I am trying to find a hard drive that will allow me to store a ot of data onto it. It is something that MUST be stable. Right now I am running an ASUS motherboard and a seagate barracuda 120GB sata hard drive.

I want to have the configuation to mainly be able to store files onto this 2nd hard drive. (I have two slots for the sata conntection on the motherboard).

Do I need to load it with Windows XP before I can use it?
Can I just plug the hard drive to the sata connector and plug the power in, and be done with it?
What hard drives below would you suggest I get?

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...658&dcaid=1688
http://www.compusa.com/products/prod..._code=30222 5
http://gottadeal.pricegrabber.com/se...393193&blsrt=1
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...658&dcaid=1688
http://gottadeal.pricegrabber.com/se...146400&blsrt=1
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....typ e=product
http://gottadeal.pricegrabber.com/se...224164&blsrt=1
http://www.officemax.com/max/solutio...0co8tKdidNaw0Q
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?id=678808
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....type=pr oduct
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...960&dcaid=1688
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=443170
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...%20P&CatId=525
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...515&dcaid=1688
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...114&dcaid=1688
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...23&msg=THD-90H
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...p=1&dcaid=1688
http://www.compusa.com/products/prod..._code=31036 9
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=447679

I will do some price shopping a little bit later, but assume that the prices will stay the same as the ones on these links (unless you know of a better price).

Thanks

I think I am sold on this one: http://galaxy3000.com/itemDesc.asp?CartId={69637392-A071-4B78-9ECE-6A9E4565E0E8}&Ic=HD-W/2500JD

Rob should become one of their salesmen.
"r-o-b- says:
The mainstream user is likely to put price, stock performance, value for money, reliability and/or warranty terms ahead of the need for hardware that operates beyond its design specifications. The mainstream user may be a PC novice or may be an experienced user, however their needs are clearly very different to those of the enthusiast, in that they want to buy products that operate efficiently and reliably within their advertised parameters.

Depending on your plans for your hard drive you may find that 250GB is overkill, though at the rate things have been going we may be looking at 100GB for your operating system in a couple of releases.

For video editing or other capacity heavy activities this is a great solution but for general desktop use you may find you only ever use a small proportion of this drive's undoubted capabilities.

The cleaner, simpler cabling that comes with Serial-ATA is of course a great plus, but you don't need to buy a 250GB drive to enjoy the benefits of Serial-ATA, there are far more manageable sizes available.

The big selling point for me no matter what your uses are, is the 3 year warranty, and although that's no guarantee the drive will live for three years it is at least some small comfort in a time when hard drive reliability has become the subject of much anxiety."