I'm often asked about external hard drives that you can then hook up to your computer for backup, music storage, or whatever.

Here's what I do ... but I like to get really good stuff. I'm OK with paying some $$$ to get good equipment. In fact, I've bought 10 - count 'em 10 - of the following, & all have performed BEAUTIFULLY.

Buy a 320 GB hard drive:

Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200JB 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM
$100 @ Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822144392

Buy the best hard drive enclosure available today:

AMS VENUS DS-2316CBK Black External Enclosure - Retail
$49.99 @ Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817145657

Why is this enclosure so good?

• USB2 & Firewire
• Fan on the bottom of the case keeps drive cool
• Sturdy construction so drive won't wiggle loose

When you get the equipment, simply pop the drive in the enclosure. It takes about 3 minutes. For $160, you get an awesome external hard drive that supports USB2 or Firewire, runs beautifully, and holds up over time.

As I said, I've purchased 10 of these over the last 2 years, and they've been GREAT. I've also had several friends purchase the exact same things, and they all love 'em too.

I was asked about drivers & operating systems. My reply:

Drivers won't be a problem. As for the OS, it depends on how you format the drives. Since mine tend to be hooked up to Linux boxen, they get formatted as ext3. When I set one up for a Windows-usin' friend, NTFS. One is hooked up to a Mac, so it's HFS+.

As for Win98, the enclosures come with a CD of drivers for Win98, which I just toss in the trash. But it's there if you need it.