FCP 7 - need advice for faster exports with timecode burn in

Hey everybody.

I have an FCP7 timeline roughly 30 minutes long, and all the media is prores422 HQ (1920x1080 23.98). Every couple days I have to make minor changes, then export it with timecode burn in. I need some advice on how to speed up the export process:

step 1: nest my sequence and add the timecode reader filter
step 2: hit apple-E to export as a quicktime with no format conversion (this export takes about 1-2 hours)
step 3: bring my quicktime into MPEG streamclip, where I then covert it to h264.

The whole process takes about 3-4 hours. I'm using a Mac Pro 2x2.8ghz xeon, with 8GB ram. All the footage is stored on an internal RAID.

My only ideas for speeding up the exports are
A: try exporting to an external firewire 800 drive, instead of exporting to the same internal RAID that stores the raw media
B: try adding the timecode burnin with apple compressor instead of with FCP7
C: try changing the render settings of my sequence from YUV 10bit to 8 bit.

Is there anything else I should try? My other FCP friends say the big bottleneck is that all my footage is prores 422HQ.

Option B will speed things up significantly.

Another option may be to render your timeline, then export a reference movie (i.e. export with self-contained deselected). Instead of copying the data to the new file, it will simply link to your existing render files, significantly speeding up the export time. You can then bring it into another app and compress it to H.264 before sending to someone else. When you make a change, just render the new section and export again.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools - Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools - Edit QuickTime chapters and metadata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools...