Vista - external hard drive for vista home premium

i am looking to buy a external hard drive i am looking at the my book home edition 1 TB (can get it at cosco for $135.00) for my vista gateway machine does anyone have experience with this? or can recommend something.

If you stay with name brands, Western Digital, Samsung, Maxtor, Hitachi, IBM, Toshiba and few more, it should be fine. Put the full name and model into google with the word 'reviews' and you will get hits for sales, but maybe some user reviews also.

i would suggest reading some reviews on the computer magazine websites. i visited maximum pc before buying my external drive. my criteria in order of importance:

1- bundled software (i wanted mine primarily for backup in case of catastrophe)
2- connection type (firewire/usb)
3- capacity
4- form factor (it has to sit SOMEWHERE)
5- manufacturer (i want someone to answer the phone when i call)

and all this assumes that it is compatible with my operating system

Good advice, kword88, but my preferences would reverse #1 and #5. The mfg is my number one priority, reputation, reliability, etc..

I delete all bundled software that comes with a drive. I want a pure backup and nothing else.

But that's just me.

I'm not sure what to really recommend but I do have one piece of advice. Try not to buy a Hitachi cause it is one of the most cheapest hardrives ever. I know a friend who is a technician and he said that half the hard drive problems he faced was from Hitachi. Just giving you some speculation.

You are correct, skim1994, but I think drive makers have considerable peaks and valleys when it comes to reliablity. It was not long ago that Hitachi was one of the best, and WD's reliability tanked. Recently, that reversed. WD ranks high today, but for how long?

If you go to opinions.com [might have that wrong--something like that] you find a combination of Love/Hate about Maxtors.