FW800, E-SATA or other solution for HD3 users?

[brianjanthony]

My Mac Dual 2.0ghz has all its slots taken up with HD cards. This means I cannot install an E-Sata card in it.

I am looking for ways to prolong its life and make it's workload a little more even. I do a fair amount of sample streaming, and anywhere between 20-70 tracks per session.

What I have right now is:
Sys Drive: 300 GB Seagate - this is also where my samples are
Audio Drive: 400 GB Seagate
Occasional External FW 400 drive

I'd love to have just the system be interal drive, and the samples and audio drive be external FW 400/800 or E-sata drives. But more importantly, I want the setup to function in the best interest of smooth recording, streaming, playback and etc.

Can someone fill me in on the way they find it works smoothest? Samples and system internal? and audio external? Vice versa? Is there any way to run external SATA when your PCI slots are full?

I'm thinking of doing a 750 gb session drive in an external case, backed up nightly to a 750 off site (I do off site backups now anyway). Maybe using the 2nd internal drive to do Samples. But in all reality, I'd rather have everything outside in case the Mac finally dies.

I'm just searching for the best way to distribute the load and have everything play nice.

If anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears.

brian