Well i finally am 4.2.1 and notice no noticeable difference from 4.1 as far as performance...if anything its actually a bit slower. But not enough to warrant me changing FW again.
Baseband is still 05.12.01 so thats good.
Anyway I used redsn0w. pwnd DFU to shift restore to custom fw. (same method as the video just different version ipa files)
Ive done a bit more research and now I have figured that its always best to do a CLEAN RESTORE when changing FW versions, so i will always do that from now on....making my initial topic question pretty pointless
As far as losing data after a restore JB, Im not worried about losing Cydia apps since I dont have alot so I can afford to lose and just redownload those everytime.
The only important things I need saved are contacts, notes, sms, call records, etc....which I can use iBACKAPP and it takes like 5 seconds.