Re: hard drives, one possible option to consider is getting a couple of 500 GB Momentus XT hybrid SSD/platter drives and slapping them into a RAID 0 setup. Quote from overclockersclub:

Quote Originally Posted by May 23, 2010
Right now, a 128GB SSD will run you an about $300, but the Seagate Momentus XT will have a MSRP of ~ $156 for the 500GB drive we tested here. So for the price of one 128GB SSD, you can purchase two Momentus XT drives, run them in a RAID 0 configuration, almost match the speed, and get eight times the storage. I don't know about you, but a terabyte of storage with speeds almost as fast an SSD, sure sounds great to me. When it comes to buying a hard drive, I look for price and for performance. On that note, I’m very impressed with Momentus XT. It’s been great testing this new device and I definitely recommend it.
Does anyone here have personal experience about such a setup?