External hard drive - advice/recommendations

[tvaerialmagpiebin]

I have just realised that my 2 year old laptop has only a read CD drive. I have been trying to copy things onto DCs for ages and it has never worked, i have always assumed that I wasusing the wrong CD or a full one, but I have just had a lightbulkb moment that actually, it is the DRIVE that is read-only.

So I want to backup all my digital photos and a load of Open Office stuff, not a huge amount of stuff. Can anyone recommend a good external drive, or memory stick with big capacity??
Thanks

If you look on Amazon and search for "external dvd writer" you should find a black unit in the 35-40 pound range.

Scan offers this LiteOn model with 2 year warranty. One I can recommend.

SVP has a unit at about 35 pounds. SVP started out only selling the CD and DVD media, but ave grown and now sell whole PC systems. One I can recommend.

If you get onto the mailing lists of Scan and SVP you may find some cheap 'over the weekend' deals.

I bought a couple of 8 GB USB memory sticks for a total of 20 quid the other week from Scan I think... 8 GB for a tenner is quite hard to beat - you may also find deals offering free delivery on some specific weekend.

thank you!! will have a look at all of those. Yes I like Scan's special offers and 8Gb sounds about right.

The 2x 8 GB memory sticks I bought were in some promotion one weekend. Hope they have something similar on offer for you.

There are '24 hours only' deals on some sites, and SVP has had 'Wild Wednesday' offers too.

I will point you in the direction of brands not models, Western Digital, Toshiba and Freecom.

For USB sticks I recommend Kingston, Play.com branded and freecom again.