Ok, I've made up my mind, I want to get an external HDD for my digital pictures/movies (mostly pics, a few small movies) for backup (I use CDrs and DVDrs as of now)A few selections, I think I want to go Western Digital, I trust them, but are there other manufacturer's that are good?How much space do I need? I like this one but considering the life span of these things (what is that???) would this be overkill?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136100Maybe smaller like this?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136030Or even smaller?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136028Are any of these "good?" How long will they last? How could I keep them virus/spyware free? When I transfer from PC would I remove my ethernet connection or what? I plan on keeping this at my house and moving my CDR's and DVD+R's to my grandparents house for safe keeping and redundancy...Sound like a good idea? Comments, criticisms etc???Thanks!

>>A few selections, I think I want to go Western Digital, I>trust them, but are there other manufacturer's that are good?>I have a Seagate 120GB external. I got more positive feedback here at AVSIM on the Seagate externals than I did on those WD mybookies or whatever they call them.The reason I got that size was because any larger, and the drive would need more than just USB power. I wanted a *completely* independent drive that could in a pinch be used in a laptop...thus no extra power brick requirement.>How much space do I need? I like this one but considering the>life span of these things (what is that???) would this be>overkill?>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136100>Good grief, a terabyte? :)>Maybe smaller like this?>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136030>If you are going to store movies, that might be a good size. For me, I just added up the size of the things I wanted to back up, and 120gb was more than enough storage for my uses. For you, 120 might be a little small.>Are any of these "good?" How long will they last? I've only had mine about 4 months. So far so good. Some people here at AVSIM have had them a lot longer with no problems. They key on these drives is to ALWAYS dismount them using the manufacturers preferred method. If you simply unplug them you run the risk of data loss, corruption and worse, frying the drive.>How could>I keep them virus/spyware free? When I transfer from PC would>I remove my ethernet connection or what? You can run anti-virus/spyw or defrag on them just like any other drive. I don't know if I'd bother removing the ether connection when xfering, but you can do that if you are that paranoid. I think if you keep your system(s) clean you shouldn't have a problem.Or course...back in the early 90's I once had a NASTY virus that infected every floppy disk I used. It was a real pain getting rid of it--so caution is the best.>I plan on keeping>this at my house and moving my CDR's and DVD+R's to my>grandparents house for safe keeping and redundancy...>>Sound like a good idea? Comments, criticisms etc???>>Thanks!Get a big enough drive for those movies. i use mine in conjunction with Acronis TrueImage and have an OS image, a clean FSX image, a clean FSX SP1 image, and some other misc stuff.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Thanks Rhett...I kinda like the corny look of the "bookies" myself lol!but to each his own hehe...I actually don't mind one with a power adapter...that's fine, I have plenty of outlets..but I will look into the Seagate models

Hey Rhett,I was going to go WD....but I ended up buying a Seagate 250GB, cause newegg had a 25 bucks off sale, got it for about 80 USD including shipping.Otherwise I would bought from Best Buy, and got the WD 320GB for 100 USD.But for that 25 dollar savings (factoring in sales tax at BB) I decided I didnt need the extra 70GB, since I don't shoot home movies or anything.And it doesn't plug in so I hope that will be ok...it's just the USB port, is that the one you have?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148233

Good choice. I swear by Seagate hard drives. They have never let me down, have one of the best warranties out there, are affordable and true work horses.Pat

>>And it doesn't plug in so I hope that will be ok...it's just>the USB port, is that the one you have?>>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148233Wow, in only 4-5 months, it appears Seagate has revamped their line of external hard drives, because mine isn't even sold on newegg anymore!The Seagate external I have is 120gb and small, flat, and square. It is physically smaller in size than the one you linked to.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

I have a 500GB MyBook Essential edition (whatever that means). Got it for $100 the day after thanksgiving... Best price I've ever seen for that much HD.It's not something readily transportable, that's for sure. And I will admit to having a problem with mine. It'll randomly turn on and off... I have yet to seek a warranty claim on it... been too busy to do so yet, I hope I still can.Other than that, it's a great value if you're looking for an external HD to leave sitting on your desk.

I bought a cheap CompUSA external case that has Firewire and USB inputs. I can put any IDE 3 in drive in there I want. I have a Samsung in there which is about the coolest and quietest out there, and very good $/Gb.External SATA seems to be the latest thing though.scott s..