How do I save photos and videos from my iPad 2 on to my external hard drive when I no longer have the computer that I downloaded iTunes on and started my ipad2?

You can't connect an external hard drive to the iPad, you will need to use a computer.

If you want to copy photos (and videos) that are in the Photos app that were originally synced from a computer you will need a third-party app on your iPad such as Simple Transfer which can copy them off via your wifi network to a computer. But as photos are 'optimised' when they are synced to the iPad, any that you then copy back to a computer may not be exactly the same as they originally were on your computer.

If the videos are in the Videos app then there are some programs listed half-way down this page which might be able to copy them to a computer : https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

Try and upload your photos and videos to the cloud instead. You get 2GB to 5GB of free storage space.

Dropbox

http://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/dropbox/id327630330?mt=8&ls=1

Sugarsync

http://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/sugarsync/id288491637?mt=8&ls=1

Box.net

http://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/box-for-iphone-and-ipad/id290853822?mt=8&ls=1

If you want to copy photos and videos off the iPad then no, that isn't done via a computer's iTunes.

If you want to copy anything to the iPad then which computer that you use will potentially matter - an iPad is designed to only be synced to one computer's iTunes at a time.

If you wanna import photos, no. Turn off auto-sync in iTunes (Which is found under Preferences>Devices) then connect up and import. If no autoplay prompt comes up, you have to go to Start>Computer and right click the iPhone, select import photos and videos (For Windows). For Mac, just open iPhoto.

As for music/apps/books--things that are purchased from iTunes, you'll need to have all that content in that iTunes library in order to sync it.

Your photos and videos are relatively safe in Dropbox.