external hard drive recommendations?

Well, I suggest you avoid Maxtor, as they're just Chinese-made Seagates, and are second only to the obscure Excelsior brand for poor reputation. Speaking of Seagates, that company has been having real QA problems on their latest models, so I would avoid them, too. Off brand drives are also bad, because they use cheap enclosures, and their electronics have a way of failing prematurely.

If you want the fastest and quitest drive you can get, look for a 640GB model. That way, you're assured a current-model ~330GB per platter drive. Otherwise, it's a crapshoot. Also, look for a drive with a fan, as even these newer drives get very hot under heavy usage.

I have both Maxtor and seagate drives that are literally ancient lol, i dont recall ever having a Maxtor drive fail but i have seen a few seagates fail. If you're using a desktop, an internal drive is definately cheaper. Theres also the option of online storage sites for files that you rarely use but want to keep handy. www.megaupload.com or www.adrive.com are handy for that.