HD Mgt- Advice needed

[MDaniels80]

I am at my limit for storage on my internal HD.  I am debating whether to get another external (others are for backups of files) to use to transfer older photos to (then back up this HD along with the internal) or add another internal HD (my pc allows both an IEDE and SATA HD).  I currently have an IEDE internal drive.  The computer is old, but I have replaced many of the parts, or upgraded so I wonder if using adding an internal is woth it, or if I should go with the external.  I hear of the externals failing more often, although the two I have have not yet.  Would speed be very noticeable if I use a SATA internal rather than the external??  Need to do this quick as I have a lot of photos I need to download onto the PC, but I just wanted advice if there is clearly a better choice over the other.  
Thanks.

PS- I use LR and would be moving the older photos of my catalog to this new drive.  If it is slower to use an external- it would be for older photos that would not be accessed as much.  But if it is considerably slower than I would have some reservations.  If I go the external route- I would likely get an external USB rather than firewire- as I only have one firewire port and it is being used.

[Jonathan H]

In reality - it sounds like it's time for a new computer.  USB is PAINFULLY slow for external lightroom catalogs.  Takes about 2-3 seconds to load a file from a 5D, about 10-12 seconds per image for a medium format file.

[k bennett]

If you can install an internal SATA drive, that's the fastest option. External USB is very slow. It's okay for backups (and it sounds like you have that covered already.)