Best External HD for me?

[warstrekkid]

So I've discovered that I need an external HD, since I've managed to suck the space on my MBP pretty quickly. Here's a rundown of my situation:

-I dual-boot into Windows, which is probably where I need it more. And since some of the files will probably cross over, I'd rather have it partitioned to be readable in both Windows and Mac OS
-1 (of 2) USB ports is always for my mouse, and the other is switched among flash drives, my portable (but small) external, and printer. If I were to go USB only, it'd have to switch there too. My Firewire ports are free
-The external is going to largely store just files (movies, large installation files, etc), but I'd also like to be able to run apps off it. Specifically, games, since my Windows partition has no more space left on it. Optimally, I'd like the connection to be fast enough to run games, though I could drop that.

Based on that, what do you think I should get? The WD/Seagate 500GB externals with only USB seem to run just under $100 right now (with BF upon us). The ones with firewire 800 seem to be steady around (maybe just below $200). And WD now has the Studio edition which I guess is for Mac users, though I'm thinking it would just be a waste of money.

So what do you think? I guess the biggest factor is the connection speed. I know the numbers on USB and Firewire 800, but functionally, how fast are they? Is even firewire fast enough to run games?

 

[Mac In School]

WD: 1 year warranty

Seagate: 5 year warranty

 

[Mechcozmo]

You can also daisy-chain FireWire drives. I have my external connected which then chains to my iPod... very handy.

Go FW800 if at all possible, but 400 isn't bad.

 

[crazycat]

I always found it fun to build my own hard drive, the final product wont be as cool looking as any external hard drive on the market but it will be a lot cheaper and its something you made your self. You can get a firewire 400 enclosure and just buy the hard drive later when you find a good deal.

 

[The Monkey]

I always found it fun to build my own hard drive, the final product wont be as cool looking as any external hard drive on the market but it will be a lot cheaper and its something you made your self. You can get a firewire 400 enclosure and just buy the hard drive later when you find a good deal.

How hard would it be to build your own external drive with 2 drives using hardware RAID 1?

 

[brop52]

I always found it fun to build my own hard drive, the final product wont be as cool looking as any external hard drive on the market but it will be a lot cheaper and its something you made your self. You can get a firewire 400 enclosure and just buy the hard drive later when you find a good deal.

I'm not sure if OWC has aluminum 2.5" external enclosures, but the Mercury Elite Pro looks great with my iMac.