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Host-C Pioneer 5TB Storage user looking for alternatives
I have been a Host-C customer since 2023. I was previously on the Promo VPS Intrepid - Storage 4TB but switched to the Promo VPS Pioneer - Storage 5TB when it was available. I also purchased the Xeon Gold 6148 upgrade for $6, although it seems like I was moved out of that without my knowledge which I think the purpose was to decommission the service faster and I don't see anything about a refund/credit for that. I thought I had more time to find an alternative solution since the decommission was supposed to be in April 2027 but it was moved to next month.
I was hoping the company would offer me something similar or possibly better but the only email I received was that the server would be decommissioned a year sooner than planned and that I would be refunded for the rest of the service unless I submit a ticket to switch to a different service. I submitted a ticket and asked about the XNova 5TB Gen2 storage VPS that I read about but they said it's no longer available.
The only offer I was provided with is below:
PX-1C2R5T – Storage 5TB (Xeon Scalable Gen 2)
1 vCPU (Xeon Scalable Gen 2)
2 GB DDR4 RAM
20 GB NVMe (OS disk)
5 TB HDD storage add-on (RAID60)
4K IOPS @ 1.5K, up to 1 GB/s RW
1× Dedicated IPv4
IPv6 /64 available upon request via ticket
1 Gbps port (best effort)
18 TB included traffic
$33 / quarter
$60 / semi-annual (discounted billing option)
The offer appears to be almost identical to what I currently have, but with 1 less vCPU and almost 3X the price.
Does anyone have recommendations for alternatives? I don't really need all these resources as I'm mostly running a few dockers for audiobooks and music but liked to have the extra buffers as I planned to do more with the server but hadn't gotten around to it.
@host_c can is there anything better you can offer? Will there be any XNova 5TB Gen2 storage VPS before I get decommissioned? It feels like the company is trying to get rid of me.
Comments
I don't think they're trying to get rid of you, it's just not feasible to maintain the original service. I'm also a victim of the changes and am currently trying to figure out if the new quote is good. I won't be mad at them because that's the way it is economically right now. But I'm sad because we'll never get the original price again.
That makes sense. Being part of the gold fleet the decom was supposed to be later. I'll be going on vacation soon and will now have to deal with this beforehand. Wishing I had followed up sooner when the XNova 5TB offer was available.
We don't wish to get rid of anyone, well, except abusers and fake accounts, but judging by how you presented your case/issue, it is not about that. -
I have outlined and explained a few times over the why behind this decision to end the e5-v4 so I will not repeat my self.
I read that you payed the 1 time fee to scale gen 1, the 6 USD, please check if that was not added as credit in your account before we moved you back to the e5-v4, if not, raise a ticket and Stuart will cash back that 6 USD, as we did for all that payed upgrades to the Scale Gen 1 from Pioneer and Nimitz. We might have missed some and for that I apologize in advance.
It was also sent out on 04/12/2025 23:04, titled "A Look Back at 2025 and the Road Ahead"
..."
Product naming issues & the $6 upgrade situation
We acknowledge that some product naming and upgrade communications in 2024–2025 caused confusion — some of it chaotic:
In practice:
This created a fairness issue:
Some customers paid $6 for an upgrade that did not provide long-term value, ending up on Scale Gen2, while others paid higher prices for native E5-V4 → Scale Gen2 plans.
To restore fairness and consistency:
→ All affected customers who paid the upgrade from E5-V4 to Scale Gen1 will receive a full $6 refund as account credit.
→ Services will be migrated back to their initial E5-V4 platform until final decommissioning.
→ This is mostly the case for the Pioneer 5TB and Nimitz 10TB plans.
This takes effect immediately as of 04-12-2025.
This corrects the imbalance, and no one loses anything.
This was one of the largest operational mistakes of 2024–2025, and we have learned from it."
Do I wish people read the mails we send out.... yet that is not the scope of my reply.
I know and acknowledge that we will loose some good folks that are with us for 2-3 years, yet if I don't take the decision to cut loses, we all go under and that will not help anyone.
@host_c thanks for the response. I don't see the account credit but I can send a ticket to ask about it. Is there any way I can get on XNova 5TB Gen2 storage or would PX-1C2R5T – Storage 5TB (Xeon Scalable Gen 2) be the only option?
Open the ticket so you get the 6 USD back.
regarding the XNova 5TB Gen2 - nop, PX-1C2R5T – Storage 5TB - yes.
I know that this is not the answer you were looking for, fortunately, I don't have abetter one.
Sad to see my Pioneer server expire. No point of renewing for a few weeks
No worries. I understand. I guess it would be unlikely that XNova 5TB Gen2 might become available within the next month. Is there another option available maybe 1TB to 4TB storage?
Also, if migrating to the PX-1C2R5T could everything from my existing VPS (SSD & Storage drive) migrate over seemlessly or it would all need to be setup again?
I have seen this recommended as an extremely low cost storage vps however with the warning that there could be some down time/inconsistency.
https://panel.ihostart.com/index.php?rp=/store/cheap-storage-kvm-vps
hostc is a good and reputable provider and for peace of mind I would probably go with them. but there are also cases where you just want a basic backup and don't care too much about sketchy providers.
I have one special, which project got cancelled and its sitting idle now, if its transferable i can give it to you for account credit.
Specs:
FAT32 Day - 2TB Storage Edition
1 vCPU Xeon Scalable Gen2
1 GB RAM
10 GB NVMe
2 TB HDD Add-on (Raid 60) max of 1K IOPS @ 4K and up to 1 GBPS RW
1 Dedicated IPv4
1 Dedicated /64 IPv6
1 Gbps Port
4 TB Traffic
Price: 15 USD /Quarter
yes, that can be migrated with no data loss or reinstall needed.
