external hard drive

I'm looking to buy an external hard drive to store all of my media on (music, photos, movies, old PT databases...). I've been doing some research and I've found completely mixed opinions on just about every hard drive I've looked up. What I'm interested in is 120 GB + to connect to my hp pavilion zt3000 notebook computer. I like to listen to my music collection when I'm using my computer so I'd want this drive to run smoothly every time I turn it on. I also don't want it to be too loud, cause that's just a pain in the ass. Of course I want it to be reliable even after a year or more of use, because I plan to put a lot of media on there that would take a while to replace. Am I asking for too much or is there such a drive out there that could do all of this for me?

[Nepa]

You should be able to find one at staples, best buy for about 100 bucks. I have one(just 80GB), sorry I can't remember the brand name right now but it is pretty quiet. I would just make sure that your computer has USB II. The orginal USB is alot slower and you might want to pick up a USB II card if this is the case. I think they run about 20 bucks.

[cgwahl]

Since I'm cheap, I would just get an IDE HD and a HD enclosure for $20 or $40.

Fry's right now is selling a WD 120gig HD for $20 after $60 in rebates.