Forecasting price drops: When will 1TB hard drives become "mainstream affordable"?

[quiq]

Specifically, external ones? Right now they are all well over $500

Is there a usual time cycle HD manufacturers use before they churn out higher and higher capacities? Is 1 Terabyte pushing the limits of technology right now and we wont see leaps and bounds of 2TB and 4TB any time soon?

When do you predict the 1TB's will fall to the $200 range, or how about the 500gb drives to fall into the low $100 range?

 

[PZEROFGH]

500GB hdd for 150, I think that's reasonable.

I myself am looking for a new hdd right now, my 2 80GB's arent big enough. the 250GB @ 60 looks mighty nice to me right now.

 

[TriEclipse]

Not anytime soon. 500GB drives are over $200 right now, and 750GB Drives are $400. As far as I know, no internal 3.5" 1TB drives exist, much less external. Expect 1TB drives (internal) sometime around the beginning of next year, or maybe the end of this one. But they'll still be close to the $350-$400 mark, if not higher. 1TB drives in the $200 range? I'd guess 1.5-2 years from now, barring any unseen technological advances.

EDIT: My bad, Seagate's 500GB is $230 normally, but $150 because of Newegg's Holiday Sale.