Ouch! You definitely need to invest in a UPS. They're pretty cheap (at least here). A cheapie won't give you much battery time but at least enough to shut down safely. I agree on the utility of an external drive. My computer budget is zero at the moment or I'd probably invest in one. I have a friend who brings me old PCs to salvage what I can from them. I have too many (relatively small) HDs for one case so I currently have a "file server" with the overflow, an old Seagate 800MB and a Quantum 2.1GB out of an old Compaq - Tiny by today's standards, but enough for my needs at present. If I deleted all of the gigs of Poser zips I'll never use in my lifetime I'd have oceans of space but alas, packrat syndrome...

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken