Are all external hard drives the same?

Al's points about the vulnerability of RAID technology to certain kinds of "internal" failure are well taken.

And as Mapman notes, the cost of RAID units is significant, and your paying for something home entertainment users don't really need -- minimizing drive failure related downtime.

John

I use an Iomega 2T eSATA connected to my OPPO95 SATA port. Much faster that USB. Then I powered it with a linear power supply instead of the included wall wart.

I have the Oppo BDP-103, but have a HTPC connected to it via HDMI and a Drobo FS Network Attached Storage Unit. I have not tried the network connection from the Drobo directly to the Oppo, but it works great through the HTPC for music and movies.

I think the advantages include large capacity (up to 15TB), ease of setup, redundancy, location flexibility via ethernet cable, and potential multi-room options.

Investigate Wiebe Tech harddrives.