Griffin esata expresscard 34 driver for mac. Otherwise you do not and the USBee ZX or AX will not work on your machine. Most NVIDIA's.
![]()
Last updated 2010-05-18 - Send Feedback
Related: eSATA, MacBook, MacBook Pro
MacBook users looking to add storage have limited options, but those lucky enough to have a MacBook Pro with an ExpressCard/34 slot have a high performance option: eSATA or external SATA. Other users will have to be content with Firewire 800, or go the ultra high performance dual internal drive route as with an MPG Pro Laptop.
This report analyzes with eSATA performance (external SATA) via several add-on cards that fit the ExpressCard/34 slot on the 17' MacBook Pro and certain other earlier-generation models. Sadly, Apple eliminated the ExpressCard/34 slot on the current 13' and 15' models, and users of those models will have to be content with Firewire 800, which is also covered in this report.
Three eSATA optionsOWC Slim ExpressCard to eSATA Adapter
This single-port OWC Slim ExpressCard fits flush to the MacBook pro, so you can leave it inserted and it’s there when you need it, as if it were built-in.
It uses the JMicron JMB360 chipset , and is plug-and-play— no driver needed for Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6, a big plus (no issues with 64-bit or sleep problems, etc). It also works on Windows and Linux.
As an added bonus, it is bootable (verified), and since eSATA is much faster than Firewire 800, this is a big plus when you want to free up all the internal space for data.
At a rock-bottom introductory price of about $28, this card is a no-brainer purchase for most users.
The OWC Slim card is semi-compatible with port multiplied enclosures: with dual drives in the FirmTek SeriTek/5PM, the card could only “see” the first drive, and I could hot-swap drives into the first slot, so it is still a very useful card even with a PM enclosure. It’s of course fully compatible with self-enclosed RAID boxes like the OWC QX2.
To prove the point of good compatibility (though lacking full PM support), I even booted the MacBook Pro off the port-multipled FirmTek SeriTek/5PM.
Sonnet Tempo SATA Pro,
The two-port Sonnet Tempo SATA Pro has been around for a couple of years, and has generally offered the highest performance (still true).
At about $198, it's many times the price of the two other cards tested here. That’s the premium you pay for two ports and its somewhat higher performance.
![]()
This card was not bootable in my testing.
The form factor of the Tempo Pro is awkward because the ports are provided in a protruding bulge outside the MacBook Pro case. Not sleek, and not so great for fitting the MBP into a carrying case, which means you’ll often want to remove the card for travel.
A driver is required for operation with the Tempo SATA Pro. As I’ve had way too many headaches with driver software, that requirement is a negative. In fact, I had trouble getting the Tempo Pro to work at first (read errors), though the problems did resolve themselves and I was able to test and use it quite successfully.
Sonnet Tempo SATA Edge
The single-port Sonnet Tempo SATA Edge fits flush to the MacBook pro, so you can leave it inserted and it’s there when you need it, as if it were built-in.
At about $50, it's nearly twice the price of the OWC Slim ExpressCard.
This card was not bootable in my testing.
A driver is required for installation, which I prefer to avoid , because I’ve had way too many headaches with driver software. However, the SATA Edge card operated without a hitch in all my testing.
According to Sonnet, this card works with port multiplied enclosures, and I tested and verified this claim using the FirmTek SeriTek/5PM. I inserted two drives and was able to “see” them both in Disk Utility, and to format both of them independently.
Flush fit
The OWC Slim and Sonnet Edge both plug into the MacBook Pro and can effectively be treated as if they are built-in.
By comparison, the Sonnet Tempo SATA Pro protrudes substantially, a nuisance for a form-fitting case or sleeve, with a bulge that could catch or provoke torque on the case. It’s best to remove the Tempo SATA Pro for travel.
