Hdd Is Back: The Return Of The Hard Drive
Blocks & Files, Monday, February 23rd, 2026
Other World Computing (OWC) sees disk drives returning to favor as NAND price rises and delivery shortages reduce SSD sales.
OWC has a rather amazing history, having been started up by CEO Larry O'Connor in Woodstock, Illinois, in 1988, when he was 14 years old. Over the next 37 years he has grown the company into a business that specializes in computer hardware upgrades and accessories, particularly for Apple Mac and iPhone products, but also Windows PCs.
OWC sells things like SSDs, RAM, external drives, Thunderbolt docks, enclosures, and so forth. With its Apple focus, its customers include creative professionals, such as photographers, video editors, and musicians, looking for fast-access storage and system expansion offerings to make their work easier.