Does Passing Firewire 400 Through 800 Slow Down Both Drives?

[ucas98]

Here is the setup; Brand new '09 iMac (3.06, with ATI 4850), with 3 external Lacie Drives. Two of these drives are Firewire 800, and one is 400.

So, with the single 800 connection from the back of the iMac running to the first 800 drive, then daisy chained from that is another 800, then daisy chained from that is the final 400.

My question is whether having the 400 at the bottom of the stack slows up all 3 drives? As in, reading from the first 800 drive, is this slowed down to 400 because of the 400 one at the bottom?

Convoluted question, sorry. Any guidance appreciated.

 

[Consultant]

Why don't you benchmark the harddrive with and without the 400?

I don't think it'll slow down.

 

[spice weasel]

I'm pretty sure (but not 100% certain) that having the FW400 drive at the end of the chain will not slow up the transfer rates for the other two drives. The way you have it setup is the correct way to do it.

 

[ucas98]

Thanks for the responses.

On a related note, when I put the iMac to sleep or turn it off, the drives are not powering down?

They used to when I had them in a similar setup (all FW400) on a G5 iMac. Is this an Intel thing, it is very annoying.