Also worth considering is an increasing number of online storage websites, for example skydrive from Microsoft or BTDigital Vault. I use an email service that includes file storage, so it has the best of both worlds. The one bonus of online storage is that your files are accessible wherever theres an internet connection. Only downside is the most have a limit of a few GB's (skydrive seems to be the exception - 25Gb), but for a small monthly fee, that can be increased. Some of these services have the facility to automatically upload and update your files on a regular basis.

I never store files on my laptop (apart from music) - they go on a USB drive, then uploaded to online storage once a week.