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(Last paragraph added Jan. 14, 2008.) I took a close look at about 10-12 external drives on the Internet, comparing capacities, dimensions and weights and looks. Yes, looks were important to me because I intended the drive for travel purposes. After a business associate had his notebook stolen in the Hong Kong airport I decided that my notebook would never again contain my entire 'business office' again. I wanted a drive that I could put in my shirt, coat or pants pocket whenever leaving my hotel room, and leave only my notebook with the O/S and applications on it. You can move your Outlook.pst file, your Favorites from IE, anything you want, onto the external drive by right-click/drag/move these (and other) O/S folders to another location of your choosing. In terms of data files I decided to keep only my iTunes system on Drive C: and I put all other data files on the external drive. When traveling I keep the drive on my person at all times. If the notebook goes in the overhead compartment the portable drive stays in my pocket. Before leaving home for any kind of trip I first copy everything from the portable external drive onto a desktop external so that I lose nothing much if my traveling drive meets with disaster. I also copy the entire iTunes system from drive C: to the desktop external. So, I really needed and wanted a small, light and good looking external drive that would not need external power, thereby available for use at any time. The 160GB Ego USB 2.0 by iomega fits the bill in spades. It's very light, looks like a million, no boxy sharp corners like all the rest, and is advertised as having special shock protection in case of being dropped. I'm not planning to do any end-user testing to prove this point. My wholehearted recommendation for this drive. One more reminder for backups: you can leave the desktop backup at home when you travel, but when you return take the backup out of the house. Take the backup either to the office, or your detached garage, or some other off-premises location. A backup sitting next to your original data is protection only against hard disk failure. Other calamaties like a fire, or theft, requires that the two be separated a good distance. Hey, stuff happens. Now the follow-up. I will keep it short. The first Iomega 160 Gig. drive failed after a month, went back for factory repair and it failed again shortly thereafter. Iomega replaced it and the second drive failed a few weeks later. I gave up on it, bought a Stor-It 320 Gig. (also red and pocketable, from pexagontech.com), and it has been performing flawlessly for over a year.