Dont know where you guys are in the world...where i am anything above 2 TB gets expensive and above in the 16-18 TB range is just a dream for most....then there is data cost for the 7 gig download
I probably should've specified 'Hard Disk Drives'.
Though I did say in a post above, that "SSDs are not necessary for VNs or storage/backups"(paraphrased)
2TB HDDs are near impossible to get where I'm at(northern europe)
But locale has nothing to do with it.
More a case of rather, 4TB and less HDDs are being more or less discontinued in production these days.
Mind, I did specify "Desktop", so 3.5" drives, not 2.5"(intended for laptops. though technically, you can use in desktops too.)
And also mentioned "External drives", which cost about the same as a 3.5" internal.
1 - 2 TB SSDs are getting "cheaper" to fill in that gap.
(but far from cost effective yet. Media call them "affordable", but I don't.
Call me Scruge McDuck, but I'd rather get a 12TB HDD for storage, than a 2TB SSD at same price.)
500gb and below SATA SSDs are being phased out as well, replaced by High-Speed m.2 nVME in that range.
So it is a "Worldly phenomenon", due to production.