I have a 80 gig iPod and I have so much free space I decided to make my user account backups to the iPod pretty much daily. As of now I am satisfied as it backups 10 gig or so in 13 minutes. I was wondering if this solution is good for the long term? Will I end up damaging my iPod's hard drive in the long run?
It's fine for your drive but the drive's longevity is based on how much it gets used so obviously you'll shorten its life. In practice, I can't imagine you'll notice a difference. However, remember that iPods get subjected to some pretty hardcore jumping and jerking, plus they're pretty attractive to thieves. As such, they're not always the best place to back everything up to. Hopefully you've got your data backed up elsewhere too.