Need recommendations on improving my G4 mirror door

Machine has been running great since I bought it, but I've about cleaned up all I can to my original 80GB HD and now am running about 6GB free space. Things aren't as snappy as it was before as booting I get the blank desktop for awhile while the beachball spins till all the icons show up. Rather annoying having to wait for a simple system really...sooo, I want to do what I can to speed it up.
1. I'd like a larger HD. I haven't shopped in ages, so I'm a bit rusty on my technologies like SATA and such. I know this is pre-SATA, so am I still able to find a compatible drive for this machine? If so, which one is a recommended fast one? I've never been able to really play with Final Cut Express so I want something that would be fast and better. Can I get SATA on this if possible?
2. I have a WD external "Book" drive. It takes a good few minutes before the d%mn thing shows up on my desktop, which is another annoyance. My work PowerMac G5 externals are always on right away. Is it just the age of my machine? It shouldn't take more than a minute but sometimes, it doesn't even show up even after connecting/disconnecting the USB 2 cable. I am using a USB 2 PCI card (got it at the now defunct CompUSA, but mac dude at the store said this was compatible w/ all the macs he sold...CompUSA brand though). I notice my System Profiler will beachball for a long time then when it stops, then I am able to view my "Contents > Hardware > USB" and see the ports.
3. The beachballs are driving me nuts. The machine is old so I don't want to really spend too much more money, but I want to be able to survive wait times and speed things up till I can afford a new machine. Is it better just to get a Core Duo 2 Mini and forget this one? I find I use external drives now anyways, but I can't really stretch the $1K mark for a low end iMac. But the speed difference is much better on the base iMac than a Mini, but then again, if I'm "getting by" with this old G4, a Mini is light years ahead right? Any advice? $799 is a big stretch, so I'm looking at these cheap tweaks for my machine now. My main thing is to get a bigger HD and stop the beachball spinning.
Let me know which hardware I need, as I don't know what is still "compatible" with this older box.
Also, are there any good hardware upgrades for this? I notice for the older PMG4s but mirrored door seems to have no CPU upgrades. I only own a single one, is there a dual one for this, or even an Intel for it?
Thanks for any help offered!
Message was edited by: applrob

How much RAM do you have? You should max it out.
*How Big a Hard Drive Can I Put in My iMac, eMac, or Power Mac?*
http://lowendmac.com/macdan/05/1024.html
Look at these links
Mac Tune-up: 34 Software Speedups
http://www.macworld.com/article/49489/2006/02/softwarespeed.html
52 Ways to Speed Up OS X
http://www.imafish.co.uk/articles/post/articles/130/52-ways-to-speed-up-os-x/
Tuning Mac OS X Performance
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/performance.html
11 Ways to Optimize Your Mac's Performance
http://lowendmac.com/eubanks/07/0312.html
The Top 7 Free Utilities To Maintain A Mac.
http://mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/thetop_7_free_utilities_to_maintain_amac/
Mac OS X: System maintenance
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=607640
 Cheers, Tom

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