest £/TB fell almost every month. Through 2025–2026 that trend has flattened and, on many capacities, reversed — see the live £/TB chart above for the current picture across HDD, SSD and NVMe.
Will storage prices keep rising, or come back down?
New hard-drive and memory capacity takes one to two years to come online, so most analysts expect prices to stay elevated through the current AI build-out. Longer term the historical downward £/TB trend should resume as supply catches up — but there are no guarantees, which is exactly why we track it live.
Should I buy storage now or wait?
If you need the capacity now, buy the best £/TB today and check the Amazon Warehouse and Used options — they’re often 15–30% cheaper. High-capacity nearline drives (16–24 TB) still give the lowest £/TB despite the rise. If you can wait, watch the tracker for dips.
What do New, Used and Amazon Warehouse mean?
New is brand-new, sealed stock. Used is pre-owned or open-box stock from third-party sellers. Amazon Warehouse is Amazon’s own resold stock — customer returns, open-box or damaged-packaging items — inspected, graded and sold cheaper, but still fulfilled by Amazon with the same delivery and returns.
Are Amazon Warehouse drives safe to buy?
Generally yes. They’re fulfilled by Amazon, usually Prime-eligible, and covered by Amazon’s standard 30-day returns. The grade usually describes packaging and cosmetics rather than the drive itself — and for a sealed-mechanism HDD or SSD, a “Used – Like New” unit is often indistinguishable from new. Always read the condition note before buying.
What do the condition grades (Like New, Very Good, Good, Acceptable) mean?
They’re Amazon’s used grades: Like New — as-new, minimal or no wear; Very Good — light cosmetic wear; Good — moderate wear; Acceptable — more wear or damaged packaging but fully functional. On our tracker the grade appears in the Condition column when you view Used or Warehouse prices.
Is “Renewed” or “Refurbished” the same as Used?
Not quite. Renewed / Refurbished drives have been professionally inspected and restored to working order, often with their own warranty, whereas a plain Used listing is sold as-is by a third-party seller. We label them separately where the offer data distinguishes them.
How do I see Used and Warehouse prices on disks.co.uk?
On any listing, use the Condition filter above the table: tick Used or Warehouse and every drive re-prices to its cheapest offer in that condition, ranked by £/TB. A green tag also flags when a cheaper Warehouse or Used offer exists on a drive you’re viewing as New.
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