Im thinking of either buying a laptop harddrive and putting it in a 2.5" case for light protable storage or buying one of those pocketec units from futureshop. Whichever one is cheaper. My question is can they be partitioned while they are connected through a usb cable? Also if the drive is partitioned and you plug the unit into a computer, will the computer show both partitions?

The USB harddrives are usually normal harddrives in a portable case- so partitioning them shouldn't be different from any other hard drive.

I confim that they work with partitions and they're both shown

but i've to comment of the speed of those pocketec. 4200rpm is just SO slow (at least for me)
i'd go with 3.5" drives. (that's why I have external) yes its big but faster.. and 120gb.

does anyone know where i could but an internal 7200 or 7200+ rpm hdd for laptops?

I was going to go with a 5400rpm cause the're not that much more expensive. As for a 7200rpm? You can get a Hitachi 60gig at www.canadacomputers.com for 370. but im not payin that much.