[hogFeast]

> Prices on Amazon UK are also out of control

...they are not. Sale last week for 8TB at £14/TB. I would say that prices are marginally higher than they were a few weeks ago...average prices are probably £16/TB at the top consumer end but supply is fine, this price is not particularly high historically, it is not unmanageable for individuals, SSDs prices are cratering (hint: buy stuff that doesn't have massive TBW, these consumer drives are unusuable for Chia...prices of this stuff has dropped by 20-30% in the past few months), and there is ample supply on other sites too (I believe the issue with Amazon is that they just ran some huge discounts on the external drives popular with consumers..they will be restocked in a week or so).

Also, you can pick up used stuff too. The supply of used drives with lots of life left is basically endless. And no-one is mining with 4TB drives.