All you need is your USB or FireWire cable. Plug the cable into your iPod and into your computer and the iPod will show up as a drive on your computer. If, for some reason, your iPod doesn't show up as a hard drive, launch iTunes, select your iPod, then iPod options, and then check Enable Disk Use.

Of course, an iPod makes a particularly expensive external hard drive and if you've filled it with music, you won't have space to fill it with files. But it works, doesn't require external power, and you might already have one you can use.

Final thoughts
After looking at all these devices, if you had to choose just one device, we'd have to recommend the Apricorn. It's got the capacity, the portability, and the ease of use. If you're going for a cheaper solution with less capacity, the Seagate Pocket Drive is just so darned cool. And, of course, everyone should have a thumb drive or ten.

Bill Beaulieu is a Senior Partner at The Selmont Group (at http://www.selmont.com), a Technology Marketing Management firm based in Londonderry, NH.