External HD for mass storage

Right now I have an 80gb HD with all my windows components and games installed on it, I throw every song, tv show, and numerous softwares on the 350gb drive I have. I just bought a laptop with a 160gb 7200, this leaves me with enough space for windows, games, essential software and a few movies. However, I will need an external drive, that will sit on my desk just to throw series of tv, and backup data on. So I have two questions: I'm looking at the Western Digital 500GB My Book Studio Edition USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800 & eSATA (7200rpm) but I think that might be a little to bulky however it's only 60 bucks. My other question is to you laptop users; how well would a portable 160gb and when fixed 300-500gb system work for you? Have any of you with similar setups run into problems with portable storage??? I'm a college student, I will definitely be running around a lot. Should I look for something slimmer, like the 0.65 lb mypassport???

 

I would go for the my book, you choose. It is not very large for a 500gb drive, it is quite small, maybe 6" x 2" x 5". I would recommend a desktop sized harddrive, aka a 3.5" drive cause they can take more of a beating than a 2.5" laptop drive.
if portability is your main concern you can get a 320gb or a 500gb portable external harddrive, but they will be more expensive.
interface wise, you just need something which can connect to your computer. Obviously dont get a firewire based external if your laptop/desktop doesnt have a firewire port

K-TRON