[tennistm]

I am shopping for a portable hard drive to use for backing up my PC and storing pics (between 160 and 250 gb)
I am looking for one that is simple to use...especially for backing up by PC files.
I have two PCs and I'd like to use it for both of them.

I am now looking at the My Book by Western Digital and the Seagate.

Do you have any suggestions on which of these is best...or another one that might be better.

Thanks,
Tim

[Tyger]

You won't find a great deal of difference among them, some come with backup software, some have Firewire as well as USB. The main secret here is to only have them powered up during file transfers and always use the Remove Hardware feature in the toolbar. They're cheap enough now that you could afford two so that you could double back up your most valuable files.

If you're on a older machine you may not have a USB2.0 port, you can get PCI cards with USB and Firewire.

[diggeryo]

Keep in mind that the Western Digital My Book is an "external" hard drive, not a "portable" hard drive. Though an external hard drive can be used as a portable hard drive, it's mainly designed to be connected to one computer and sit on a desk, rather than inside the computer.

The Western Digital portable drive is called the"Passport." Though they're more expensive, they are more fitting to the task of moving to and from computers or connecting every once in a while and then storing somewhere else.

When I was looking for a portable drive, I originally bought a My Book. It's bulkier than the Passport, and also must be plugged into a power outlet when used. It wasn't what I was looking for, so I returned it and got the Passport. As I said, it's more expensive, but it's sleeker and doesn't have to be plugged in to another power source.