I ask here and not there (garritan), because I know the amount of absolute genius there is here. Also because I might consider moving all of my sounds libraries like this. I have an internal 7200 rpm hard drive and this is the requirements for most of these libraries, however I've heard a lot of people storing all of their samples on an external. I could fit it on my internal with everything else, but I would be down to about 5 gigs. Not really enough room for comfort. I've heard and talked on here about loading everything to external, but some new (or at least new to me) technology has become available.

http://kino-eye.com/2007/11/04/sata-drives-in-the-raw/

So I guess the end question is, with the professional steinway sounds, VDL 2.5, Garritan CoMB... rate the following as absolutely/workable/heckno:
a. Internal 7200 rpm
b. Firewire 400 (7200 rpm external)
c. Firewire 800 (7200 rpm external)
d. http://kino-eye.com/2007/11/04/sata-drives-in-the-raw/

EDIT: I'm also curious about the 16-bit vs. 24-bit specs. For someone that isn't producing, and more using the sounds for practice and maybe CD demo of compositions. Is the 24 bit really needed? Would you all consider these drastic differences in realism? It's a huge bummer that all of the demo are mp3, I wish I could hear what 24 and 16 are going to sound like! I really wouldn't mind the download time.

As always you guys are great! And I always appreciate your feedback!

Peace...

I've posted before how Firewire will limit the speed of a hard drive.

I found a PNY eSATA Express Card like the one in your link for only $15, and put a 7200rpm 750GB drive in an external case that has everything: USB 2.0, Firewire 400, 800, and eSATA.  The case was bout $60 from NewEgg.com.  I got this case so I could plug it into any other computer when I deliver files for work.  Anyways, the eSATA is significantly faster- faster than my SATA internal hard drive on my MacBook Pro.

Also, the drives Apple uses in all of their laptops are slow.  By jumping to a Scorpio 320GB I saw a nice speed increase... but taking apart a MacBook Pro is a pain.

[quote author=J Mattson link=topic=2472.msg13206#msg13206 date=1211348017]
Anyways, the eSATA is significantly faster- faster than my SATA internal hard drive on my MacBook Pro.
[/quote]

Is this a comparison of an eSATA 7200 external to a SATA 7200 internal on the MBP? Or is this the external to stock 5400 on the MBP?

Thats all great to hear that the express slot is going to become of great use to me. Peace...