Item.84459Allen HuffmanSince high capacity hard drives (1TB+) are now coming out only as SATA drives, it looks like we need a solution to use these as external hard drives on iMacs, etc. The problem is, most enclosures made are USB to SATA only, or very expensive if they support Firewire. Item.84533Jonathan DukeI'd like to know if anyone has found a SATA to FireWire/USB enclosure for 3 1/2' drives that has a fan for cooling (both drive and associate circuitry) and costs less than $100.I've found dual-drive enclosures, like the ICY DOCK MB662UEAB-2S, but that's currently over $185 at the least expensive vendor.I can assemble a single-drive PATA setup for less than $50 for enclosure and associated mounting hardware.
I understand that the production volumes on PATA gear gets the price down, but with the shrinking PATA drive capacities, SATA is the way of the future, but why hasn't anyone stepped up to take advantage of the opportunity.NB: While the NewerTech 'pizza box' enclosure has a fan and costs less than $100, I'm not convinced that the fan really has enough cooling for keeping everything happy and cool in the long-term. Item.84561Christian LiljestrandJonathan Duke wrote:'I'd like to know if anyone has found a SATA to FireWire/USB enclosure for 3 1/2' drives that has a fan for cooling (both drive and associate circuitry) and costs less than $100.' Here are two (The first has an internal power supply.):(1) affiliation with the vendor other than having been waffling for a while about whether to buy number (1). I'm neither a satisfied nor an unsatisfied customer yet, specifically because of the divergence of opinion around the Web regarding this vendor.
Item.84584Jon VoskuilIn response to Allen Huffman's pointers to Cooldrives products, I would strongly caution readers against this company.I've had a couple of bad experiences with them. The most recent involved my asking them to honor the sale price featured on their home page for an external drive case, when the product page showed a higher price. Their first response was to refuse and to change the price on the home page within minutes of receiving my email. When I emailed again and sent a screen shot of the page as it was when I first wrote, they responded with an email that I quote here in its entirety: 'actually we select our customers so we decide who we do business with, sorry this is not China.' This earned them a permanent place on my vendor blacklist, and I would encourage others to avoid them as well.
Item.84661Rob WyattTwo comments. First, I agree, stay away from Cooldrives! I can't count thenumber of pre-sales inquiries to which they never responded. I alsopurchased an emergency SATA/IDE-to-USB adapter from them. It worked forabout five minutes, then died. It's always a bad sign when companies don'trespond to customers who.want. to buy products.
Isn't that whythey're in business?On the SATA/IDE-to-USB adapter front, I also wanted to comment on myvery positive experience using.Worked like a charm with three different drive types and sizes, two froma Mac (one Intel, one PPC) and one from a Vista box. I thought it mightbe of interest to other MacInTouch readers. Item.84720Lee KilpatrickI ordered the converter frombut the one they sent me was actually the one pictured on the bottom of this page:it is the low-profile model that looks like this:I did not have good luck with these in my Powermac G4 with an ACARD ATA PCI card, not in my OWComputing external firewire case. They worked, sort of, but after a while would hang and this made me wary of using them on an ongoing basis. This happened with two different STA-IDE adaptors and two different hard drives, a Seagate 1.5TB and a Velociraptor 300GB.The SATA-IDE converter seems theoretically very useful, anyone else have better luck with them than I did (or maybe a different type)? Item.84728Emmett GrayMacInTouch Reader wrote, regarding satacables.com:I looked at satacables.com and the product appears pretty useful for those with external firewire or usb cases that take only IDE drives.
The problem is that there is no information available about the company. Who are they? Where are they? How can they be contacted?If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see a link to their home page which has a contact form.
They announce on the form that their parent company is CableMAX USA Inc. And Googling that provides an address in ClearWater, FL.I am a satisfied customer and have no other connection. I don't see any reason to have suspicions about this company.
