External HD or CD/DVD writer

Got a 400MHz grape iMac 80Gb HD with a dvd/cd ROM drive with 2 firewire ports and would like to buy external storage or a disc burning device ....I have approx £150 sterling to spend.
My questions are :Which would you go for cd/dvd burner or external HD and why ? or could I get both?
Also: Which brands of these devices are proven to work well with this iMac?
I really do appreciate all help and advice
kindest regards, Rebecca

I'd recommend an external "SuperDrive" (DVD±RW) burner, which connects via FireWire or FireWire and USB 2.0, but not by USB 2.0 only. Your iMac's onboard USB 1.1 bus speed would limit burn speeds to 4x, which would hinder the drive's capabilities. In the US, Other World Computing has such a drive for about £59, exclusive of shipping. It has a Pioneer DVD±RW drive, which is very compatible with the Mac burning programs. I'm sure that you can find an equivalent product from retailers in your area. A DVD±RW drive will give you the capability to burn just about every type of media available, such as CD, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW. Because of your relatively slow 400 MHz G3 processor, I wouldn't suggest buying one with the idea of burning DVD movies, but rather to create data backup disks on DVD media, which hold substantially more than CD media. You'd still have money to buy an external hard drive, so if you chose to go with one, I'd recommend a FireWire-connected drive, as opposed to a USB 2.0 drive. FireWire is the superior bus for the reasons discussed here. Additionally, a FireWire hard drive won't have the 128 GB limitation that the internal hard drive in your iMac is restricted to. Seagate and Western Digital market a line of external hard drives, with those featuring FireWire connectivity a bit higher in price than those that are strictly USB 2.0 devices. I'd also recommend a drive that has its own power supply, so that it doesn't draw its DC power from the iMac's FireWire bus.

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