USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro

Earl Urley · Nov 11, 2014

Maybe mention that the Inateck card works fine on Yosemite? But for some reason Inateck is disavowing any Yosemite support on their Amazon pages?

There also seem to be issues at the core of the USB 3.0 stack in Mavericks, where certain devices will randomly decide to disconnect on their own. Don't know if it's a driver issue or chipset issue.

It might have been fixed in Yosemite as I've not seen any random disconnects since upgrading.

crjackson2134 · Nov 11, 2014

ActionableMango said:
Hi guys. I've been away from MacRumors for quite a while now but find myself back today.

I haven't read through this thread for the last few months, is there anything important I should update on the first post?

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/19936255/

andrewzors · Nov 17, 2014

Hi there!

I have a question for crjackson2134, who seems to be an expert regarding the RocketU 1144C (or anyone else out there!). I just purchased one and added it to my Mac Pro tower, however I seem to be having some trouble with hard drive compatibility. Note: the system profiler recognizes that I have 4 USB 3.0 ports, so it seems to me that the card is working just fine.

I purchased some 2TB Seagate Expansion Portable Drives (suckered in by the price despite my past experience with Seagate) and lo and behold, I got the "Drive Not Ejected Properly" message whenever I tried to copy anything onto the drive. I tried a couple of them to see if one drive was a dud, but they all produced the same result.

Then I did some extra researching and saw that a lot of people were having this trouble with Seagates so I am looking to move on. I tested some other drives I had on hand and found interesting results:

- Both of my year-old 1TB WD My Passport drives connect and show up under the USB 3.0 ports in the system profiler but data copies to them intermittently. Data will copy along at the proper USB 3.0 speed and then stop for a good minute or two before dumping another chunk at proper speed. So, it utilizes the read/write speed but pauses for minutes at a time during copying to the drive.

- My year-old 500GB Toshiba Canvio Connect works totally as expected, fast and uninterrupted!

So my question is: What hard drives work for you with the 1144C? I have seen mention for TBs of data being transferred and so far only the Toshiba Canvio Connect seems like a viable option. I'm really looking to utilize portable hard drives for my needs vs big desktop drives. Do you have any other recommendations for drives that give you no trouble with the 1144C?

Thanks so much!
Andrew

crjackson2134 · Nov 17, 2014

andrewzors said:
Hi there!

I have a question for crjackson2134, who seems to be an expert regarding the RocketU 1144C (or anyone else out there!). I just purchased one and added it to my Mac Pro tower, however I seem to be having some trouble with hard drive compatibility. Note: the system profiler recognizes that I have 4 USB 3.0 ports, so it seems to me that the card is working just fine.

I purchased some 2TB Seagate Expansion Portable Drives (suckered in by the price despite my past experience with Seagate) and lo and behold, I got the "Drive Not Ejected Properly" message whenever I tried to copy anything onto the drive. I tried a couple of them to see if one drive was a dud, but they all produced the same result.

Then I did some extra researching and saw that a lot of people were having this trouble with Seagates so I am looking to move on. I tested some other drives I had on hand and found interesting results:

- Both of my year-old 1TB WD My Passport drives connect and show up under the USB 3.0 ports in the system profiler but data copies to them intermittently. Data will copy along at the proper USB 3.0 speed and then stop for a good minute or two before dumping another chunk at proper speed. So, it utilizes the read/write speed but pauses for minutes at a time during copying to the drive.

- My year-old 500GB Toshiba Canvio Connect works totally as expected, fast and uninterrupted!

So my question is: What hard drives work for you with the 1144C? I have seen mention for TBs of data being transferred and so far only the Toshiba Canvio Connect seems like a viable option. I'm really looking to utilize portable hard drives for my needs vs big desktop drives. Do you have any other recommendations for drives that give you no trouble with the 1144C?

Thanks so much!
Andrew

I've had problems with 1 of my Seagate Backup+ drives. It is a compatibility problem with the Seagate Drive Enclosure Electronics & the ASMedia Chipset incorporated by the 1144C. I pulled the drive out and put it in a .99¢ TOURO enclosure to fix the problem.

I have no problems with any drives pausing or stallihg during data transfers. I've never seen that at all. I've never used the type of WD drives (Passport) that you have. So I can't comment on that.

