Hard disc confusopoly

I have run out of disc space; I have a spare hot-swap disc bay in my computer; I'd like to put a 1TB disc in it.

www.scan.co.uk list thirteen models of 1TB SATA hard disc, ranging in price from £77 to £165, with no idea as to what differentiates them. I currently have three Seagate drives and a WD drive, so diversification suggests the cheaper Hitachi one, but that's a justification not much better than writing down the list and using a pin.

Given my curse, I wonder if I should buy two 1TB drives from different manufacturers and keep them as a RAID1.

To cheer you up on a rainy October day

Taken in Bali in December 2005. I have loads of pictures from my round-the-world trip and I really ought to show more of them off.