eSATA drive & using TC for non-VM backups

[dnanian]

Assuming that FW is going away because it was removed from the MacBook is, I think, lacking any factual basis... and assuming it's going to be replaced by eSATA in any short term is similarly nothing more than a guess (and, in my opinion, a bad one).

I have not yet found an eSATA adapter for the MBP that will work at boot time. That doesn't mean there isn't one: I just haven't found one. In my opinion, no bootability = I won't use it. That said, you could use eSATA and then boot with FW if your drive supports both.

Note, too: some eSATA connections (e.g. the Seagate FreeAgent drives) have problems in some configuration, and can have block errors. My apologies for the vague reference, but I can't find the eSATA interface manufacturer reference that originally talked about this (specifically, certain Oxford eSATA bridge boards cause errors).

Finally, I don't think you'll find that you're saturating your FW bandwidth with a typical copy. Usually, you'll only get 'turbo' performance when you're streaming a single, huge file with optimal block sizes and a blank, optimized destination. I don't think you're going to get nearly what your b-o-e calcs show, except in totally optimal conditions... and a backup is not one of those.