rMBP - USB 3 or Thunderbolt external drive?

[shearer3000]

hi - which of these two options would be overall faster:

5400rpm drive connected with thunderbolt
http://store.apple.com/nz/product/HA480PA/A/buffalo-500gb-ministation-thunderboltusb-30-portable-hard-drive-with-thunderbolt-cable?fnode=5f

7200rpm drive connected with usb3
http://store.apple.com/nz/product/H9376ZM/A/lacie-500gb-rugged-triple-usb-3-external-hard-drive-7200-rpm?fnode=5f&p=1

I'm using the drive to house sql databases for use under windows 7 (bootcamp) to give you an idea of transfer usage. *** The Buffalo drive does say that "Windows OS systems only supported using USB connection", but I'm not sure if that extends to Win7 under bootcamp? thanks

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i.e. is my bottleneck going to be the rotating disc speed, or the connection pipe? thx

 

[FreakinEurekan]

i.e. is my bottleneck going to be the rotating disc speed, or the connection pipe? thx

On a single-disk enclosure, drive speed is the limit. You won't come close to USB 3 or Thunderbolt speeds without a sizable array or SSDs.

 

[thedeske]

This - http://firmtek.com/seritek/miniswap-u3/
With a 7200rpm hitachi. Add SSD when it gets cheap enough to go really fast.

 

[waw74]

The Buffalo drive does say that "Windows OS systems only supported using USB connection", but I'm not sure if that extends to Win7 under bootcamp?

bootcamp is basically just windows drivers for the the mac hardware.
You're still running windows no differently than if you had an Acer or HP computer.

and as the others have said for a standard hard drive (5400 or 7200 RPM) and USB3 or thunderbolt the speed limit is the drive

 

[shearer3000]

so that's a 'no' to win7 using thunderbolt, and a 'yes' to the 7200rpm drive?

thanks