Ask Katie: Female Friendly hard drives

Are there any small, very chic, feminine, or uber-cool looking "external hard drives" that have a good memory on the market? I need one badly! Tina

External hard drives aren't renowned for their good looks, and finding one that's super girly or even nice looking isn't always easy. Sony's just this minute announced an 8GB MICROVAULT PRO which looks pretty sharp, has a reasonable capacity and a €199 price tag.

Imation, meanwhile, has a little hard drive that resembles a padlock. The Micro Hard Drive is a 2 or 4GB hard drive with a USB connector that slots into the drive when not in use to keep it tidy. (US Prices; UK Availability)

Another great little hard drive is the Seagate 5GB Pocket Hard Drive, which is a small round drive with a cable that whirls back into the housing when not in use. (US Prices; UK Prices).

Nice as these pocketable hard drives are, they're on the small size when it comes to capacity. If you want something that offers something more generous on the storage front, Seagate's 100GB external hard drive is bigger and less feminine that the first three, but it does offer the advantage of providing enough space to back up all your music and photos with space to spare. (US Prices; UK Prices).

If you're desperate for something a bit more girly, you could always just buy a good looking Hard Drive MP3 player (such as an iPod or one of Creative's new players and use that.

If you've got any other bright ideas for female hard drives or if you've got any gadget-related queries, drop me a line!