I'm sold on the idea of external access above the PCMCIA and the Kipper2K CF adapter is the popular choice:
http://kipper2k.com/cfadapters.htmlDo not get me wrong, I really like the Kipper2k products but this looks a little too home made to me. I much prefer this one I found:
http://retro.68k.pl/category/a1200/However, no one seems to be talking much about it and I do not believe it passes through activity to the built-in HDD LED. Not sure how its own LED will be visible.