I need an external hard drive to back-up my work from my laptop and after some research, Western Digital and Seagate seem to be the most highly recommended brands.

My first choice is Western Digital but ideally, I would like to get the hard drive that is most compatible with my Dell. Which WD hard drives are recommended? Does my laptop have SATA ports or IDE ports, whatever those are? Which WD My Passport is better (Studio, Elite, Essential)?

Help! Thanks in advance as well!