Littlelapin and other experts - can you give me advice on external hard drives?

[spamm]

I would like to buy one for my dh for his birthday, as his laptop is getting overwhelmed by photos.

Can you give me any suggestions and advice, what should I be looking for? Is this a good way to store photos and music?

Any help appreciated. Thanks

There's not a lot to say. Look for a reasonably well known name, e.g. Maxtor, Seagate or Western Digital and a large capacity (around 500GB). Buy from a reputable seller.

Something like this maybe?

You could get one with wireless access if you wanted, but I'm not sure what that would cost.

I've got a Passport 160Gb one for my laptop - about the size of my palm, and no thicker than a pack of cards. Its been very reliable (and is chucked in my bag).

I have a Truprint online account that I consider my third line backup of photos as I know their servers will be pretty good - I write to DVD a few times a year too and keep them at my mums.

The LaCie is really good and good value (or was? - got one off ebuyer for a friend). Maplins occasionally have good offers on this kind of thing.