Hi. About #1, No, I don't think there should be any difference in stability. Granted, installing from the external drive adds one more step where things could go wrong, but it shouldn't. An internal drive will work quite a bit faster than an external USB drive, although it has been demonstrated that the external drive is quite sufficient, speed-wise, for BIAB.

I could tell you how to do #2, but if you develop a problem, you would blame me. Perhaps you would do well to get step by step guidance from PG Music Support. Ask them how to identify the RealTracks needed for your preferred styles (#3).

Given those specs, you probably have a netbook. Your CPU speed will likely limit the number of simultaneous RealTracks. I have done exactly what you want to do: I have copied only a handful of RealTracks to my netbook that I use for composing while traveling. Works great. There are some other files that need to come over, though, and Support can identify them for you.

BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.