Brenda, I just found your website and you are a top-end and outstanding professional photographer. You shoot a lot of stuff but also are primarily (like me) a travel photographer shooting on the road). I love your work.
I know a lot of pro photographers and talk to them about their workflow and computers. I was a bit taken aback by some of the things you were saying about your computer, the issue you had and hints about how you do your after-shooting workflow.
I was surprised that you are doing your post processing on the machine you described since you are operating at this professional high-volume (and very fine I must say) production level. Then yesterday you said you were booting off a spinning laptop hard drive.
Anyway, you said you are buying a new laptop which is great because for the work you do, that is essential for you right now. You are going to be amazed at how this positively impacts your workflow (and your photography) in so many ways. You do great road work and I think you said that you won't have a PC and will do everything off that laptop on the road and at home. I'm surprised a photographer of your skill, creativity, production volume and stature would not have a desktop with a big pro screen to operate and do business off of at home and use the laptop on the road, but that is doable. The laptops now are powerful enough to be able to do this at your level and the new ones have amazing display technology that is going to knock your socks off when you see it (go 4K OLED or mini-LED on the new laptop). But if I were you, I would get a laptop with two Thunderbolt 4 ports and while at home, connect that laptop to a nice big 4K screen, keyboard and the big externa HDD. You are using the laptop on the road and at home, but while at home you are instantly connected to a decent big screen (or two), keyboard, mouse and big external spinning hard drive (or two).
You are correct that big external spinning hard drives are the answer for you. When you said you had 7 or 8 TB of image files, I didn't believe it (thought you had the terms mixed up), but now I do (after seeing your work). I think you can easily fit all your work on one big external drive and back it up to a couple more identical big external spinning drives.
Last week at Costco I bought a new Seagate external 12 TB spinning hard drive for 120 bucks. It is the size of a small cigar box and just sits flat on my desk hidden behind my screen. It is remarkably small for a big spinner - about the size of a small cigar box. And the key here is that it is new.
If I were you, and I don't mean to patronize you here, because you are as great photographer (but probably could use some help on the computer end of things), I would take a 2 TB SSD (about the size of 10 credit cards stacked together) and use that on the road. Maybe two of them. They are inexpensive now. When you get your new laptop, it will have fast connectivity ports and you will be able to connect a really fast external SSD to it (like a PCIe Gen 4 SSD that will get you to 20 Gbps on that new laptop, or more likely, you will probably have a laptop with a TB 4 / USB 4 port (or two) that will get you to 40 Gbps, but those SSDs are more expensive.
When you get your new laptop, it is going to change a lot for you. You will see.
Then when you get home, you can easily get everything quickly into your master 10 or 12 TB hard drive on the desk and backed up to at least two more of those babies.
Your new laptop will have a 1 or 2 TB M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD as the boot drive. On that boot drive you will put all your programs (LR and PS) and the catalog. While on the road, you can also put your images on that super-fast internal boot SSD, so make it a 2 TB SSD. Then back it up to the 2 TB external SSD. If you are traveling in the US by car, you can of course take one of your big 10 or 12 TB spinners with you also. Then you have everything.
Breanda, I'm like you. I shoot a lot on the road and have a passion for photography. But I'm also a computer guy. I don't know everything, but I know a lot, probably more than most photographers (not all, but I would guess 90% of the ones I know).
I say that because I will help you if you want. PM me, call me or email me. I can help advise you on this part of the equation if you want, because pro photographers like you have to stay abreast of the computer end of things or it can get you in hot water fast. I know a lot, and I still, get scalded by my laptops and PC from time to time.