Newsfactor reports that the modern space race has led us to a one-terabyte drive for $399. They also point out some other interesting data points on modern reliability, performance and energy-consumption requirements:

…Hitachi’s new drives beat older models in more than just space. The Deskstar offers increased shock protection and three “idle” modes designed to help the drive consume less power. In turn, the CinemaStar boasts Smooth Stream Technology designed to maximize the performance of audio and video applications.

The “big” question (pun not intended) might also become how to secure huge repositories of data.

A traditional file system is hardly trustworthy enough to do a truly secure delete/move, for example. If we really are on the road to consumer product farms for data (e.g. 1-TB mirrored shared network storage systems at home), then I bet the next question will become how to use the space for database repositories with superior indexing, journaling and cleaning capabilities.

I mean it’s great to have a massive storage space to cram all your stuff into, but only if you can trust that it will not be lost, stolen and/or damaged.