Seagate Technology 200 GB USB 2.0 and FireWire External Drive ( ST3200823A-RK )
Quiet, small, with on-off switch (but only 185GB)
This drive from Seagate I bought for work backups is in every way superior to the 200GB and 250GB Western Digital externals I have at home.  <br /> <br />The most impressive difference is the sound.  The Western Digitals sound like blenders by comparison.  But I also appreciate the on-off switch (though you should eject the removable hardware first if you're using Windows XP); the Western Digitals are on until they're unplugged. With my nest of cables, the switch is very handy. <br /> <br />In terms of dimensions, the Seagate's a bit wider and fatter, but not as long.  It's a little more subdued in appearance, but I'd still prefer something more generic.  I don't need a giant Seagate logo reminding where it came from.  The Seagate also feels more solidly built, but I haven't been using any of the three drives for anything other than occasional backups.  This is especially true of the connector plugs, which are rock solid on the Seagate, but slip all over on the Western Digital. <br /> <br />I have also had great experience with the Barracuda family of drives from Seagate, which is the drive in this box.  Reviews I've read online say FireWire's faster than USB 2.0 for this drive, but I haven't raced them myself.  Either way, it's going to be slow compared to built-in drives. <br /> <br />Like the Western Digitals, this one was ready to go with Windows XP right out of the box.  I have my own backup scripts, so I didn't need to try the built-in one.   <br /> <br />My one complaint is that like Western Digital, Seagate reports drive sizes in billions of bytes, so it's only really 185GB (a GB is 2**30 = 1024*1024*1024 bytes).