external hard drives

[Debaser]

I’m thinking of buying an external hard drive.

Only trouble is, both Maxtor and Freecom are out of the question as I have had two Maxtor’s, both of which lasted a total of 3 months before failing, and a Freecom that lasted an entire year lol, I guess a year is good in my experience.

Mind you, they do say that as advanced as Maxtor are, they are shoddy bits of equipment, and Freecom, well they say its better not to even look at one in case it overheats.

So, I need an external HD that will run 20/7, and last for at least 5 years, and look half descent.

I heard that WD are very good, but can I trust one to last?
I’m starting to wonder if these things are even supposed to run 20/7, or are they just to store stuff, but not keep hooked up?

PS, when I say 20/7, I mean that it will need to run almost daily while hooked up as a shared drive on the likes of WinMX, and so at times it will be uploaded from at a gradual speed.
If it cant even hack that, I have no use for an external HD, although I am in desperate need of one that can do this!!

Cheers for any suggestions