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USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
T

texem

macrumors member
Aug 18, 2010
68
7
revelstudios said:
**Clarifying: You don't state which HighPoint card you're now having problems with....
Click to expand...

Hi,

well I am talking about RocketU 1144AM. There is still no new driver.
I opened a support ticket with HP but got only one answer: no driver for ML available.

Then I bought the Fresco FL 1009 chipset based adapter, removed all third party kexts having fully working USB3 solution without any driver (kext) . You can connect iPhone/iPad and a hub to that port as well.

Wondering you can see 5 GB/s USB 3.0 High Speed Bus in your system report ...



----------
ActionableMango said:
I picked up a different card with the exact same chipset as the Orico mentioned above. I figure/hope if the built-in drivers in 10.8 work with the Orico, they'll work with any card using the same chipset.

I'm going to try it out later this week and will report back on what happens.
Click to expand...

Should work with 10.8.2.
The Orico adapter here is built with FL 1009 chip

Take care with the a 4 port FL 1100 based adpater. You need connect power to the Molex connector then. The two port version doesn't need any extra power.
 
blackwoodfx

blackwoodfx

macrumors member
Nov 15, 2010
76
3
Las Vegas, NV
texem said:
Wondering you can see 5 GB/s USB 3.0 High Speed Bus in your system report.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately RED Rocket cards throw the "error while gathering PCI card information" when trying to read in the profiler, but we get a sustained transfer of around 1.5 GB per 10/sec with our external LaCie 3 TB Porsche drives. Faster when we use USB 3 drive docks with bare SSD's.
 
C

CIA

macrumors 6502a
Jun 17, 2003
657
460
revelstudios said:
Our entire workflow switched over to USB 3.0 external drives, docks, and raid arrays. We went through a series of cards before landing on one that actually worked every bit as advertised -- this one:

http://www.amazon.com/HighPoint-Roc...id=1355305779&sr=8-4&keywords=highpoint+usb+3

All of the other cards we tried had crash bugs and suffered problems like not being able to hot swap a USB 3 connection or remount an ejected drive [without reboot]. Very aggravating trial and error process.
Click to expand...

We have that card in our MacPro here at work. It was fine under Lion, but when we upgraded to ML it stopped working. HP basically said no driver and gave us a "workaround" that was a total hack. Waste of $130.
 
ActionableMango

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Original poster
Sep 21, 2010
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I'm going to install my card tonight. Will report if it works or not, and if it works, what speed is achieved.

What is the preferred tool for testing disk transfer rates?
 
ActionableMango

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Original poster
Sep 21, 2010
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Well my test was a complete fail:

Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices have been disabled.

To prevent damaging your computer, the USB device drawing too much power has been disabled. Other devices may have also been disabled. When you disconnect the device drawing too much power, your other USB devices will be enabled again.
Click to expand...

Despite having the 2-port model, it appears to really need the power hookup. Unfortunately the provided SATA-to-MOLEX adapter doesn't fit the SATA connections in the Mac Pro. Even if it did, I don't have any to spare.

Just for reference, I have a bone stock 5,1 Mac Pro base model with nothing added but memory and drives. This is the card I tried:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00570PQAC

On the plus side, 10.8.2 recognized it as a USB controller with no third party driver installation.

Does anyone know of a Y-splitter for SATA power that will fit the Mac Pro optical bay connector? And I think I'll also need a SATA extension cable, since the connector in there is combined data/power. If there is no remedy there, I'll have to send the card back to Amazon.
 
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T

texem

macrumors member
Aug 18, 2010
68
7
Just for a test : if you own a USB HDD with external powersupply (instead of USB powered like many 2,5" drives) then possibly it's getting recognized.

Bad adapter design anyway, the Orico I noted some posts earlier gets power from the PCI-E Slot.

Try to install your adapter in a different PCI-E Slot (here it's in #4) .

If you really need power for the adapter, then get it from the SuperDrive.
There is a second spare SATA cable if nothing else is installed.

You should look for longer SATA male / Molex female cable or use a Molex f / Molex m extension cable together with your adapter.

Good luck.
 
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ActionableMango

ActionableMango

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Original poster
Sep 21, 2010
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texem said:
Just for a test : if you own a USB HDD with external powersupply (instead of USB powered like many 2,5" drives) then possibly it's getting recognized.
Click to expand...