Item.84794Allen HuffmanI'm still looking for a solution. I was also pointed to this Mac item.but it specifically says it won't work with 'Port Multiplier' cases, so really you can only hook 2 drives up to it (it has two SATA ports).In response to:'While FireWire enclosures cost more than USB enclosures, they're really not very expensive, and the extra expense is well justified in performance.' I have a desk full of Firewire enclosures, that have replaced many more Firewire enclosures I have used since I got my first iMac DV in 1998;-) My issue is how much more SATA Firewire enclosures are.
I've purchased several dual-IDE/Firewire boxes around $60, and my three quad DATOPTIC IDE/Firewire cases are list $199 (of $189 sold from the now-closed fwdepot.com).But, when I look at similar enclosures for SATA drives, they are much higher. I just don't want to spend hundreds more to get the same thing just from switch from IDE to SATA.If Firewire-SATA can work, then the price becomes comparable or perhaps a bit less (since SATA enclosures are generally cheaper).I just can't seem to find anyone who's tried this. I ordered the $30 adapter and will report back.
If it works, it opens up a world of very low-cost enclosures for use on the Mac. Item.85636Allen HuffmanAfter weeks of research and investment in to the topic of using modernlow-cost eSATA enclosures with an iMac, the end result seems to be 'notpossible at this time.' The only solution is to use a USB enclosure(almost as fast as FireWire in my testings, though more CPU intensive), orFireWire/SATA enclosures that cost significantly more than the IDEversions of the same enclosures.Neither the FirmTek SpyderHub nor the $30 device from CoolDrives.comsupports Port Multiplier enclosures. This means that SpyderHub can onlypower two seperate SATA drives (with two cables), and the CoolDrive oneonly runs one drive. If you hook the CoolDrive unit up to a multi-driveSATA case, only one drive is seen.So for JBOD use, prepare to be slower, or spend more money if you wantto use SATA drives on the Mac.Note: It seems you can take a 2 or 4 drive USB/SATA enclosure and turnit in to 'big' mode, which makes it look like one huge device.
This maywork with the $30 CoolDrive unit, but I have yet to test.By the way, going USB-iStarUSA v7age220 (dual SATA enclosure witheSATA/USB) is.slower. than going USB-CoolDriveUSBtoSATA-iStarUSAcase! Go figure.I have posted extensive notes about my research and investments here:if someone wants a market, make a FireWire800 to eSATA adapter that.supports Port Multiplier enclosures. Then we could buy that gadget anduse low-cost SATA PM enclosures on the Mac, at much less cost. Item.85755MacInTouch ReaderRegarding Allen Huffman's remarks about using SATA disk drive cases not being possible with his Mac, I've got good news. I have been doing this successfully in four different ways for several years to do my backups using the inexpensive that put the drives in simple aluminum sleds. You can connect to a MAC using a, a Firewire to SATA converter, a plugin laptop card that supplies a pair of SATA ports, or indirectly with a USB to SATA converter connected to a Time Capsule.
As expected, the SATA port card is fastest, next Firewire, next (if you are not in any hurry) USB, and slowest the USB via Time Capsule. Duplicating a 1 TB hard drive overnight (almost filled with large.dmg backup images) - copied onto another 1 TB drive to be taken offsite - is no problem using the SATA port card plugged into an old Pismo laptop! The Granite Digital cases are nice, but you can also plug directly into the SATA hard drive without even needing to use the case (nice for travel or to keep working if a case should ever fail). For example, when the Pismo's internal hard drive died, instead of sending it off for a hard drive replacement, I got a Firewire to SATA adapter to attach to an external boot drive. Redundancy is critical and its good idea to have spare hard drives and spare power supplies as both have limited lifespans. Item.85763Colleen ThompsonMacInTouch Reader wrote:'Regarding Allen Huffman's remarks about using SATA disk drive cases notbeing possible with his Mac, I've got good news. I have been doing thissuccessfully in four different ways for several years to do my backupsusing the inexpensive aluminum Granite Digital SATA cases that put thedrives in simple aluminum sleds.
