AI Hard Drive Shortage Makes Archiving the Internet Harder
Source: Slashdot
Overview
Skyrocketing hard drive and storage costs driven by the AI data‑center boom are making it more expensive and difficult for digital archivists, academics, Wikipedia, and hobby data hoarders to save data and archive the internet. Prices for both consumer‑level and enterprise solid‑state drives (SSDs), hard drives, and other storage types have surged. For example, a 2 TB external Samsung SSD that cost $159 last fall now sells for $575.
PC Part Picker, which tracks average drive prices, shows a universal increase starting around October of last year, with many drives doubling or rising by more than 150 %. In some stores SSDs and hard drives are simply sold out, and a secondary market has emerged with scalpers on eBay and elsewhere.
Impact on the Internet Archive
Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine, told 404 Media that the rising storage costs are “a very real issue costing us time and money.” The Archive’s preferred 28–30 TB drives are either unavailable or priced very high. The organization ingests over 100 TB of new material each day and already stores more than 210 PB, requiring continuous hardware upgrades and maintenance.
“We are fortunate to have an active community that donates to the Archive, and we are also looking for help from hard‑drive manufacturers in these difficult times. So far we have ways to work around these shortages, but it is a very real issue causing us time and money.” – Brewster Kahle
Impact on the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and other projects, reported that storage costs have become a concern. With over 65 million Wikipedia articles, server and storage capacity are vital. The foundation has observed price increases since the end of 2025, affecting memory and hard‑drive purchases, lead times on server deliveries, and future ordering capacity.
“The Wikimedia Foundation is a non‑profit, and as such how we allocate budget is very carefully considered. We maintain our own data centers to serve users worldwide and are implementing workarounds, prioritizing hardware investment, building flexibility, and extending the life of existing hardware where possible.” – Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson