Author name: Lucky

Meet Lucky: The Creator & Developer Behind diskprices.store Hello there, fellow hardware nerds and storage hoarders! I’m Lucky, the solo software engineer, web developer, and self-proclaimed "storage optimization fanatic" behind diskprices.store.If you have spent any amount of time trying to source cheap, high-capacity hard drives on the internet, you’ve likely realized that it feels less like shopping and more like navigating a minefield. With frequent price fluctuations, varying drive conditions (new vs. renewed), and thousands of Amazon listings, comparing storage options manually can be time-consuming. That is precisely why I built this tool. I wanted to replace the endless scrolling and manual math with a clean, instantly sortable interface that puts the power of raw data back into the hands of the consumer.My Journey: From Hardware Tinkerer to Web Developer My obsession with computer hardware began over a decade ago in a cramped dorm room, surrounded by half-disassembled desktop towers and glowing Ethernet switches. Like many of you, my gateway drug was building custom desktop PCs for friends and running small local game servers. However, as my interest matured, I became deeply fascinated by the concept of data self-hosting and system administration.I quickly discovered the incredible world of home labs. I began hoarding old enterprise server hardware, learning the complexities of Linux administration, and configuring my first high-capacity Network Attached Storage (NAS) arrays. I experimented with unRAID, TrueNAS Core, ZFS pools, and various RAID configurations.But as my media libraries grew and my Docker containers multiplied, I hit a massive roadblock that every self-hoster eventually faces: The Storage Wall.I needed more terabytes. Lots of them. But as a developer working with a limited budget, I couldn’t afford to blindly buy brand-new retail drives at marked-up prices. Finding the optimal price per terabyte requires careful filtering to ensure accurate drive specifications and avoid selecting SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) drives for write-heavy RAID arrays.The Birth of diskprices.store: Solving My Own Problem To solve my storage sourcing dilemma, I did what any developer would do: I built a massive, messy Google Sheet. I wrote custom scripts to pull pricing data from various retail sites and calculate the Price per Terabyte ($/TB) manually. Every time I needed a new drive, I would run my script, sort the sheet, and buy the drive that offered the best mathematical value.Eventually, some friends from the self-hosting community saw my sheet and said, "Lucky, this is gold. Why haven't you turned this into a real web app for the community?"That was the spark. I sat down at my desk, fueled by black coffee, and began coding. I wanted the tool to be incredibly fast, devoid of heavy framework bloat, and highly accessible. I integrated it with WordPress to leverage its robust structure but bypassed the standard, slow template engine by writing a custom high-speed router. This custom router allows the database of Amazon storage listings to load in less than 0.01 seconds, delivering a desktop-class software experience directly inside your web browser.My Philosophy on Storage Sourcing As the curator and developer of this platform, I don’t just write the code—I actively use the tool to buy my own drives. Because of this, I design the platform around three core personal philosophies:1. Transparency is Non-Negotiable The internet is full of "review sites" that exist solely to push high-commission products, regardless of whether they are actually good deals. I absolutely despise that business model. At diskprices.store, the math does the talking. I don't hide the fact that I earn a small affiliate commission when you use my links, but I pledge that my sorting algorithms will always remain 100% objective. The drive with the lowest $/TB will always occupy the top spot, regardless of which manufacturer made it.2. Context is King (Why Filters Matter) Not all storage is created equal. An enterprise SAS drive running at 7200 RPM is incredible for a server rack, but it will not work in a standard consumer desktop without an HBA controller card. Similarly, a refurbished drive is a fantastic, highly economical choice for a backup array, but you might want a brand-new drive with a full 5-year manufacturer warranty for your primary, mission-critical data. That’s why I have spent countless hours refining our granular sidebar filters, allowing you to quickly isolate the exact tech specs you need.3. Fighting Against E-Waste I am a huge advocate for the "Right to Repair" and the sensible reuse of enterprise hardware. Millions of perfectly healthy enterprise hard drives are shredded every year by corporate data centers simply because their leases expired. By helping users safely locate high-quality Factory Recertified and Seller Refurbished drives, I hope to do my small part in reducing global e-waste while saving you hundreds of dollars in the process.When I'm Not Coding... When I am not actively tweaking the scraping pipelines or writing custom CSS styles for this website, you can usually find me:Designing digital tools, developing WordPress plugins, and optimizing database queries.Reorganizing my home server rack (which currently runs a mix of high-capacity CMR drives and high-speed NVMe cache arrays).Hanging out in hardware forums, helping newcomers understand the difference between RAID levels, or discussing the long-term reliability of helium-filled drives vs. air-filled drives.Sharing my passion for open-source software and digital privacy tools.Let's Connect! This platform is a living project, and I am always looking for ways to make it more useful for you. If you have a feature request, spotted a bug, want to suggest a new storage category, or just want to geek out about hard drives, please do not hesitate to reach out to me via our contact page.Thank you for visiting diskprices.store and for supporting an independent, developer-owned project. I hope this tool saves you as much time and money as it has saved me! follow Me: https://web.facebook.com/people/Diskpricesstore/61592310957869/ https://x.com/disk_prices https://www.pinterest.com/diskprices_store/Happy hoarding,Lucky