external drive/file backup?

Hello,
Sorry, as I'm sure this is a very elementary question but here goes...
I made the mistake of saving all my files to an external hard drive (not as a backup, but my only copies of those files) as my computer's hard drive space wasn't large enough. The external died on me and I lost all the files. I am now looking for a solution using two external hard drives to mirror each other, or one drive that has two separate discs. I think I'll need about 500gb of redundant data, and wouldn't mind expandability. I am not looking for a cheapo solution, but don't want to break the bank either, so I guess the "bang for the buck" category is what i'm going for. I'd also like the hardware to be pretty user friendly, ie I can set the drives to automatically mirror each other, and have them do so every time one changes without having to "remind" it. Maybe there is something I need on the software end as well? Anyway, all data will be saved on external drives only, so I'll need these capabilities all without using my on-board drive. I am using a newer macbook, its does not have esata.
thanks for your help,
matt

back up software, hardware?

This is a repeat of a post I added in hardware, but the answer possibly requires a software component as well, so here goes:
Hello,
Sorry, as I'm sure this is a very elementary question but here goes...
I made the mistake of saving all my files to an external hard drive (not as a backup, but my only copies of those files) as my computer's hard drive space wasn't large enough. The external died on me and I lost all the files. I am now looking for a solution using two external hard drives to mirror each other, or one drive that has two separate discs. I think I'll need about 500gb of redundant data, and wouldn't mind expandability. I am not looking for a cheapo solution, but don't want to break the bank either, so I guess the "bang for the buck" category is what i'm going for. I'd also like the hardware to be pretty user friendly, ie I can set the drives to automatically mirror each other, and have them do so every time one changes without having to "remind" it. Maybe there is something I need on the software end as well? Anyway, all data will be saved on external drives only, so I'll need these capabilities all without using my on-board drive. I am using a newer macbook, its does not have esata.
thanks for your help,
matt

I would recommend what is known as a "NAS" drive. NAS stands for Network-Attached Storage. There are several companies that make these drives, but the one I use might be perfect for your needs.

I use a D-Link DNS-323, which is a dual-drive NAS. I have 2 250GB Seagate drives installed in the device, and it's configured as a mirrored "RAID 1" volume. In this way, any files that are stored on the device are automatically stored on both drives as mirrors of one another. Now, this device doesn't connect directly to your computer, it works as a small server sitting on your network and has Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. So, working in tandem with a Gigabit switch or router, you get a full 1000 Mb/s connection. The nice thing about this kind of a setup is that it's accessible from any computer on your network, regardless of whether it's a Windows machine or a Mac (or even Linux for that matter).

If you would rather not have a network-based storage solution, I believe there are a number of RAID-1 enabled external drives that connect via a fast Firewire interface. This is one example.

Note that I've also merged these redundant threads into the thread you started in the Hardware forum, as there really is no software necessary since you're looking for a mirrored solution to store all of your files on.