Google Docs storage is $0.25 / GB * year. A random 1TB drive on Newegg was $0.17 / GB. Depending on you utilization and amortization schedule, it may be worth it.
Google's price includes the electricity to run the disk, any enclosures, network connectivity, whatever CPU is needed to front end it, dealing with any warranty & maintenance issues, backups and backup media and who knows how many other items in addition to the bare metal.
If you want to do an apples to apples price comparison then some of those factors should also be factored in to the NewEgg price!
Before the Thailand floods, I was eyeing that drive for $130 ($0.04/GB) and thinking "can't go wrong waiting until I really need it."
And obviously, comparing to cloud strictly on price, you can divide that cost by the number of years you expect to keep that drive... so then it likely drops to less than 1 cent per GB per year.
