Final Report,
For me the aim was to backup data for use with two separate hard disks that I use in my notebook to experiment with different operating systems and I'm always trashing them thereby losing any data (mostly emails and drafts) which I have to copy over to the desktop PC first. While dithering over which of about four CD Writers to choose, I read a couple of good reviews of the LaCie pocket sized hard disk (PocketDrive).
http://www.lacie.com/scripts/mobility/mobility.cfm
So I dug deep into the penny store and have ordered the 20GB version. It's USB powered so no dependence on mains and when Firewire is more widespread it will have a fantastic trasfer speed.
I told my optometrist about this project and he was interested. And did he need to be! He is peripatetic between four Shop Branches and uses a notebook full of patient data and designs for leaflets which are too big to back up to floppies. Had never done a backup of any sort in six months. We got him a Freecom Portable (not the Traveller with expensive miniaturisation and choice of power supplies/interfaces). He was happy with the parallel cable and mains power supply. Total cost £211 odd including VAT and P&P with next day delivery from Action. He can move this from PC to notebook and can make CDs which will run on PCs at all the Branches he visits. It does CD-R and CD-RW of course. Seems a trifle slow through the parallel port but, hey, it works and it sure beats the hell out of losing all that data. Thanks for all your inputs. Mr F.