The Subject line says it all. OR IS IT JUST ME? Have the average prices of hard drive seem to of suddenly taken a plunge down in price for you? At first I thought it was just the S.G. and W.D. EXTERNAL drives being sold at a loss so the retail environment could make room for the newly designed smaller, almost Ipod size, external drives.... Then I started realizing that the internal drives seem to be coming down about as fast as the external ones. IS IT JUST ME?? Are hard drive prices really dropping faster than almost any other major computer component currently? - And, if agreed, can anyone advise as to WHY? Was there some kind of mass storage technology breakthrough made recently, or am I simply misreading the Computer Hard Drive Market? I am speaking mainly of prices at a retail store level, as internet stores are not fair to compare with average retail walk-in stores with higher overhead costs than most internet stores/sources. Last December I spent about every spare cent I had on the most inexpensive EXTERNAL drives being sold had the local Walmart, which amounted to a total of 4 large drives, of which two W.D.s were replaced by the store for defects, but all 4 now seem in perfect condition. Yet even now I see prices still falling, as in this area surrounded by mountains and wilderness have a Walmart that are now down to $70 for a "1 1/2 TB" External SeaGate, and I KNOW these drives are much cheaper in the truly big cities. Just Curious, as I have NOT even searched for a story online nor tried to find any information on this topic until this post. I guess I was mainly wondering if anyone else seen what I seem to be seeing in other home-towns.....? If you only know the online sales market for hard drives then it's fine to discuss it. But to be fair to Walmart etc I am mainly interested in folks who at least visit a store that sales computer hardware every once in-awhile. My best to you all, and your loved ones.