Best Way To Backup iTunes & Pictures?

It's been asked before, I'm sure. But I have an iMac with a few thousand songs either ripped or downloaded onto it and into my iTunes. I also have tons of pics of the newborn and vacations.

What's the very best (meaning the best combo of easiest, relatively cheapest and handiest) way to back all this up? Thanks.

 

External USB hard drives are very cheap these days and have plenty of capacity.

 

Not a flash drive, Buck --- a genuine external hard drive. My external drive (USB powered) is 160GB, which is more than my laptop holds. Cost me in the $100 range. Made by a company called SimpleTech and has the Pininfarina name on it.

 

I have a MyBook external hard drive. If you're transferring from PC to Mac, it's compatible with both (that was my biggest hurdle when I went to buy an external was trying to find one that would work with both).

Most of them come with Firewire for faster transfers as well.

 

Any USB or Firewire hard drive should run with just about any mainstream OS you pair it up with, whether the box says so or not. May not even need driver software.