My drives are self-powered from AC/DC adapters, but that is irrelevant because there were no USB devices plugged in at all.

texem said:
Bad adapter design anyway, the Orico I noted some posts earlier gets power from the PCI-E Slot.
Click to expand...

That's the one I wanted, but as stated earlier, I cannot find it for sale anywhere in the USA, or anywhere that will ship to the USA. Do you have a link?

texem said:
If you really need power for the adapter, then get it from the SuperDrive.
There is a second spare SATA cable if nothing else is installed.
Click to expand...

The SATA-to-Molex cable that came with the card doesn't fit the integrated power/data cable that the mac pro uses for the optical drives and the hard drives.

I use both of the connecters in the optical bay anyway, so I'm going to have to break out the combo SATA plug into individual data/power plugs, then put a Y-adapter on the power plug. Not looking forward to this, but it's what has to be done unless I can find that Orico card somewhere.
 
T

texem

macrumors member
Aug 18, 2010
68
7
As far as I know it's listed at Newegg ?!

I ordered from Amazon.de, but that's here in Europe.
 
A

All Taken

macrumors 6502a
Dec 28, 2009
780
1
UK
texem said:
Just for a test : if you own a USB HDD with external powersupply (instead of USB powered like many 2,5" drives) then possibly it's getting recognized.

Bad adapter design anyway, the Orico I noted some posts earlier gets power from the PCI-E Slot.

Try to install your adapter in a different PCI-E Slot (here it's in #4) .

If you really need power for the adapter, then get it from the SuperDrive.
There is a second spare SATA cable if nothing else is installed.

You should look for longer SATA male / Molex female cable or use a Molex f / Molex m extension cable together with your adapter.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

If the card you posted draws power from the PCIe slot why the molex plug in? Assuming you're right, how do you know this? and would the next model up draw power from the lot too? ORICO PFU3-2O2I
 
P

pyzon

macrumors regular
Jan 31, 2008
135
0
ActionableMango said:
Well my test was a complete fail:

Does anyone know of a Y-splitter for SATA power that will fit the Mac Pro optical bay connector? And I think I'll also need a SATA extension cable, since the connector in there is combined data/power. If there is no remedy there, I'll have to send the card back to Amazon.
Click to expand...

I got this:
https://www.cablesondemand.com/category/CSSATA/URvars/Catalog/Library/InfoManage/SERIAL_ATA_(SATA)_CABLES.htm
CS-SATDRIVEX2-000.5

and

this:
http://www.cooldrives.com/sapoyca15sap.html although not from that company.

I needed the first part because I tried to fit a Sata Data cable beside the power splitter and it would not fit (i was basing this off a drive sata connector as I don't have my Mac Pro yet)
 
T

texem

macrumors member
Aug 18, 2010
68
7
USB3.0 supports rd abt 900mA each port.

My external USB 3 WD HDD takes 450mA, seems to be ok w/o Molex for this model. Unfortunately no idea about the other Orico adapters.

The thread is about kext free USB 3.0 solution and the Fresco chipset currently seems to be the only natively supported (by ML 10.8.2 -> )

Y-cables and SATA Molex adapter is the other thing.
 
ActionableMango

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Original poster
Sep 21, 2010
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texem said:
As far as I know it's listed at Newegg ?!

I ordered from Amazon.de, but that's here in Europe.
Click to expand...

I tried both Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de. Both will normally ship to the USA, but this particular item is sold by a third party vendor that will not ship to the USA and is only using Amazon as a storefront.

The Newegg listing does not show up in most searches. I finally found the listing and it shows out of stock. Same deal on Amazon.com. Nobody else in the USA appears to be in stock, so I suspect it may be discontinued for newer available models using other brand chipsets.

Now if only there was a friendly MacRumors user in the UK named "All Taken" that would offer to ship it to the US for me, after I pay for the item and his time of course... :)
 
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ActionableMango

ActionableMango

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Original poster
Sep 21, 2010
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VirtualRain said:
Would it not have been easier to just use any of the various cheap NEC based cards and a 3rd party driver (I linked to earlier) rather than trying to fuss around with cables to power the card?
Click to expand...

Hi VirtualRain,

Everyone has different preferences. I won't knock other people's choices (to each, his/her own), and I do appreciate your point of view. To answer your question, this is why I'm sticking with the card:

1) One of the other third-party-driver cards mentioned in this thread and another thread (one of the HighPoints) works in Lion, but not ML. Then you've got RevelStudios' mention of crash bugs and hotswap issues on some cards. While the NEC doesn't have those problems, yet, who knows when an update will break the driver hack? Even the Fresco chipset cards which use native drivers are reported to not work when the hacked driver is also installed. That is exactly the sort of nonsense I want to avoid.

