external hard drive speed & FW connection speed

[seany916]

considering an external HD for digital video editing. want a more portable one. currently running 7200 on FW800

want a small portable one that doesn't need A/C power

?:
if I was to get one that runs on FW400 only (no FW800), is the 7200 going to make a difference vs. the 5400?

the 5400s are cheaper and given the slower speed of the FW400...

is 7200 going to be crippled by FW400? better to get the 5400?

my MBP doesn't have a FW800 connection, have to use a dumb down wire for my current external HD

 

[tuartboy]

The drive in my PB cannot saturate the FW connection when doing transfers between the 5400 2.5" drive in my laptop to my 7200 3.5" in my external. The connection is only saturated during direct writes and reads to the external drive.

So yes, I believe you will see a performance improvement in getting the 7200 RPM 2.5" drive over a 5400 RPM drive.