You can connect to a MAC using a USB toSATA converter cable, a Firewire to SATA converter, a plugin laptop cardthat supplies a pair of SATA ports, or indirectly with a USB to SATAconverter connected to a Time Capsule.' Alan was describing his investigations into using an eSATA enclosurewith an iMac, which has no way to install an eSATA card and only has USBand FW ports.Perhaps I misunderstood Reader's comment, but the 'converter' cablesmentioned do not connect to the Granite Digital eSATA case; they are fordirectly connecting SATA hard drives to Firewire or USB (I know, becauseI own about ten various Wiebe and other brand docks and connectors forIDE and SATA drives.)If I'm wrong, I'd love a clarification, because I use a MacBook and aniMac and would like to be able to use eSATA enclosures. Item.85823Aaron BredonIn reply to Colleen Thompson's note:'Perhaps I misunderstood Reader's comment, but the 'converter' cables mentioned do not connect to the Granite Digital eSATA case; they are for directly connecting SATA hard drives to Firewire or USB (I know, because I own about ten various Wiebe and other brand docks and connectors for IDE and SATA drives.)If I'm wrong, I'd love a clarification, because I use a MacBook and an iMac and would like to be able to use eSATA enclosures.' If the USB or Firewire to SATA converter uses a SATA cable to connect to the drive, you can buy a SATA to eSATA cable to use with the eSATA enclosure (the contacts on SATA and eSATA are identical, the only difference is the connector body.). Item.85845Allen HuffmanThis missing piece seems to be 'Port Multiplier' support in a FireWire-eSATA adapter.
I have found $27 USB-eSATA that support Port Multiplier, but none of the FireWire ones I've found do it. What this means is right now it's probably easy and cheap to hook up a cheap multi-drive SATA enclosure via USB, but then, USB enclosures are cheap on their own.What's missing is a way to use the speed of FireWire 800 ports to go to eSATA enclosures. I've even investigated a few companies that make bridge boards (like what would be installed in the back of an enclosure, hooking up to SATA drives on the inside, but exposing USB/FW ports to the outside). DAT Optic, for instance:they replied that it does not work with PM.
If the Wiebetech UltraDock $200 adapter supports PM, it would be a solution (though not very pretty, and at $200, defeating the purpose of the low cost enclosures). But, it's worth investigating.The learning continues!PS - I have an $85 USB/eSATA iStarUSA v7age220 enclosure, and just ordered a USB/FW400/800 version of it from www.homestudiodirect.com for $135 (NewEgg also sells this model). Home Studio Direct is the only place I've found that also carries the 4-drive version with RAID support, but it's nearly $300.
EGoodz has been selling a 4-bay Galaxy Metal Gear FW/USB/SATA enclosure for $199 with shipping on e-Bay, which is on-par with the pricing of low-cost IDE enclosures. Item.85893MacInTouch ReaderI don't understand why one simply cannot flash Seagate SATA and eSATA flash firmware in an external USB or Firewire drive enclosure. I recall that you can flash update firmware in Oxford chips for Firewire drives while in the enclosure. Unless Seagate has some stupid design engineers who do not care.They expect people to disassemble a PC and pull the startup drive and insert their drive to update? Absurd at best!Let Seagate pay for taking it to Apple, Best Buy or another computer store where it is done for the user at Seagate's expense.I'm certainly not going to use someone's PC since the drive was sold as Mac compatible.At this rate, Blu-ray will be cheaper than constantly replacing Seagate and Maxtor drives.
I will check but I've seen some great specs on Blu-ray discs. Item.88225Jim BehlkeResponding to Becky Waring's post a few days ago about Express Cardadapters:I also purchased an eSATA Express Card adapter, an Apiotek, frommacsales, within the last year. This was a dual eSATA that was specifiedto handle two eSATA cables and RAID.Included instructions for Mac OS were brief, cryptic, vague, andcompletely inadequate- someone who had cared could have spent 20minutes writing up sufficient Mac instructions - perhaps they were toobusy.
