USB 3.0 on 2011 17" MBP

[Doward]

Something to keep in mind, is that at best ExpressCard/34 will give you ~110MB/s speeds (read or write).

That's almost native speed for many single 7200rpm drives, so it may very well work out for you.

I recommend going the Thunderbolt route, simply to avoid doing things twice over. Whether you decide to go with a Tbolt hub (which if you look @ Belkin's specs, it's 2.5GB/s on the USB 3.0 ports, not the full 5.0GB/s; see here: http://www.belkin.com/us/p/F4U055tt) or go the Buffalo MiniStation route, as NAND prices continue to fall, I have no doubts that we will see 750+ GB SSDs coming down in price over the next year.

I hope to see Samsung make a BIG push with their TLC NANDs, and eagerly away the chance to swap out my 750GB 7200rpm drive I installed into my Buffalo MiniStation with a LARGE SSD.

Thunderbolt will allow that SSD to run at near-native speeds, and faster than USB 3.0 will allow.

While I wish my 17" MBP had USB 3.0, I'm very pleased with Thunderbolt thus far. Once Haswell comes out, I hope to see Tbolt FINALLY start penetrating the marketplace!

[yusukeaoki]

Originally Posted by Doward

Something to keep in mind, is that at best ExpressCard/34 will give you ~110MB/s speeds (read or write).

That's almost native speed for many single 7200rpm drives, so it may very well work out for you.

I recommend going the Thunderbolt route, simply to avoid doing things twice over. Whether you decide to go with a Tbolt hub (which if you look @ Belkin's specs, it's 2.5GB/s on the USB 3.0 ports, not the full 5.0GB/s; see here: http://www.belkin.com/us/p/F4U055tt) or go the Buffalo MiniStation route, as NAND prices continue to fall, I have no doubts that we will see 750+ GB SSDs coming down in price over the next year.

I hope to see Samsung make a BIG push with their TLC NANDs, and eagerly away the chance to swap out my 750GB 7200rpm drive I installed into my Buffalo MiniStation with a LARGE SSD.

Thunderbolt will allow that SSD to run at near-native speeds, and faster than USB 3.0 will allow.

While I wish my 17" MBP had USB 3.0, I'm very pleased with Thunderbolt thus far. Once Haswell comes out, I hope to see Tbolt FINALLY start penetrating the marketplace!

The problem is is that its still way too expensive.
I have couple LaCie Thunderbolt drives but boy they are so much money.
USB's has been and is still cheap.
Plus many companies decides to make them and its compatible.
Although USB3 may not be fast as TB, I would still look for USB3 expresscard due to the compatibility.

[Doward]

Originally Posted by yusukeaoki

The problem is is that its still way too expensive.
I have couple LaCie Thunderbolt drives but boy they are so much money.
USB's has been and is still cheap.
Plus many companies decides to make them and its compatible.
Although USB3 may not be fast as TB, I would still look for USB3 expresscard due to the compatibility.

The Buffalo Thunderbolt 500GB MiniStation is $170 @ Macsales.net

Is it a bargain? No. Do you get the fastest possible interface for a 2011 MacBook Pro? Yes. Is it cheaper than pretty much anything Lacie has? Yes.

If you want an enclosure that can handle near-native SSD speeds, your only option is thunderbolt.

[theluggage]

Originally Posted by Doward

The Buffalo Thunderbolt 500GB MiniStation is $170 @ Macsales.net

...and like most cheaper Thunderbolt devices, there is no Thunderbolt passthrough, so on a 2011 MBP (original subject of this thread) it will use up your only external display port.

[yusukeaoki]

Originally Posted by Doward

The Buffalo Thunderbolt 500GB MiniStation is $170 @ Macsales.net

Is it a bargain? No. Do you get the fastest possible interface for a 2011 MacBook Pro? Yes. Is it cheaper than pretty much anything Lacie has? Yes.

If you want an enclosure that can handle near-native SSD speeds, your only option is thunderbolt.

Or I can go through a little hassle of drivers to put USB3 on it and get Seagate 3TB HDD for 109USD on Amazon.

[Doward]

Originally Posted by theluggage

...and like most cheaper Thunderbolt devices, there is no Thunderbolt passthrough, so on a 2011 MBP (original subject of this thread) it will use up your only external display port.

Yes. If you intend to run an external Tbolt display, though, you're better off with either a Tbolt display with passthrough, or running a Tbolt hub.

Isn't daisy chaining one of that purposes of Tbolt?

My understanding is that you WANT storage at the end of your chain.

----------

Originally Posted by yusukeaoki

Or I can go through a little hassle of drivers to put USB3 on it and get Seagate 3TB HDD for 109USD on Amazon.

Yes, and from what I've heard reported, deal with random kernel panics. And at the end of the day, Thunderbolt will still be faster once you decide to go with a large external SSD.

