"Vintage" external connections

[gifo]

Hello!
i'm searching for the best solution to have a "fast" and capable external archive since i'm constantly getting out of space on my vintage 17" macbook pro.
atm my setup is: main ssd 256gb, optibay hdd 500gb (bootcamp and archive) and a plenty of external hard drives that goes from usb2 to usb3 through fw800 and gigabit ethernet.
so, i need more or less 1 to 2 terabytes but most of all i want a solution that is the right mix of futureproofing (going to buy a new laptop in the next months), expense and speed.
the first thing i did was to check the w/r speeds of some of my drives and to be honest i'm a little surprised.
a 7200rpm desktop class hard drive (1tb-mac formatted) on gigabit eth gave me 40mb/s write and 75mb/s read
a 5400rpm desktop class has drive (1tb-mac formatted) on usb2.0 adaptor gave me 20mb/s write and 30mb/s read
the 5400rpm optibay (windows formatted) on sata (negotiated speed 1.5) gave me 50mb/s write and 50mb/s read
a 7200rpm 2,5 hard drive (750gb-mac formatted) on fw800 gave me 50mb/s write and 70mb/s read
and at the end, the surprise a standard 2,5 usb3.0 external hard drive connect to my usb2.0 port gave me 55mb/s write and 65mb/s read.
i was "shocked".
ok, the mac was doing nothing else than benchmarks so the cpu (i5-520m) was free to kick up, but it seems that in the end the best solution is to buy a good external usb3.0 drive without spending money on vintage or discontinued solutions like fw800 cases.
what do you think? it really is the wisest choice atm?
thanks

edit, trying to measure speed again without any tool, i suspect there was some sort of error in the usb3 on usb2 case

 

[gsahli]

My take on externals used for backup - USB 3 and look for best price - yes, I'm cheap.

 

[gifo]

yeah i think the same, but i've no usb3.0 ports on my mac.
i've a tried an expresscard with some generic kexts with no luck...

 

[ZapNZs]

Are there any expansion options for your slot that will give you eSATA? If you can get at least eSATA 3.0 Gbps, you could take advantage of some of the 7200 RPM 3.5-inch HDDs that can transfer well over 200 MB/s. I strongly prefer eSATA 6.0 to USB 3/3.1g1.

You may be able to find some FW800 enclosures on closeout specials.

 

[gifo]

sinc

Are there any expansion options for your slot that will give you eSATA? If you can get at least eSATA 3.0 Gbps, you could take advantage of some of the 7200 RPM 3.5-inch HDDs that can transfer well over 200 MB/s. I strongly prefer eSATA 6.0 to USB 3/3.1g1.

You may be able to find some FW800 enclosures on closeout specials.

since the arrive of the "rocky-trinity" the use of the express card slot became very difficult. a lot of incompatibilities for older kexts. i'm sure that an esata card exists, but i don't know if it will be compatible, and btw i'll need to buy also an east hdd box.
fw800 it's reliable and faster than usb2.0 but since it's becoming "vintage" it's hard to find at a reasonable price.

i really hope for a new mbp with less appearance and more substance.