firewire or new internal drive?

[motte]

I've maxed out my 60gb hd on my base-model macbook (purchased august 06). Most of what's being stored is music and photos. Does it make sense to just stick my iTunes library and photos on an external drive, or should I install a new larger internal hd (in which case I'd still need to get a firewire or something to back up to). I guess what I want to know is if I'll find the firewire a pain in the ass if it's storing material I want to use on a daily basis.

Also: All I've got for RAM is the 512 mb the machine came with... if I replace the hd will I have to upgrade RAM too? (I know I should cause it's pretty much maxed-out, too, but I'm cheap.)

Thanks!

 

[plinden]

Do you take your laptop with you a lot or is it mostly on your desk?

If you can afford it, I would say you should get the largest internal hard drive you can find and a 500GB HD and enclosure to back up your MB's hard drive.

Remember, moving stuff off to an external drive is not backing up. You'll still have only one copy of your files, so if you have stuff you don't want to lose you would still need to get two external drives or burn it to DVD if you didn't get a bigger internal drive.

 

[TheStu]

You should absolutely get more RAM, at least get a 1GB kit for it.

 

[KingYaba]

Also: All I've got for RAM is the 512 mb the machine came with... if I replace the hd will I have to upgrade RAM too? (I know I should cause it's pretty much maxed-out, too, but I'm cheap.)

Thanks!

No you do not have to upgrade the memory if you wish to upgrade your hard drive. Many here on MR will recommend you to boost your memory to 1-2GB, though.

I would start with an external drive and go from there.

 

[ivi7]

You dont have to upgrade the RAM when you install a new HD but its highly reccomended in your incase since you use 512 mb.
I would go with storing extra stuff on an external rather than an internal.