If you’re into photography (or any other hobby/pursuit where there is a high volume of digital content), you’re probably in need of mucho GBs of hard disk space, a.k.a. “major giggage.” Being a laptop user, for me it also needs to be external.

I’ve just started using one of the Mercury Elite Pro enclosures from Other Worldly Computing, and I highly recommend them thus far. To save a little money, purchase the enclosure from OWC, get whatever size drive you need separately (NewEgg is a good place), and you’re good to go. Just make sure you match up the interfaces (IDE, SATA, etc.) so the drive can plug into the external interface.

The model I’m using is the “OWC Mercury Elite Pro -AL RAID FW800 Drive Enclosure for 2 SATA Drives,” which allows for three different configurations with two drives: a RAID 0 interface for really fast data recording with matched drives, spanning two drives to make one big one, or just using both drives individually but through one interface cable. It also gives you connectivity through USB 2.0, Firewire 400, or Firewire 800, so you can us it with whatever plugs your computer has (the Firewire 800 being the fastest). The construction is heavy duty aluminum with a cooling fan, so overheating should never be a problem. The installation instructions are clear, and all the needed interface cables and screws are included.

The best part for me is using the enclosure with just one hard drive now, and when my image storage needs grow beyond this drive, I can purchase an additional drive without having to buy another enclosure, because this one holds two drives!

You’ve heard it again and again, but I’m here to remind you now: back up your data. Do it now and do it often. I almost lost 3 years worth of photographs last year because I didn’t have them backed up. Now I do it at least once a week. If possible, find a way to have it run automatically. Put it on your calendar, make it part of your Tuesday night ritual, do whatever you need to do to make it happen often. It’s not a matter of if your computer will crash, it’s when.