I've got several 2.5" drives that work well. They are however laptop drives (WD, Hitachi, Seagate. If I'm building one, I use Hitachi TravelStar / Inateck enclosures exclusively) installed into 3rd party enclosures. Mostly Inateck UASP enabled enclosures, but I also have a few cheap no names boxes and seagate repurposed boxes too. None of them have a single issue.

I've got several 4TB 3.5" drives. They are WD My Book, Seagate (in off brand enclosuers), Hitachi (also in off brand enclosures). The ONLY drive that has ever given me an issue was a SeagateBackup+ 4TB desktop drive.

I have 2 USB 3.0 cards in my system, the Seagate works fine connected to the Inateck KT4004 card, but I wasn't happy about it and put it in another enclosure. If you do something like this however, remember that you have to reformat the dirve after switching enclosures.

The 1144C is great as it the KT4004, but you will run into bumps occasionally no matter what USB 3.0 solution you go with (including built in USB 3.0 ports). None of them are absolutely perfect. The 1144C is by far my favorite though. Who knows, you may even have a defective card.

andrewzors · Nov 17, 2014

Great to know! Thanks so much for the helpful reply

benjobe2513 · Nov 17, 2014

I just wanted to report that I've been using the Inateck 7-port USB 3.0 PCIe card in my 2010 Mac Pro since April (through OSX upgrades 10.8.5, 10.9.3, and now 10.10) without any problems. It runs two OWC Mercury RAID arrays, one G-Technology RAID array, a Transcend USB 3 hub, a Anker multi-Media Card Reader, a Pioneer Blu-Ray/DVD Player, and my Dell monitor's USB 3 hub.

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Optimized-Ports-Inateck-Expansion-Version/dp/B00J7F4GXG/ref=sr_1_2?

Yes, it needs internal power, which it gets from my nearest SATA HD bay. No big deal for me.

I'm sorry if this card has already been discussed in this thread. I didn't see it listed in the first post and I didn't have a lot of time to sift through all the posts.

I hope this info is helpful to someone.

Macsonic · Nov 17, 2014

benjobe2513 said:
I just wanted to report that I've been using the Inateck 7-port USB 3.0 PCIe card in my 2010 Mac Pro since April (through OSX upgrades 10.8.5, 10.9.3, and now 10.10) without any problems. It runs two OWC Mercury RAID arrays, one G-Technology RAID array, a Transcend USB 3 hub, a Anker multi-Media Card Reader, a Pioneer Blu-Ray/DVD Player, and my Dell monitor's USB 3 hub.

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Optimized-Ports-Inateck-Expansion-Version/dp/B00J7F4GXG/ref=sr_1_2?

Yes, it needs internal power, which it gets from my nearest SATA HD bay. No big deal for me.

I'm sorry if this card has already been discussed in this thread. I didn't see it listed in the first post and I didn't have a lot of time to sift through all the posts.

I hope this info is helpful to someone.

No problem.

Thanks for sharing your experience. This specific 7 port model has not yet been discussed extensively. The one that was discussed was the 4 port K4004 model. Could you share with us the transfer speed you're getting from your 7 port model?

crjackson2134 · Nov 17, 2014

benjobe2513 said:
I just wanted to report that I've been using the Inateck 7-port USB 3.0 PCIe card in my 2010 Mac Pro since April (through OSX upgrades 10.8.5, 10.9.3, and now 10.10) without any problems. It runs two OWC Mercury RAID arrays, one G-Technology RAID array, a Transcend USB 3 hub, a Anker multi-Media Card Reader, a Pioneer Blu-Ray/DVD Player, and my Dell monitor's USB 3 hub.

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Optimized-Ports-Inateck-Expansion-Version/dp/B00J7F4GXG/ref=sr_1_2?

Yes, it needs internal power, which it gets from my nearest SATA HD bay. No big deal for me.

I'm sorry if this card has already been discussed in this thread. I didn't see it listed in the first post and I didn't have a lot of time to sift through all the posts.

I hope this info is helpful to someone.

Thanks for sharing. Yes it's been discussed and I tested one. It works well but since it's running so many ports on a single controller, it tends to really slow down when transferring data between several USB drives. It's just fine for many users, nothing wrong with it, but not idea for some of us.

The thing that sets the 1144C apart from all others are the independent controllers that can provide maximum transfer rates on all ports siamotainously. When making heavy use of this on UASP enabled drives it's spectacular for USB.

colorspace · Nov 17, 2014

Me too... it took a while for me to diagnose this. Eventually I took the extender out of the loop and my problems disappeared -- not so though for the need of at least 2' of extension to make my devices connect easily without crawling behind my MP.

