leopard my disc is full and i want to archive my iphoto to make space

hi all
i am new here the extent of my dilemma is below and i will start using my mac with a smile again and not frustration if i can gain help in resolving the following.

Questions:
1. Please help me to archive all my photos so that i only need to keep afew Gb on the MBP, should i use smart folders to gather them all, will this produce lots of duplicates and if so how do i resolve that??.
2.Advise which form of External drive i should get and whether i should use this or the passports for backup or photo archive.
3. P.s. i want to reformat my drive as i have a nonfunctional bootcamp and a osx whhich has started regularly crashing so want to start again with this system.

BACKGROUND:
i am using leopard on MBP with 160gb disc.
i have about 100gb of photos most are in iphoto as direct imports from camera using iphoto import.
i used time machine (TM) to backup my system in about august 07 onto a 250gb EX HDD (WD Passport)
I then stopped using time machine when i got hold of ilife08. had to full reinstall system as mail was not working in OSX.
once system working wasnt sure what to do with old TM file so bought another EX HDD 320Gb. have now recently backed up my system onto that.
However i realise that i need more space so will need to archive my photos preferavbly from the iphoto and Loose photos on the MBP. and somehow combine all tyhe photos on the 2 external hdd so that i have got copy of all.

If youve read this far Thankyou
And if you are able to help i will be indebted
simon

Here's how to move your iPhoto to the external: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1229

You can then delete from your internal the photos that you wish, keeping only the selected ones you want on your internal. An app like iPhoto Library Manager will help you keep the two libraries in sync (merging, etc.)

I'd partition my external into two partitions. One the size of your internal drive for backups, and whatever is left for your photo library, etc.

Good luck!