  We present a brief summary of our current results on the stellar distribution
and population gradients of the resolved stars in the surroundings of ~50
nearby disk galaxies, observed with space- (Hubble & Spitzer) and ground-based
telescopes (Subaru, VLT, BTA, Palomar, CFHT & INT). We examine the radial
(in-plane) and vertical (extraplanar) distributions of resolved stars as a
function of stellar age and metallicity by tracking changes in the
color-magnitude diagram of face-on and edge-on galaxies. Our data show, that
the scale length and height of a stellar population increases with age, with
the oldest detected stellar populations identified at a large galactocentric
radius or extraplanar height, out to typically a few kpc. In the most massive
of the studied galaxies there is evidence for a break in number density and
color gradients of evolved stars, which plausibly correspond to the thick disk
and halo components of the galaxies. The ratio of intermediate-age to old stars
in the outermost fields correlate with the gas fraction, while relative sizes
of the thick-to-thin disks anticorrelate with galactic circular velocity.
