But, I’m thinking about getting a smaller, cheaper drive now. I got a used NSLU2 (from GFM) so that I could put the new external and an old 40GB external on the network. I didn’t realize, though, that you have to reformat the drive to a special format for the NSLU2, and you can’t go back and forth between the network format and windows. So you have to decide to either have it on the network or usb. And I didn’t really want to tie down the 500GB drive to the NSLU2 and a 10/100 network speed.

So now I’m thinking about getting a 250 or 320GB external for the network, along with the other 40, which should get me by for awhile. At least until I get another computer, which will have a bigger hdd for more storage. Of course, I didn’t think I’d ever outgrow the 40GB, and I have about 5MB of available space on it.

Of course, none of this accounts for backups. I do have another 60GB external hard drive, that I think I’ll use to back up important stuff… like pictures, email, financial data, etc. Maybe purchased music, but that might overfill it. Oh, I don’t need to backup my emusic stuff, since you can redownload it whenever you want (assuming they still offer it. And they don’t have everything they used to, so I probably should backup the music they no longer offer).

I’ve heard of the drobo, Chris. I saw them play with it on Tekzilla. It’s unfortunately out of my price range. Especially considering it doesn’t include the drives themselves. It makes since though, to just have to buy the hard drive when you need more space. A lot cheaper to expand storage, and typically better warranty on the drive, too. But I can’t get past the initial hurdle.

So anyhow… like I said, back to square one.

A little pricey on the up-front cost but an extremely good idea. I’ve got 500GB inside my machine and a 500GB external and I’m rapidly coming to an end (I rip movies to watch on Apple TV). Then I had to buy a 2TB external just to back everything up. The crappy part is that won’t even last. I wish I’d heard of Drobo when I bought these drives, it seems like such a better idea to expand as you need.