That could be it. What sort of interfacing do you have on the computer side? I'm a big proponent of eSATA; the cards are cheap and they basically allow you to connect an external drive using the exact same protocol as an internal drive, no fuss, no muss. On the downside you need to unplug it before you disconnect it, but that's pretty minor most of the time.
Oh ok. It's USB. I don't move a whole lot of files too often, I just like to put everything on the external as I've had several computers stolen and had various mishaps where my computer at the time was rendered unusable for whatever reason. Whenever I'm able to get a new computer I think I might just get a desktop since I don't really need to bring a computer around with me (though that could change). Anyway, thanks.