Storcase External Drives, In search of a second opinion Options

[Uncle Kvetch]

I'm in the process of setting up a rudimentary home recording arrangement, starting with a Presonus Firebox (for bass, guitar & vocals), an M-Audio Keystation 61es, and a new Intel-iMac, on which I'll be running GarageBand and, hopefully, eventually, Logic Express.

I bought the keyboard & the Firebox at Guitar Center, where I was told that

1) I should preferably run Garageband/Logic/whatever off an external hard drive, NOT the internal one; and

2) the best choice for said drive, by far, is a Storcase "Rhino JR" FJR110 (a.k.a. "Maxx-250"?). A 250GB Firewire drive runs about $270. "The only external drive we sell," I was told.

As far as (1) is concerned: does this mean to actually install the software on the external drive, or just use it as the place where files are stored?

As for (2): I don't want to mess around with an inferior product; my Maxtor 160 GB drive just nearly died on me and I don't want to go through that again.

I can't find a single reference to Storcase drives on this forum, or any other devoted to the subject. Can anyone back up--or refute--what I was told by the guy at GC?

Thanks!