Anyway, the instructions said to look at the website for driverupdates (good luck).I have also experienced kernel panics - the adapter falls out like aball bearing off a counter. Basically Mac support for this item isinferior - I guess the vendor may not care if their customersexperience kernel panics. The flaw in these cards (and from what I'veread, other cards too - perhaps they're all made at the same place inTaiwan and rebranded) is they easily slip out of the slot, disconnectthe drive, and cause a kernel panic.Are there other cards that are less likely to slip out? I couldn't getinformation from macsales, but can I uninstall the driver that came withthe Apiotek? (Before I try another card I'd like to get ridof the old inferior hardware and software). I'd also like to see astep-by-step instruction for inserting the card, attaching the cable,starting the external drive, then unmounting/ shutting down the externaldrive, unattaching the cable, removing the card.
(whatever needs tobe done correctly to avoid a kernel panic).I use FireWire 800 whenever I can. It is a bit slower but eSATA is apain in the butt on a MacBook Pro.
Item.88295Michael CorbinRE: Becky Waring's post and Jim Behlke's response, I acquired a SeritekExpressCard dual eSATA adapter along with a FirmTek dual SATA driveenclosure, and have had no trouble with it. I installed a 750 GB drive inone of the drive bays, followed the instructions to install the driversfor the card, and use the drive for Time Machine.It is necessary to eject the drive in the Finder, then to power down thecard before ejecting it when you are done, but it has so far performedflawlessly for me. Item.88296Jeff BrandenburgGrandy Pollo wrote:'The Sonnet Expresscard (not the overpriced pro version) does not doeither of these things. The card goes in the slot like a ballpoint pen -push in fairly hard, click it is in; push in again, fairly hard, itsprings out. Sounds like you got your $20 worth in a market where decentcards cost more than $20.' Is this the same Sonnet Expresscard for which Sonnet's site says, 'Temporarilynot recommended for Mac systems with greater than 2GB of memory'?With a footnote about problems with dual-interface drive compatibility?'
While some customers have successfully used external hard drives withUSB 2.0/eSATA dual interface, these products (based on the OxfordSemiconductor OXU931DS storage controller chip) exhibit underlyingerrors that prevent them from being fully compatible with this Sonnetproduct under Mac OS X. Kernel panics occurring when the drive isconnected, and the drive not being recognized by the operating systemare known issues.' I'm not sure I could stand much more than $20 worth of.that. kind of'decent'.
Item.88303Gary KelloggJim Behlke asked about eSATA adapter options with his MacBook Pro. Here is my take: All cards are not created equally.
I have had great luck with my Sonnet Tempo Express 34 that is over two years old. Along the way, an OS X update came out that caused the card to generate kernel panics upon removal, even if powered off first. Sonnet revised their driver and no problems since.
Recently, the Sonnet card came in handy when I had to upgrade the firmware on an external Seagate drive using a primitive FreeDOS utility on my MacBook Pro. Not all eSATA cards worked with this utility.I agree that the connection for these cards is awful.
They really should have some kind of latch but they don't and that is way it is for all of them. I connect everything with the drive turned off, then turn the drive on.
When I am ready to disconnect, I 'eject' the drive and wait for it to disappear from the desktop. I then power it off before removing the eSATA card even though I don't think this is mandatory. I don't bother with powering down the card before removing it.
Item.88327Tim PI recently purchased a dual eSATA Express Card adapter, a Rosewill RC-605($34.99 from Newegg). It arrived with a CD full of drivers for variousflavors of Windows, but no OSX drivers. However, a quick search ofrosewill.com yielded 2 OSX drivers, one specifically for 10.5.1 (I'mrunning 10.5.6 on a 2 year old Macbook Pro).
