HDD dock / FW800 drive speed

[DrDoug]

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Ok. Quick question

Having failed for months to find an affordable backup solution for the iMac. Have decided to use a HDD dock and connect via FW800.

http://www.freecom.com/Products/Hard-Drive-Docks/Hard-Drive-Dock-Quattro

Main question is
1. Will the transfer speeds if using a SATA II drive or 5400RPM be any slower than SATA III or 7200 RPM.

Second question.
Anyone know how I can use this with the Thunderbolt port on my MBA?

Thanks

 

[simsaladimbamba]

FW 800 offers speeds between 65 to 75 MB/s,
USB 2.0 offers speeds of up to 37 MB/s,

2.5" 5400 RPM HDDs S-ATA HDDs offer 75 to 85 MB/s,
3.5" 5400 RPM S-ATA HDDs offer around 105 MB/s,

2.5" 7200 RPM S-ATA HDD offer up to 100 MB/s,
3.5" 7200 RPM S-ATA HDDs offer up to 120 MB/s,

S-ATA 1.5 Gbps (S-ATA I) offers up to 148 MB/s,
S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) offers almost 300 MB/s.

To connect FW 800 devices via Thunderbolt, you either need the Apple Thunderbolt Display, or some Thunderbolt dock, which become available in 2012. There is also a Sonnet ExpressCard Thunderbolt adapter, which allows you to use a variety of ExpressCards, a FW 800 for example.

 

[DrDoug]

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Thanks. So in summary:

I won't see any real-world difference between SATA II 5400 and 7200 if using FW800.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

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Thanks. So in summary:

I won't see any real-world difference between SATA II 5400 and 7200 if using FW800.

Yep, as HDDs do not even fully saturate the S-ATA 1.5 Gbps (S-ATA I).