Guys,

Is it possible to use my MacBook to transfer data from my 7D direct to an external hard drive without loading it into iphoto first? I plan to do a lot of shooting on a trip and would like to get it all onto a hard drive without clogging up my computer.

Sure, just use Finder. Select all the files on the card, and drag & drop them into a folder on the external drive.

I've never used any of the iphoto/utility programs, I just copy the files straight from the card to wherever I want them.