esata issues on macbook pro

[Freyqq]

Hello. I have an esata expresscard with my macbook pro and a western digital mybook 500. Oddly enough, I am only getting around firewire 400 speeds on it instead of much faster, as I think I should. On xbench I get about a 54 overall on esata and a 53 in firewire 400. In hd tune (bootcamp), I get 39 average esata, 34 average firewire 400. Supposably, I should be getting 80+ average at least. I've installed the drivers that came with the expresscard from their site. I have a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839200006




Thanks!

[UltraNEO*]

Hello. I have an esata expresscard with my macbook pro and a western digital mybook 500. Oddly enough, I am only getting around firewire 400 speeds on it instead of much faster, as I think I should. On xbench I get about a 54 overall on esata and a 53 in firewire 400. In hd tune (bootcamp), I get 39 average esata, 34 average firewire 400. Supposably, I should be getting 80+ average at least. I've installed the drivers that came with the expresscard from their site. I have a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839200006




Thanks!

The ExpressCard bus is capable of archiving high speeds, though it does depend on the card you buy. I've noticed that some manufactures have cut corners thus giving you a e-sata card on the USB bus not the faster PCI bus.

Actually, if you go into System Profiles while the HD is connected you can actually see which data bus your card utilise.

[Freyqq]

The ExpressCard bus is capable of archiving high speeds, though it does depend on the card you buy. I've noticed that some manufactures have cut corners thus giving you a e-sata card on the USB bus not the faster PCI bus.

Actually, if you go into System Profiles while the HD is connected you can actually see which data bus your card utilise.

this is what it says:

ExpressCard:

Type: Other Mass Storage Controller
Driver Installed: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: PCI Slot 3
Vendor ID: 0x1095
Device ID: 0x3132
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x1095
Subsystem ID: 0x3132
Revision ID: 0x0001
Link Width: x1

i think it is using the PCIe. If it wasn't, it wouldn't even hit firewire speeds

[Eric L]

It's a common problem, look here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=5392148#post5392148

[Freyqq]

i'm using the drivers on the rosewell site, which are the exact same silicon image drivers they're talking about =\

[Freyqq]

i did some benchmarks last night and this is what i got

1 gig = 34 sec
6.66 gig = 3 min 48 sec

[Eric L]

Same numbers I got....

[Freyqq]

Same numbers I got....

if you look at the reviews though, people get higher..like 2x us

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16839200006

If we both got these numbers, think maybe the macbook pro's expresscard slot is maybe slower than the pc equivolent

also, its not the drivers..i booted into vista and tried some tests also..i got similar results.

[Eric L]

I say screw it, I'm converting to firewire 800. Reliability, speed, bus-powered, and portable.

[Freyqq]

I say screw it, I'm converting to firewire 800. Reliability, speed, bus-powered, and portable.

if i could do it all over again, i would have just stuck with firewire 400 since it works at the same speed as esata evidently for mbp..but since i've already bought the expresscard and an esata wire i'm kinda screwed =\

ah well..$30+tax wasted

[Eric L]

Yeah, I bought the card and cable as an experiment, too. Too much aggravation for $30. Of course, I'll have to spend $100 on a FW800 OWC case to switch...........I think it will be worth it.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MSTG800U2K/

[Freyqq]

Yeah, I bought the card and cable as an experiment, too. Too much aggravation for $30. Of course, I'll have to spend $100 on a FW800 OWC case to switch...........I think it will be worth it.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MSTG800U2K/

yeah

it's unfortunate. esata is suppose to be practically full speed...faster than even fw800.

[Eric L]

From what I've read, it seems that the drives themselves are maxed out speed-wise somewhere in between FW800 and eSATA. You won't get full speed out of esata without a raid. If you're not running raid, then FW and sata are similar.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MSTG800U2K/

FW800 for me...