Bruno writes: Buy 2 or more cheaper disks and RAID them using software-RAID.

I hadn't seriously considered this before, but it's an interesting idea. I don't really care about speed, per se. The sole purpose of this huge disk (or disk group) is to hold MP3s.

As far as price goes, let's check again at CDW:

- IBM 75GB 7200rpm: $589 ($7.85/GB)
- IBM 60GB 7200rpm: $480 ($8.00/GB)
- IBM 45GB 7200rpm: $299 ($6.64/GB)
- IBM 30GB 7200rpm: $209 ($6.97/GB)

- Maxtor 60GB 5400rpm: $300 ($5.00/GB)
- Maxtor 40GB 7200rpm: $265 ($6.63/GB)
- Maxtor 30GB 5400rpm: $145 ($4.83/GB)

- Western Digital 45GB 5400rpm: $199 ($4.42/GB)

So, at 7200rpm, the best deal seems to be a tie between IBM and Maxtor. If you're trying to trade off speed for space, the Western Digital disks have the best price/storage ratio.

By the way, what backup are you going to use for 75Gb?

Backups? I've still got a huge bookcase full of the original CDs. I don't really care so much about my home machine. Anything that really matters is at work on the NetApp box (RAID with all the bells and whistles). Besides, the EMPEG (once I can buy large-enough laptop hard drives) will be the real backup.