The download and install wentwithout incident and I was soon up and running with an eSATA connection tomy WD 1tb 'My Book' (triple interface: USB2, firewire 400, eSATA)I have had no kernel panics, or any other errors reported, but I do havetwo observations:1- As others have noted, the retention mechanism tohold the Express Card in the Express Card slot is very weak, and it iseasily dislodged (a strong sneeze would suffice!).2- Perceivedreal-world speed by watching I/O thruput as displayed in ActivityMonitor (admittedly unscientific) is no better that I get with firewire400. While the observed thruput via USB is much less than firewire, theeSATA connection does not appear to exhibit any speed benefit overfirewire.I expected better. For now, at least, while this eSATA connection doesappear to function OK, I do not gain any speed improvements. That,coupled with the ever-present fear that the card will simply 'fall out'means that I have gone back to using FireWire. Of course, it is alwayspossible that the limiting factor is the WD disk, but if anyone has anysuggestions for tweaking/tuning this interface then I would like to hearthem.
Item.88335David DitzlerI have the same setup with the Apiotek card from MacSales and I like mine. The trick is to change it out for a flexible eSATA cable and then you won't have nearly as many problems with the setup.documented this and some performance numbers onif you are interested.I also have an external eSATA dual-drive raid enclosure made by Addonics and that works great as a RAID 1 but I don't have a battery powered solution figured out for that.On a single drive setup I can run a USB phone charger battery as power for an external drive when I need to use it on the road.I also have a FW800 enclosure from MacSales and that is easier and less delicate of a connection. It doesn't perform as well but it is close. I don't use it for video capture though for that the eSATA solution is great because it runs on two different interfaces so I never have a problem.
Item.88339Becky WaringWow! It's comforting to hear that I was not the only one experiencing problems with eSATA ExpressCards. While my issues (kernel panics and an inability to stay in the slot) were with the OWC model, several other models seem to have the same issues, probably using the same chipset.One poster asked if I had looked for firmware updates, since an update fixed his kernel panics with another card. When I contacted OWC about the problem, they did not suggest an update, and I simply returned the card. However, in looking at their support site, I don't see any firmware for it.In my original post, I said I had ordered the 2-port Griffin eSATA card as a replacement, and would report back.
I received the card a few days ago, and I'm happy to report that it solves both problems!!I have had no kernel panics when following the same procedure as before (eject drives from the Finder, then power down the card from the menubar). AND the card stays in the slot! Even better, the eSATA cable also stays firmly in the card.The only oddity is that no eject icons appear next to the eSATA drive partitions in the Finder, so I have to eject each partition separately using the Finder File menu command instead, but that does the trick.Supposedly, this card is also capable of RAID support, although I haven't tried that and probably won't, since I just use my external drives for backup and overflow storage. If someone else with experience with the Griffin card has used the RAID configuration, I'm sure that would be of interest here.At only $39.99 on the Griffin site right now, with free shipping, this card would seem to be a great value. It's the cheapest two-port RAID card I know of. Item.94095MacInTouch ReaderThere appear to be a number of ExpressCard eSATA adapters on the market, but reading the previous experiences of other readers here, it seems they've been fraught with problems.
Does anyone have positive experiences or recommendations for particular cards on MBPs with Leopard? I'm looking to use 'multi-interface' drives, which can apparently increase the likelihood of compatibility issues.Griffin Technology offers an inexpensive card based on a Silicon Image 3132 chipset, like almost every other maker (so it seems). Is there actually any functional difference between cards of different makers using the same chipset? Griffin notes on their support site that multi-interface drives 'might have trouble' if they use an Oxford chipset (which most do). They also note compatibility problems with first-gen unibody MBPs (which I don't have) and for RAID it's 'possible this functionality will work, but we cannot guarantee success'. Finally, the drivers Griffin provides are directly from Silicon Image, which were last updated in 2006.
Silicon Image directs compatibility issues towards your hard drive vendor. Seems like everyone's passing the buck.None of this inspires much confidence - can anyone counter this? Are there any cards using alternative chipsets to Silicon Image? Are they any better? Thanks in advance.
