Ext hdd vs diy ext hdd... Same thing, just think about cost (about the same), warranty and support on the enclosure, and the application... If it's for video/audio work then go with something guaranteed to work (Glyph, G-Tech, Caldigit drives).
Out of the box Macs can read NTFS. There is a free NTFS driver called NTFS-3G that adds read and write funtionality, check it out!
Windows can not read HFS without a driver or app. MacDrive gives read and write HFS access, also the latest BootCamp drivers from Snow Leopard give HFS read access.
Posted via RS Mobile