whats the best external hard drive

Maplin have a really good deal in their latest email:
300gb seagate external hard drive. Reduced from £169.99 to £99 until the 9th of September - here's the link: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?C=Newsletter&U=06P9-3_star&ModuleNo=48872&T=12169590

Or: buy a 3.5 hard drive enclosure off of ebay for £5 (check for one that has a fan or is made of heat-disipating aluminium, also check if its for IDE or SATA hard drives and whether its USB, firewire or SATA cable connection - USB is what you want), then buy a 3.5 hard drive from a computer store or online - again get a SATA or IDE one to match the enclosure you bought - around £50 for 200GB, £70 for £320 or £40 for 160gb - check out the online store overclockers.co.uk they are pretty good on prices. Then, pop the two together (nothing technical at all - just push in two cable to the hard drive then close the enclosure and plug it in to your computer).

I've found Maxtor to be reliable in the past, but my maxtor hard drive failed on me completely the other day and I'm really narked off about it. Western Digital are good, Seagate as well. Never had a hitachi hard drive but again they seem about the same quality.

p.s. As John says above, backing up of stuff you just can't bear to lose is the key. I lost 180gb the other day when it failed but mostly tv shows and stuff - nothing I'm going to cry myself to sleep over like irreplacable photos.