Speed is important. I will eventually use these drives for the desktop.
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Well then a portable 7200 rpm drive in a firewire 800 or esata case. (not cheap) You can also do a BIG 200-250gb 5400 rpm drive and not fill it up. After half filled drives slow down a lot.
I wouldn't worry about a scratch for the laptop.
[a href=\"http://www.wiebetech.com/products/toughtech_mini.php]http://www.wiebetech.com/products/toughtech_mini.php[/url]
You will need a Esata card $60-$100.00
This is not light but I travel with it.
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-2en2/ It allows me to carry 2 500gb drives and they are cheap. Case with Esata card for macbook pro is $300 plus the drives +- 100 each for a 500 gb drive. So $550 for a tb of data or 500gb with a 500 gb back up
The pocket drives are buss powered so you don't need to power them with firewire 400 or 800. IF you use the esata you will need power. It comes down to needing power to power the drive or not and weight. Best of luck.
read this!
http://www.barefeats.com/rosa05.htmlken