Cheap Firewire-400 500GB Drive?

[jdc]

maxtors are fine.

you could *never* expect a 5 year warranty out of an external drive -- at least not until the last year or so

now seagate and maxtor both offer 5 years, and think WD has 3 on their externals

all drives can/will fail

buy whatever is in your budget and be done with it...