List priced products, yet those will be much more expensive / TB then the PX
Hy @emperor - for the moment transfers of Promotional Products is halted/no-go, only list priced products can be transferred.
For PX-1C2R5T is there any way to upgrade to 2vCPU instead of 1?
yes, from the service menu, you can add up to +4 vcores, ram and other.
YEt, 1 Vcore of a gold is 1.5 times the performance of 1 e5-v4 vcore, so I would not buy vcores unless you absolutely need them, I highly recommend you test/go with the initial vCore count,
Only layer7 could give that offer if they have available.
5 TB at $5 per month or $50 per year.
Hi,
in general it seems in germany would be something available currently. But we would not sell it currently for 5 EUR per month. More like 8 EUR / month.
Could you please share what offers and specs are currently available between around 500GB-5TB storage options? Would they also be available in a couple months if I don't decide right away?
Hi,
we had some time ago a LET special offer with
KVM with CPU host-passthrough:
2x CPU Intel Xeon SP Gold 6122
8 GB RAM
120 GB disk ( 500 IOPS / 50 MB/s Limit )
5 TB HDD ( 500 IOPS / 80 MB/s Limit )
1x IPv4/IPv6
1G Port incl. 50 TB Traffic
that could be offered now for 8 EUR / month or 80 EUR / year
( was before 5 / 50 EUR )
And as it seems to me, we could give 1-2 accounts of this kind currently
But you should consider that we restrict much more ( as it seems to me ) the disk IO compared to host_c ... so if you have disk IO intense applications then you will be unhappy. So if you consider this offer, check how much disk IO you actually need before you pay money, as we usually wont give it back
It makes no sense to give less than 5 TB as we would create an imbalance between available disk space and available disk IO capacity on the hostmachine.
I'd like to sign up for one of these. Can you pm me or how would we go about it? Thanks.
Hi,
please open a ticket and refer to this here.
If you do not have an account, simply get one by ordering a test server
https://layer7.net/cloud-server
this thread has a surprising lack of both drama and deals. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS EVEN HAPPENING. @host_c we need ai pictures of things exploding, or something.
There's no drama because everyone has come to accept the situation and that there will be no deals.
While I do understand that sometimes hosts have no choice to remain solvent, I have also been vocal in the past about my position on providers that increase prices for existing customers who locked into special deals (which is the exception, not the norm).
I personally idled this Pioneer 5TB deal for the past 2 years, so that I would have it at the original price for long-term backup storage which I planned on keeping as long as Host-C was in business, and would have never got it if I knew the deal would not be honored.
I was going to start using it this year, so it's disappointing to lose it right before I actually start using it.
@dohboy Best storage I've seen on LET right now is @DediRock's 2TB deal @ $1.15/TB (which you can stack).
I'll personally be using local drives to replace my Pioneer until the day comes that another provider can offer me a $0.75/TB replacement deal.
🍿
Personally, I do not understand the amount of folks who apparently just ignored the original offer to upgrade the $45/yr pioneer to a $55/yr pioneer on new hardware with better specs.
To be honest, the new deal was $57/year (for me) which isn't far from $45/year. So I don't think there is too much to complain (from my side).
However, If you talk about principle, then of course, from that perspective, that is a solid point.
If available, I am also interested to get 5TB Storage
I didn't see that offer, although I hadn't submitted a ticket to ask about it so now unfortunately the only one available is the $160/yr offer.
Will you feel the same way after the next increase? Or the one after that?
For me it is a matter of principle, but I also want backup storage at a predictable price point which is low enough that I can set aside decades worth of funds for it and never have to worry about covering the recurring cost no matter what unforeseen circumstances the future may bring.
My other backup storage is on once-off lifetime deals so that I never have to worry about renewal failing due to an expired card or anything else, even if I'm in a coma after being hit by a truck.
I mean, "lifetime" deals fall apart all the time, so I don't really count on that meaning much.
I obviously wouldn't trust the longevity of lifetime deals from most companies.
Actually surprised my Internxt 1TB has made it 4 years already. It's been idling great.
Namecrane on the other hand I trust for lifetime storage and email, since Fran has a great track record over the past 15 years. He's also been open about their solid business strategy to make those lifetime packages self-sustainable.
@AlteredParadox , damn, here you go brotha
Limited QT, contact Layer 7
@layer7 - THX!
for helping out some folks here, there will be more of them by 30 APRIL 2026.
On the limits part, we have 125 MB/SEC and 1500 to 4500 IOPS depending the Promo Product type, on list prices some go as high as 8000 IOPS ( Raid 10 ones )
To all other Provideres, you might want to start offering some deals like the above, if that is to some interest to you.
Fully agreed on the "predictable price point", now, who will kindly predict the next HW Boom or the next war that will drive gas prices up by 25% over night?
Folks, please, do reply me on the prediction stuff, and if so, please do that on our thread or a separate one, this is as off-topic as it can be here.
@Cybr - take the above with a bit of salt and sarcasm, as right now, from my point of view, the whole market looks like a fuqing joke, regardless of IT, consumer goods or other.
@dohboy - No way this is funny to me, please don't get the wrong impression. Yet if we talk about prediction models to offer stability ( as that is what you use for that ) all of them fall apart in 2 weeks, as some new shit comes up on a global scale. So thin margin services are a bit difficult to make up right ow.
Layer7's offer is actually very good at those specs.
As I recall, it was an upgrade to a marginally better CPU -- nothing else. For a bulk storage/archive server, I don't see a big advantage. If they were offering more RAM, or a move from RAID-6 to RAID-10, then that would be a different story.
But I also never understood the issue with the E5 platform. I still find them to be beasts in my own use cases.