MBP 2012 as Photoshop workstation: fast external drive solutions?

I'm a heavy Photoshop and Lightroom user. I have a current 2.6 ghz i7 MBP w/ a 750gb 7200 rpm internal hard drive, which I hook up to a 30" monitor and Wacom tablet.
If it were a desktop I'd have an internal dedicated scratch drive and RAID. What are my external oprions, and is it viable w/ USB 3 components, assuming they'd be less expensive than Thunderbolt?

Stupid me for not reading the "2012"... anyway... here's what I would do.
Install a 480-512GB SSD in your internal drive slot. With a $400 SSD with your system, applications, working files, etc., you'll have plenty of space to use as a scratch disk and Photoshop will fly. Get a good FW800 4GB RAID for under $300, or a good 4GB Thunderbolt RAID for about $600 for storage. Most of these RAIDS will be configured as RAID 0, which is fine. You can get a G-Technology 4GB RAID for under $300 on Amazon - see here. The G-Drives get mixed reviews - I've three of them now and have had no problems, but perhaps someone else can suggest alternatives - LaCie maybe? So...
...worry first about a fast internal drive solution - and get a SSD for scratch, systems, apps, working files, etc. It's going to be your fastest option. And get a 4TB (at least) RAID 0 for storage - Thunderbolt if you can afford it or Firewire 800 for half the price. You can but an enclosure from OWC for your 750GB internal and use it as a Time Machine backup for your internal drive (not optimum space, but it will work - I have a 2TB G-Drive for my Time Machine backups for my 512GB internal just now).
Hope this helps,
Clinton

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