Document management Q's

1) I currently upgraded from FM 5 to 8. Previously I scanned documents and stored the document file in a container as address to a "scan server" (actualy a old G3) Now with FM8 files able to store a terabyte of info, I can store the scanned documents inside the container field as a file rather than an address. The question is: will a file of 40-100 gigabytes or so cause the solution or the FM file itself to run noticably slower on the network then if these documents were stored as addresses? Also, any other issues I should worry about with saving (thousands of pages) as a file directly into the container field in FM8?

2) If the answer to the above is "save as address", can I just use a external hard drive as my destination for all those files of scanned documents? Also, if I move the document scan files from the old G3 "scan server" to an external drive how do I get FM8 on the network to look there for the document images? (I still need to get a hard drive, external or on a computer, as that G3 is going to crash one of these days, (let see, 1 computer year is about 12 human years?)