RoastingPig said:
anyone using a reliable extension usb cable. i have tried the amazon branded ones but all my drives disconnect with big transfers.

benjobe2513 · Nov 17, 2014

Macsonic said:
Could you share with us the transfer speed you're getting from your 7 port model?

According to Blackmagic Disk Speed Test I can get 250MB/s Read & 250MB/s Write on my G-Tech 2x 4TB RAID 0 array. But when I copy a 4.6GB video file to that same drive I see 300MB/s using the Apple Activity Monitor. That array probably can't handle more than 300MB/s (it's two HDs in RAID 0 and each HD probably gets ~150MB/s) so it might not be testing the upper limit of the USB 3 connection.

When I copy that same 4.6GB video file to all three of my RAID arrays (the other two are 5x 4TB RAID 5 arrays) through the 7-port card I see 300MB/s using the Activity Monitor. So the card doesn't seem to get bogged down when more than a couple ports are engaged.

Zwhaler · Nov 17, 2014

I'm selling my 1144CM for $70 if anyone is interested.

crjackson2134 · Nov 18, 2014

benjobe2513 said:
According to Blackmagic Disk Speed Test I can get 250MB/s Read & 250MB/s Write on my G-Tech 2x 4TB RAID 0 array. But when I copy a 4.6GB video file to that same drive I see 300MB/s using the Apple Activity Monitor. That array probably can't handle more than 300MB/s (it's two HDs in RAID 0 and each HD probably gets ~150MB/s) so it might not be testing the upper limit of the USB 3 connection.

When I copy that same 4.6GB video file to all three of my RAID arrays (the other two are 5x 4TB RAID 5 arrays) through the 7-port card I see 300MB/s using the Activity Monitor. So the card doesn't seem to get bogged down when more than a couple ports are engaged.

So you can copy from one USB port to another USB port on the same card and get 300MB/s R/W ? That's really good, I've never got transfers that good on any Inateck card port to port. That's a solid setup you've got.

Does activity monitor report the speed per each drive, or total for on going transfers? In other words, is it combining the GB/s read speed of one drive, then adding the GB/s write speed of the other for total GB/s being transferred by chance?

crjackson2134 · Nov 18, 2014

Macsonic said:
No problem. Thanks for sharing your experience. This specific 7 port model has not yet been discussed extensively. The one that was discussed was the 4 port K4004 model. Could you share with us the transfer speed you're getting from your 7 port model?

I guess I should have written a review, but my card didn't perform any differently than than the KT4004, and I preferred not to deal with the additional power requirements at that time. I should probably sell off some of thes cards. I've got more of them than a barrel of monkeys

benjobe2513 · Nov 18, 2014

crjackson2134 said:
So you can copy from one USB port to another USB port on the same card and get 300MB/s R/W ?

Yes, for the single file transfer test I was copying a 4.6GB video file from one external USB 3 drive to another external USB 3 drive through the Inateck 7-port USB 3 PCIe card. The external drives were a 4x 4TB RAID 5 array and a 2x 4TB RAID 0 array.

crjackson2134 said:
Does activity monitor report the speed per each drive, or total for on going transfers? In other words, is it combining the GB/s read speed of one drive, then adding the GB/s write speed of the other for total GB/s being transferred by chance?

I'm pretty sure that the Disk Activity Monitor is not summing the file transfer speeds. It showed 300MB/s when I was copying just the one file to the one drive, and it showed 300MB/s again when I was copying the three files to the three drives at the same time.

Macsonic · Nov 21, 2014

benjobe2513 said:
According to Blackmagic Disk Speed Test I can get 250MB/s Read & 250MB/s Write on my G-Tech 2x 4TB RAID 0 array. But when I copy a 4.6GB video file to that same drive I see 300MB/s using the Apple Activity Monitor. That array probably can't handle more than 300MB/s (it's two HDs in RAID 0 and each HD probably gets ~150MB/s) so it might not be testing the upper limit of the USB 3 connection.

When I copy that same 4.6GB video file to all three of my RAID arrays (the other two are 5x 4TB RAID 5 arrays) through the 7-port card I see 300MB/s using the Activity Monitor. So the card doesn't seem to get bogged down when more than a couple ports are engaged.

Thanks for sharing this info Benjobe. One time I was considering the 7 ports Inateck. I have the 4 port Inateck and I have a feeling the internally powered USB card might be faster though the difference might be minimal.

