It only takes one catastrophic drive failure for most people to learn their lesson: backups aren't optional. If you're reading this and you don't have a bootable clone of your hard drive that's less than one month (preferably on week) old: stop reading this right now and make one. With the advent of Leopard's Time Machine and incredibly affordable hard drives, there's really no excuse not to have a solid backup regimen.

My current favorite external hard drive enclosure is the WiebeTech RTX100-Q TrayFree Single bay RTX, external enclosure. It features a quad interface (eSATA, dual FireWire 800, FireWire 400 via included converter cable and USB 2) and costs US$229 with no drive, US$398 with a 500GB HDD and US$657 with a 1TB HDD.

WiebeTech's TrayFree bays are the bomb because when you need to swap out a SATA drive simply open the door, slide in a drive and close the door. Most drive enclosures require that you remove six to ten screws and a tray to swap out a drive. Not with the RTX100-Q. It literally takes seconds.

My only gripe with the RTX100-Q enclosure is the power connector. I'm not a fan on these type of 5-pin, s-video type power plugs, they seem like they can pop out too easily. Mine hasn't popped out yet, but it doesn't seem as sturdy as other power connections. It's not a deal-breaker, however. The convenience of the quad interface and TrayFree more than make up for the power connector choice.

RTX100-Q Specifications:
- 1 TrayFree bay, external enclosure
- 2 FireWire 800 ports (400 compatible), 1 USB port, 1 eSATA port
- Up to 65 MB/s (via eSATA)
- Extra Strong Metal Bays
- Shock Absorbing Bays
- Lockable bay with a key

Includes:
- RTX enclosure
- AC cable
- FireWire cable
- USB cable
- SATA cable

Complete specifications for the RTX100-Q enclosure are available on WiebeTech.com.