I do plan to store onto an external HD in the future.  I am a complete amateur at photography (my husband go me my first digital camera last Easter) because I would drive him crazy wanting him to take me a specific shot and he just wasnt getting the shots I wanted, lol.  Now I have to get it myself!

 

Anyways, I have not accumulated the mass amounts of photos that a pro would, but if I were to put them on an external I would easily be able to work on my photos in bed at night as our laptop has photoshop too.  Now i just have to fight hubby over the laptop, lol.

 

Either way, on internal or external, I was able to go thru approx 1700 pics with my first step filter system in about an hour and a half, maybe less.  Ive ended up with about 100 to take a 2nd look at so you can see how this can be a time saver once you get your system down.  1700 down to 100 is far less daunting.

 

PS:  I do have a friend that does pro photography (weddings mostly).  She uses an external.  Names the folder by client name (last, first).  Then in subfolders organizes them.  She has had the same client use her more than once (grad pics, weddings, etc) so she will subfolder the events and dates them.