EdDuPlessis · Nov 30, 2014

How can we prevent external USB hard drives ejecting during sleep?

nigelbb · Nov 30, 2014

EdDuPlessis said:
How can we prevent external USB hard drives ejecting during sleep?

As long as they reconnect when waking from sleep it doesn't really matter apart from a mildly irritating pop-up error window.

EdDuPlessis · Nov 30, 2014

nigelbb said:
As long as they reconnect when waking from sleep it doesn't really matter apart from a mildly irritating pop-up error window.

True, but I do worry about damaging the disks and this doesn't happen in Boot Camp.

m4v3r1ck · Nov 30, 2014

What is the state of USB 3.0 on Mac Pro?

nigelbb said:
As long as they reconnect when waking from sleep it doesn't really matter apart from a mildly irritating pop-up error window.

But what about the ssd schutting down its read/write operations correctly like when you eject a disk the way you suppose to do? In case of a spinner will it return to the landingzone correctly so it will not be damaged is some way?

EdDuPlessis · Nov 30, 2014

BDM STUDIOS NL said:
But what about the ssd schutting down its read/write operations correctly like when you eject a disk the way you suppose to do? In case of a spinner will it return to the landingzone correctly so it will not be damaged is some way?

That's my concern. If there is no solution I will just keep ejecting the drives before hitting sleep.

crjackson2134 · Nov 30, 2014

BDM STUDIOS NL said:
But what about the ssd schutting down its read/write operations correctly like when you eject a disk the way you suppose to do? In case of a spinner will it return to the landingzone correctly so it will not be damaged is some way?

It doesn't seem to be a problem. (aside from not having trim).

m4v3r1ck · Dec 1, 2014

Inateck KT-4004, great disappointment!

hfg said:
After trying several PCIe I/O cards with mixed results, I was finally satisfied with the Inateck KT4004 4-port USB 3.0 card.

However, I soon realized that I wasn't a fan of USB 3.0 for disks, and lacking Thunderbolt on the Mac Pro 5,1, I really wanted the eSATA ports available again. So, I went back to a CalDigit and upgraded to their new FASTA-6GU3 Pro card they recently released. So far, it is working great for me and has all the ports I need with 2-eSATA and 2-USB 3.0. I can expand to more USB 3.0 ports using a hub which is fine for my application. It also adds a couple of internal SATA III ports if I want to hook up more SSDs in the future.

Thanks for your feedback on the CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Pro!

Tried the Inateck KT-4004, great disappointment:
- lag while booting, long time grey-screen ~ 20 sec
- bootscreen lag, selecting the Windows drive, screen freezes for ~ 10 sec

So returning it and changed it for a CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Pro. Let's see how that performs in my setup. Better solution, for I need eSATA for bootable CCC clone on external HDD drives too. Looking for a new HDD enclosure with USB 3.0 and eSATA/FW too. Any advise?

Keep you posted as soon as it arrives and installed it. Cheers...

ZombiePhysicist · Dec 2, 2014

BDM STUDIOS NL said:
Thanks for your feedback on the CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Pro!

Tried the Inateck KT-4004, great disappointment:
- lag while booting, long time grey-screen ~ 20 sec
- bootscreen lag, selecting the Windows drive, screen freezes for ~ 10 sec

So returning it and changed it for a CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Pro. Let's see how that performs in my setup. Better solution, for I need eSATA for bootable CCC clone on external HDD drives too. Looking for a new HDD enclosure with USB 3.0 and eSATA/FW too. Any advise?

Keep you posted as soon as it arrives and installed it. Cheers...

Are any of the USB 3.0 or eSATA cards bootable? My understanding is that none are, but I guess I'm wrong since you're saying you were booting of USB 3.0 devices!? Thats cool/great if so!

flowrider · Dec 2, 2014

^^^^No, none are or ever will be on a cMP. BDM was referring to, what he experienced, a longer time to boot from another drive, not attached to the Inateck Card.

Lou

hfg · Dec 2, 2014

ZombiePhysicist said:
Are any of the USB 3.0 or eSATA cards bootable? My understanding is that none are, but I guess I'm wrong since you're saying you were booting of USB 3.0 devices!? Thats cool/great if so!

As mentioned above, USB 3.0 is not bootable on a cMP.

However, eSATA cards should be bootable as long as they don't require a special driver (all I have seen are supported directly by OS X).

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