2) In any case, I might as well hook up power. Even if I had the Orico or an NEC card that reportedly works without the power connection, who is to say I'd never plug something in that needed it? Maybe I plug in a bus-powered 2.5" external drive and OS X decides to shut down the USB card, will there be data integrity on the drive plugged in the other port? What if the other drive was in use at the moment OS X shuts down the card? Basically, I might as well do this right if I am to do it at all.

I guess I'm placing a higher value on native drivers than others would. I like that others are pushing the boundaries, and it is really interesting, but that is not for me. To me, native drivers and proper power seems like the safe way to go.

It's just like the video card thing. Even though I'm totally fascinated by all the great PC card options, the Netkas forums, flashing, Nvidia's recent driver support, etc., I'm still using an Apple 5770 and will probably just buy the next Apple card when it comes out.
 
P

pyzon

macrumors regular
Jan 31, 2008
135
0
Jake0604 said:
Has anyone tried this card? Seems like a good price.

http://www.amazon.com/ORICO-PEJU3-4...d=1355790154&sr=1-13&keywords=usb+3.0+mac+pci
Click to expand...

Have one on order, but won't be able to test until next week.

....so the optical bay 2nd SATA connection has an extension to split the power and data to separate cables, the power is then split with y splitter providing 3 connections, and one will have a SATA-Molex (F) adapter connected to a 36" Molex sleeved cable back to the card!!

...will it work...unknown...
 
ActionableMango

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Original poster
Sep 21, 2010
9,612
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Jake0604 said:
This card i posted earlier http://www.amazon.com/ORICO-PEJU3-4...d=1355790154&sr=1-13&keywords=usb+3.0+mac+pci

Would I be able to use the second 6pin power connector on the mac pro plus a 6pin to molex adapter(like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/270742219871?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619) to power it?
Click to expand...

That doesn't seem right to me. The 6-pin PCIe is 12v. Molex is both 12v and 5v.

I suppose this would work if you knew for sure the USB card only needed the 12v line instead of both, but since USB is 5v, it is extremely likely that the card would need the 5v line.
 
A

All Taken

macrumors 6502a
Dec 28, 2009
780
1
UK
Why don't you use a SATA connection in bay 4 and split the power to the card, much shorter distance.
 
ActionableMango

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Original poster
Sep 21, 2010
9,612
6,907
All Taken said:
Why don't you use a SATA connection in bay 4 and split the power to the card, much shorter distance.
Click to expand...

I tried that. The short term reason why it doesn't work is the individual SATA power cable won't plug into a combo power/data SATA connector like on the backplane. I could snap the key off the cable and make it work, but the long term reason I don't want to is that I have all four bays full.

I'm just going to get the cables Pyzon linked to and give that a try. I might need a molex extension cable to go the whole distance, but I'm sure I have some of those somewhere from my PC days.
 
ActionableMango

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Original poster
Sep 21, 2010
9,612
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Jake0604 said:
I thought you said the cables wouldn't work
Click to expand...

Sorry I quoted the wrong message. These are the ones that I ordered and should work:

pyzon said:
I got this:
https://www.cablesondemand.com/category/CSSATA/URvars/Catalog/Library/InfoManage/SERIAL_ATA_(SATA)_CABLES.htm
CS-SATDRIVEX2-000.5

and

this:
http://www.cooldrives.com/sapoyca15sap.html although not from that company.

I needed the first part because I tried to fit a Sata Data cable beside the power splitter and it would not fit (i was basing this off a drive sata connector as I don't have my Mac Pro yet)
Click to expand...
 
P

pyzon

macrumors regular
Jan 31, 2008
135
0
pyzon said:
Have one on order, but won't be able to test until next week.

....so the optical bay 2nd SATA connection has an extension to split the power and data to separate cables, the power is then split with y splitter providing 3 connections, and one will have a SATA-Molex (F) adapter connected to a 36" Molex sleeved cable back to the card!!

...will it work...unknown...
Click to expand...

received the card today, can't test until next week, but this morning after the card arrived received a call from Orico, asking if I had any questions about the product etc...Etron chipset...hope I'm not someones guinea-pig :) ah well at least if it doesn't work it'll go back to Amazon! Good to hear they are following up on their products though!
 
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