The Benefit of an External Hard Drive Western Digital 250GB 7200RPM - UK  The problem with my video hobby is that movies copied to my computer's main hard drive take up a huge amount of space and before I realised it, my  80GB hard drive (HDD) was in no time at all, full to its limits. And worse still, my wonderful 3GHZ machine was getting slower and slower. Time to get some extra storage memory and I decided upon an external hard drive because, firstly it would not be switched on all the time as an internal one would be thus saving wear and tear, and secondly, because external drives are simply "plug and go", I could quickly and easily connect it to my desktop or laptop.  I could then use my main internal drive as temporary storage when working on my videos and then transfer them across to my external drive. The Fantom Drive Titanium USB 2.0 Hard Drive offers a great deal. It has a slick, compact design  and provides 200GB that is fully portable. And another benefit that I had not thought of was, because it was only in use when I was in the process of writing my files to is, all data would be safe from hackers, so now I could keep all private and sensitive information on there.. It is also fanless for silent operation, can lie horizontally or stand vertically to allow maximum deskspace. One thing I was concerned with the USB2 HDD was that it would be USB1 compatible - for use on my laptop, but here my concerns were unfounded because, although it works a little slower via USB1, there is no problem in accessing files. Here is some of its specs for those interested to know about the technical side. •Connectors: 1 x USB 2.0 (fully compatible with USB 1.1) •Power Supply: 110/220 V (Universal Power Supply) •Form Factor: External Unit •Host Interface: USB 2.0 •Capacity: 200GB •Data Buffer Cache (MB): 2 •Access Time: 8.5ms •Drive RPM: 7200 •Bus Transfer Rate (Maximum): 60 MB/S •Sustained Data Transfer (Maximum): 28 MB/S •OS Support: MacOS 9.1 or higher, Mac OS X 10.x, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP •Package Contents: USB Hard Drive, USB Cable, Power Cord, Installation Software, User Manual •Warranty Information Warranty Terms: One-year limited •Dimensions: 5.3”x8.8”x1.5” •Product Weight: 2.4lbs •Box Dimensions: 12.25"x8.5"x2.75" In The Box: USB Hard Drive, USB Cable, Power Cord, Installation Software and User Manual Home  Click here for more Website & Computer Hardware/Sofware Reviews From Amazon.Co.UK The Western Digital USB 2.0 is another excellent external hard drive, available with Amazon.UK. It not only has a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 but also FireWire interface. Again, this drive is ideal for backing up valuable information safely, music, photos and movies etc. ; it has USB ports to the front and rear of the unit, for easy connection and a front-mounted power button with a safety shutdown feature.  Another useful feature with this drive is that is has a dual-option backup button that allows you to choose how and when to back up your data, either automatically or when your choose. The device can also be positioned horizontally or vertically. Just "plug and go" via a USB port or USB PCI adaptor card and multiple drives stack together and can be routed through a hub, enabling further storage capacity. This drive is a 7200 RPM drive using high-speed USB 2.0. It is also backward compatible with existing USB 1.1 ports In the Box Installation and management software Step-by-step illustrated instructions USB Cable Mains Adapter    The Maplin eBook Thanks for reading.