![]()
Item.94141Jim BehlkeI finally gave up on using this Expresscard adapter. Occasionally I'd geta kernel panic. Esata has several issues. Many cards don't allow booting.Esata external drives require their own power sources. Most (but not all)esata cables are stiff. It is easy for the Expresscard to slip out of itsslot (the connection doesn't seem tight or firm - from experience this toocan cause a kernel panic if the card slips out).
I guess Apple doesn'ttake responsibility for third party hardware or software.Macsales stopped making 2.5 inch external esata hard drive enclosures.They still make 3.5 inch enclosures. I asked them if they had anyquality concerns about external esata and they said esata works fine.Firewire 800 is bus powered (although with my 500MB 2.5 inch externalFirewire enclosure I need to plug in my Macbook Pro's AC power adapterto get adequate power). I can use the drive as a boot drive. So far ithas worked fine as a scratch disk for Final Cut Express. It transfersdata about 2/3 as fast as esata. There are also Firewire RAIDenclosures, but I'm not smart enough to know how those solutions wouldenhance video performance or if data would be transferred faster intothe Macbook Pro.Apple theoretically supports third party peripherals like Expresscard 34hardware. But I have not found third party solutions that providedreliable performance.
In my old 933 mhz Quicksilver Power Mac, Applealso theoretically supported USB 2.0 PCI cards but I never found onethat worked. But the built-in Firewire 800 connection in the Macbook Proworks reliably and it is a primary component of the Macbook Pro'sarchitecture. It is interesting they eliminated the Expresscard slot inthe newest Macbook Pos.The last time this topic was discussed, as I recall, other readerscommented Firmtek expresscard esata adapters worked. Sonitek may alsowork.Finally, if I were Dictator of the Computer World, I'd tell my subjectsto invent and then adopt Firewire 3200 (or 6400) for everything possibleincluding external keyboards, external hard drives, internal harddrives, internal optical drives, video and camera connections, etc.-(would it also work with monitors?) I'd try to consolidate as much ofthe computer world's component connections into a single hardwareconnection format.Of course in the real world this isn't going to happen. Item.94144Stephen SzewczykA MacInTouch Reader asked if anyone is having positive experiences or hasrecommendations for particular cards on MBPs with Leopard?I purchased a Dynex 2-Port Expresscard adapter at my local Best Buy sometime back for use with my 15' MBP (2007). To date I've experienced noissues whatsoever using this adapter running Leopard with either myThermaltake BlacX or OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro hooked up.
The onlyperceived issue was finding the product drivers packaged on a mini-CD. Aquick trip to the Dynex website to download the drivers and I was up andrunning in minutes. The drivers can be found here:note the Dynex card IS based on a Silicon Image 3132 chipset.Realizing all the issues surrounding Expresscard adapters, I'm startingto feel extremely fortunate that I've had no problems using thisparticular card with Leopard or any of the devices I've hooked up to itthus far. Knock on wood! Item.94169Dennis WhitemanI use two different cards with my 2007 Macbook Pro 2.2Ghz Santa Rosa model: the $19 single port card from Other World Computing and the $40 two port Apiotek card sold by Other World Computing.The OWC card requires not additional drivers is bootable, meaning I can book from a drive inserted into my quad interface Voyager Q external enclosure. I have also used it one drive on my SeriTek/1EN2 Dual-Bay External Enclosure.
The only thing I don't like about the OWC card is that it gets warm and this has caused the adhesive label to become unattached. Otherwise, it's plugged in 24 hours a day and I use it mostly for Time Machine backups.The Apiotek card uses drivers from Silicon Image and is not bootable. It was a bit problematic in the beginning, but for the most part has worked great under Leopard.
I only use it now when transferring data between two drives connected to the external SeriTek enclosure. I had this card for more than a year before I got the OWC card.
