Photoshop shouldn't take more than a few hundred megabytes. In comparasion, a nice-quality album takes about 80-120 MB. Might be better off installing your programs on your internal drive, and put media files on the external hard drive. The most important thing however, is to handle the HDD with care. It is external and easy to move around, but it can *not* take a lot of abuse. Most failing external drives do so because they weren't treated properly. Try to avoid moving it while it is in use, and take care if you ever put it in your backpack or something. Handle it as if it was a bag of eggs.