need help on what type of HD to get

[arej00dazed]

Im nearly done ****ing with external drives. they're not working right and corrupting my data. So I thinking bout goin with a large capacity internal to replace my 2nd HD (didnt want to, but I'll have too). I have a 5yr old dell (4600, 2.8ghz P4). Im thinking of getting a 500++gb SATA drive with a sata pci card (since the pc doesnt have sata ports). I know the pci card will limit the transfer rate to 1.5 gb, but that should still be muuuch faster than what I have now (typ. ultra IDE drives).

my questions are
- what brand? (my seagate HD been working great so far, however the ext. WD is causing too many problems)
- will I have any issues with a larger than 500gb drive?
- am I goin the right route with a sata drive and sata pci card or should I just stick to IDE? I want speed, but more so stability, longevity and future upgrades (like a new pc).
- any opinions is welcomed.

what i have planned to do with the drive is storage (photos, music, home movies, etc.) vid capturing and editing, and your typ other HD usage.

[Calum]

As far as speed goes, IDE drives are almost matched with SATA drives, the speed is the theoretical maximum and no drives are pushing that yet.
If you're going to be using that drive again however, in a newer computer some day, SATA may be better.  Most boards nowadays have at least one IDE in addition to the SATA ports, but that won't last forever, so if the PCI SATA card is inexpensive it may be worth investing in it.
As for the brand, you'll get people here putting in a good word for every brand I imagine.  I have a WD drive in my main rig and one in another machine, a Maxtor in my family's, and a Fujitsu in another of mine.  Also used some Seagate drives.  I'm fairly neutral as far as the brand goes, but look at the capacity, features, price, and warranty, as well as some reviews, to see what matches your needs.
You shouldn't have issues with large HDD sizes either.
Hope this helps.

[patio]

I agree with everything Calum stated above...
As to the brand my last 3 drives have been Seagates as they have a 5 year warranty as opposed to the other brands which are usually 2 or 3 year...