I understand your frustration, I really do. I also understand that you can swing out to Best Buy and pick up a 1TB drive for like $70. That said, you must understand that it is not that simple.
Where is that 1TB drive going to go? Obviously it's going to have to go into some hardware of some sort. You don't just deploy 1TB external hard drives all over your company as there is no way to control that data. Nor is there a way to ensure it's reliable. Nor is there a way to backup that data and get it off-site.
You also don't go and start buying cheap 1TB external NAS drives and use that for any sort of enterprise storage. It won't be reliable. It won't be fast enough. Plus it'll become a MAJOR management nightmare having random storage systems deployed everywhere.
Now you start talking about having to maintain backups of that 1TB drive. Let me tell you, backing up 1TB off a slow hard drive is not an easy task. Getting it off-site isn't an easy task either. That stuff all requires MONEY and a strategy.
Generally you look at the requirements your business faces which vary from business to business. For example, your IT department might be having to meet security standards that your CLIENTS require. Plus a bunch of other standards depending on the business you do. Those security standards will simply make it impossible to just deploy random cheap hardware all over the place.
Based on the above requirements you come up with a storage strategy that provides reliable, secure, fast storage. Your entire backup system is generally based around this specific storage system. If there is a failure it can be handled because you've put a lot of thought into it.
For example, to get 1TB of enterprise storage from Netapp, you'd probably be paying THOUSANDS of dollars per terrabyte. We're not even talking about the costs of backing that up, which could easily be that all over again. You also tend to buy in increments larger than 1TB which is probably why they gave you answer A.
Yes there are cheaper storage systems out there but the cheaper your storage the SMARTER your software has to be. Often the applications that enterprises must run are not SMART they simply require the storage be available at a common location.
I tend to try and roll out custom storage solutions using cheaper consumer hardware to reduce the costs of expensive systems like Netapp. But it still isn't free and still takes IT labor. There are some situations where you simply must use an expensive enterprise storage system.
I hate being the IT guy that can't always give people what they want RIGHT now. I also acknowledge that there are IT departments that make things difficult for their employees. Keep in mind that it's not always as simple as it may appear to you.
If budget is an issue - I'd suggest you work your way up through your management. They should be able to get IT the money.
