combatmedic - yeah those costs and rates are inline with prices from retail outlets, they drop 5-20% depending on the qty ordered. You can get a OEM builders pack(10) of 2TB Western Digital Caviar RE 32mb cache, 7200 RPM drives for 1100.

I helped a friend put in a video/audio survalliance system in at his studio where there are 30+ cameras feeding HD feeds 24/7 and he can fit a whole days recording on a single DL DVD, but still has a server with a 10TB data array. All of that cost $5K. TSA doesnt need that many cameras at the CP and in volume could do alot better pricing then that.

I still think the reason the tape disappeared is TSA didnt want it to come to light due to them looking bad. Which also falls in to the pattern of past behavior and evidence, which also is insight into future events and behavior.