Item.96290Hung TranRecently bought a Griffin eSATA Express/34 card, a G2 Mini S2 eSATA/Fiwire800/USB 2.5'with a Hitachi 200GB 7200rpm, partition for Mac OSX 10.5.7 andBootcamp Windows XP.Connected the external HDD to my MacBookPro 15' 2.5GHz early 2008 modelthru the Griffin eSATA Express/34 card and I have learned that:- eSATA HDD 200GB is not bootable in both Mac and Windows mode.- Copy files (4.89GB in 2 mininutes) between main HDD and eSATA externalHDD is faster compared to a Firewire HDD (4.89GB in 4 mininutes).Starting up the MBP with eSATA HDD still connected is not possible. Item.107541David CharlapI have recently assembled some new external hard drives and the cases haveeSATA ports. I'm currently using FireWire, which works great, but eSATAwould be faster.My computer is a QuickSilver-2002 PowerMac (PCI slots). Item.107590Wolfgang WagnerRegarding David Charlap's eSATA inquiry: I got increasingly dissatisfied with using FW800 connections for backup of large user accounts and invested in Firmtek's 4-port eSATA card for Mac Pros and their 4bay enclosure. I stuffed the enclosure with four 2TB Hitachis. Using DU, I RAIDed them in a 1+0 configuration yielding a 4TB volume. Everything worked perfectly from the very beginning.
I am running SnowLeo and a MP 2008 and have, of course, no connection to Firmtek. This may not be the cheapest solution but it works well and is way faster (10 to 20 times) than FW800. As a treat this card also submits the complete SMART information to SmartUtility. Item.107623MacInTouch ReaderLike other folks I have found SMART reporting to be sort of like an avalanche sign, it's not 100 percent certain that a ton of snow is coming down the mountain on top of you, but. You might want to take special care!I've had a number of drives fail, and managed to recover data on many of them due to a alert from the SMART info. Not always, but a few times I had enough advance notice.The drives that I always worried about were the ones that were attached via eSATA cards, so I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that FirmTek recently updated their drivers so that using their equipment the SMART data is available.
I'm not aware of if other folks who have updated their drivers or firmware to allow this, but I hope others follow their lead. It's a welcome feature add. Item.107642David CharlapWolfgang Wagner wrote:'. Invested in Firmtek's 4-port eSATA card for Mac Pros and their 4bay enclosure.' And Lee Clawson wrote:'Look for a PCI card made by Sonnet (sonnettech.com) named Tempo Serial ATA. We bought one 3 years ago for a QuickSilver - cost $32.00.
Has 2 SATA ports. On the box it says compatible with Mac.' To Wolfgang: Nice card, but it's not G4-compatible. They make a another model (the 1eSE2 - ) which is PCI and has two eSATA ports, but it costs more than I want to spend ($100 from FirmTek, $88 from OWC.)To Lee: That card is for internal drives.
There are no external SATA connectors. Sonnet's Tempo SATA X4P is their only PCI model that has external ports, but that one's not cheap. The lowest price I found on Google was $245.Generic eSATA cards that don't say a thing about Mac compatibility are available in the $15-30 price range. This is what I'm looking to get. I don't want to buy a more expensive card for a computer that will likely be retired in another 1-2 years, especially given the fact that FW400 is meeting my requirements.
Item.107676WK LeeI own NexStar SATA and eSATA docks from Vantec. It has been my experiencethan these docks are unbootable using the Sil3132 chipset-basedExpressCard 34 devices. However, there is the JMicron chipset which claimsto be able to boot eSATA devices.Sil3132 chipset based ExpressCard:JMicron chipset based ExpressCard:Claims Leopard compatibility but not Snow Leopard.No mention of Snow Leopard compatibility although you can check with theJMicron website for updated firmware.There appears to be a problem displaying pictures on Apiotek's website. Item.107595Robert DeVoeRe:I tried Smart Utility at Colleen's suggestion and found it very informative and helpful.
![]() Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
March 2023
Categories |