Here’s the cheapest 18TB hard disk on the market

WD 18TB SATA hard disk drive - $592.99/£629.00 direct
$592.99 at westerndigital.com

WD 18TB SATA hard disk drive - $592.99/£629.00 direct
The Enterprise Class SATA HDD from Western Digital is unrivalled for price, if you're after a capacious storage drive. Plus, you can make an even greater saving via WD's recycling scheme (see below).

If you're after a large hard disk drive, there’s nothing bigger right now than the 18TB Western Digital Gold Enterprise Class SATA drive.

The WD181KRYZ already carries a staggering price tag ($593/£629), but you can drop it down even further (to just over $504) if you use the recycling scheme described below.

At $28 per TB, this drive should be mightily attractive to anyone looking to build a Petabyte disk array - or something along those lines.

With 512MB cache and up to 2.5 million hours MTBF, this is a giant among its peers. It can handle workloads of up to 550TB per year and boasts a whopping 5-year warranty.

Surprisingly enough, it has a 7,200RPM rotational speed and uses Energy Assisted Magnetic Recording (EAMR) technology to enable higher media precision and increased areal density.

WD 15% discount trick

A little-known scheme from Western Digital allows you to save up to 15% off your next purchase from the company’s online store (provided you spend $50 or more).

In a nutshell, send over an old external or internal SSD or hard disk drive for recycling (doesn’t matter if it is in working order) and you'll get a coupon code via email in return.

The entire process takes about two weeks and is described in further detail on this page. If you are willing to jump through the hoops, you can grab yourself an amazing bargain - just make sure you read all the T&Cs.

Bear in mind

  • If this product is unavailable in your region, you may need to use a specialist parcel forwarding service to take advantage of the deal.
  • If you've managed to get hold of a cheaper product with equivalent specifications, in stock and brand new, let us know and we'll tip our hat to you.
Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.