BestBuy has the Simpletech 500GB external drive for $170.00. The backup software wasn't included but a quick call to customer support fixed that. This is a beautiful drive with a body by Pininfarina.

I made the mistake of purchasing the HP W2207 monitor today. Don't make the same mistake. If you are running Vista, the display software will not run. So now I have to look for a new 22" monitor. I really liked the HP because it could be rotated into portrait mode.

Hey Mo, I was just talking to old man Wid yesterday on the phone about external hard drives for putting all of our pictures and maybe music on...would the Simpletech be a good one for that application? Right off the top of my head I though 170 bucks was a little pricey, no?

I know that you and Wid were talking about it. That's why I posted this.

From what I saw at BB, $170 is a steal for 500GB. It's perfect for old farts because all you have to do is click on the kind of media you want to back up. If you want only music click on that, if you want only video you can have only that too and if you only want photos that works too. Or, you can click on all three. You can also go to custom mode and tick off selected items from your primary drive.

It works like a dream and you can also have timed back-ups. Oh, and you can create multiple back-up sets with full back-up or just incremental.

Perfect, I'll go take a peek then. Thanks, Mo.

BTW, Wid is older than dirt, I'm just old.

Hopefully you'll peek on the net first. Remember, I'm in the great white north.

I knew the other Rick was really old 'cause he gets grouchy at times...and listens with more than a half watt .

I don't believe age has anything to do with that, he's just grouchy .... probably always has been.

I bought the WD 'My Book' 500G from costco for $169 a few months back and it works great. They also have a 1 TB version for $350 or was it $450, any way lots of choices out there.

It came with back up software and few other interseting programs.

It doesn't have a chassis designed by Pininfarina .

I hope I get as old as the other Rick I think he is right behind Jack in years.

I bought a Seagate 750 gig at Costco for about $200 a month ago. I see they now have the 1000 gig Seagate for about the same price. It works pretty slick.

BTW, I checked out all of the monitors at BB and FutureShop yesterday. I was astounded to find out that the HP monitor I purchased was heads above all other monitors in terms of PQ. Too bad the HP software doesn't work.

I'm using a HP w22 with vista. it came with the HP PC i bought about four months ago. It's the Pavilion a1776c.

Is there a difference between the w22 and w2207?

Did you try going to the HP site and see if you could find the software or a patch there?

Mike & Alex,

I'm not sure if there's a difference between the two models. The 2207 can be rotated into portrait mode. With the software I received, the only thing I could access was the user manual. I couldn't access any other menu settings. I spent four hours re-installing and trying different things to no avail. And yes, I did look for an update only to find out that I had the latest version.

I've had Vista Ultimate (64 Bit) since release and it does take some of these companies a crap load of time to do up the drivers. My printer (Canon MP390), which is ancient, I could only use the print feature on it until I think July. You might want to go onto the FAQ or even contact Tech Support. There's always a way around things or temp fix. Now that a driver is out, I can actually use the Multi-Purpose stuff.

I may have to get tips from you on Vista Ultimate 64-bit. We'll see, when I actually get it.

It's been out long enough now that most everything should have the appropriate drivers now. I have a webcam and according to Logitechs' site, they said it wasn't going to be compatible with Vista and you'd have to upgrade. Low-and-behold there's a driver out now for that as well.