external hard drives -- how does one choose?

[Tonnica]

The good news is if you've already bought one of these drives Seagate and it kaks on you, there is a fix which Seagate is willing to provide:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/seagate-offers-fix-free-data-recovery-for-disks-affected-by-fir/

(As a side note I hate doodads on storage devices so I use the tried-and-true fresh hdd in an enclosure setup. Easy, cheap, no cruft! )

[Lazybones]

All brands make bad drives, some make more than others and some model should be avoided.

Check for current reports, purchase what you can afford.

I prefer the idea of purchasing the enclosure and drive apart because prices keep droping and the complete units rarely match price drops and often cost a little more due to included extras I don't want.

[Melbosa]

Great advice Lazy!

[Tom]

Indeed. I'm not that attached to any brand. if Seagate does become an IBM (for a time) I would have to switch to some other brand. But my current drives seem fine, and I'll bet I won't ever get any of the bad drives myself. Luck maybe? I dunno. Some of the 640 drives did indeed have firmware issues.