Is there anything I should bare in my mind to keep my external hardrive (Maxtor Basics 500GB) in tip top condition as I know if I lost it'd I'd die!? As I know people partition there hardrives etc? The only thing I use it for is cut & pasting files (mainly vid + music) from my internal one to the external? Cheers. [Assuming this is a USB External Hard Drive]

Just remember to remove it safely (through Safely Remove Programs - Don't just pull it out)
Don't let it get too hot.
Defragment it regularly.

That's basically it to keep your hard drive healthy and working.

Anything specific you would like to know?Yes, USB. I have it optimized for quick removal which disables writing cache? if this is important, I don't know? The other option is optimized for performance which enables writing caching but requires to be REMOVED using "Safely Remove Hardware".Also, it never gets hot, I make 100% of this. The light on the front is always on which means it turned on and powered up, when it flashes that when it's in use. SOMETIMES flashes when I'm playing files on my deks or STREAMING files from the external to my PS3 but that's only when it gets warm, never even hot when my computer has been on all night. Might be a good idea to turn it off when not in use. Turning it off and on every few minutes is likely to do more harm than good, but if it's going to be on and unused for a few hours I'd switch it off.