[theluggage]

Originally Posted by Doward

Yes. If you intend to run an external Tbolt display, though, you're better off with either a Tbolt display with passthrough,

...but with the sole exception of the Apple Thunderbolt Display (nice bit of kit - but expensive and not suitable for everybody) external monitors and adapters are legacy DisplayPort devices which have to be the last device on the chain.

or running a Tbolt hub.

Error: product existence failure. (AFAIK the Belkin is still vapourware and the Matrox only has one USB3 port and no thunderbolt-through).

This looks as if it might have potential for "cheap" external storage:

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/H8...K_Product-Feed

...although you're talking £150 for the adapter + the price of a couple of eSATA drives.

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Originally Posted by yusukeaoki

Has anyone so far had problem with this method?
Do you all face KP often?

I got pretty good amount of USB3 external drives and want to use this method but I dont want to face KP while copying/transfering file...

I haven't seen any kernel panic yet while using a hard drive. My mouse works perfectly fine as well with the USB 3.0 port. The only thing that has caused an actual kernel panic so far has been trying to use a Logitech USB webcam with the card. It didn't like that at all. I say for all of $11 shipped, it's worth picking one up even if you only use it occasionally. I've had trouble with a number of USB hubs and Macs and if nothing else, I can use my mouse and/or keyboard in these ports and free up my native Apple USB 2.0 ports for other devices if needed without having to carry around a hub and/or look for one that works properly (Belkin hubs have worked well with my desktop Macs, though)

[yusukeaoki]

Originally Posted by MagnusVonMagnum

I haven't seen any kernel panic yet while using a hard drive. My mouse works perfectly fine as well with the USB 3.0 port. The only thing that has caused an actual kernel panic so far has been trying to use a Logitech USB webcam with the card. It didn't like that at all. I say for all of $11 shipped, it's worth picking one up even if you only use it occasionally. I've had trouble with a number of USB hubs and Macs and if nothing else, I can use my mouse and/or keyboard in these ports and free up my native Apple USB 2.0 ports for other devices if needed without having to carry around a hub and/or look for one that works properly (Belkin hubs have worked well with my desktop Macs, though)

Ah so no problem while using USB3 external HDD?
Are you using the same method and USB3 card previously posted on this thread?
If so, Im going to order this baby up

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Originally Posted by yusukeaoki

Ah so no problem while using USB3 external HDD?
Are you using the same method and USB3 card previously posted on this thread?
If so, Im going to order this baby up

Yeah, but I haven't been using the drive every day (i.e. it's on my MBP and I use a Mac Mini daily). No issues for the many hours I did try it, though.

[yusukeaoki]

Originally Posted by MagnusVonMagnum

Yeah, but I haven't been using the drive every day (i.e. it's on my MBP and I use a Mac Mini daily). No issues for the many hours I did try it, though.

Thats a no problem for me
I dont always connect my drive as well, only when I want to transfer big files.
If it worked for few hours, then thats all I need to know, Thank you!

Also, did you go through all the steps?
I remember someone mentioning it worked halfway through the steps.

[Semiopaque]

Originally Posted by MagnusVonMagnum

Yeah, but I haven't been using the drive every day (i.e. it's on my MBP and I use a Mac Mini daily). No issues for the many hours I did try it, though.

I've been running CCC daily from this drive to backup drive for around 3 weeks. Still no issues. All my data is on this drive too, so I use it a fair amount everyday.

[yusukeaoki]

Originally Posted by Semiopaque

I've been running CCC daily from this drive to backup drive for around 3 weeks. Still no issues. All my data is on this drive too, so I use it a fair amount everyday.

That sounds awesome.
Too bad the expresscard wont restock on amazon till March 28.

How is the speed?
Do you feel the difference between USB2?
Im pretty sure it will be slower than the native 3.0 but it should be faster than 2.0 correct?

[Semiopaque]

Originally Posted by yusukeaoki

That sounds awesome.
Too bad the expresscard wont restock on amazon till March 28.

How is the speed?
Do you feel the difference between USB2?
Im pretty sure it will be slower than the native 3.0 but it should be faster than 2.0 correct?

Definitely faster than 2.0. Real large file transfer speeds are maybe 30-50% faster. Again, old MBP early 2008 so that may be part of it as I'm guessing it could be faster.

If it's still under $10, I would take the risk on any MBP with an express card slot. Not sure what else I would pop in there to be honest.

[yusukeaoki]

Originally Posted by Semiopaque

Definitely faster than 2.0. Real large file transfer speeds are maybe 30-50% faster. Again, old MBP early 2008 so that may be part of it as I'm guessing it could be faster.

If it's still under $10, I would take the risk on any MBP with an express card slot. Not sure what else I would pop in there to be honest.

Definitley going to try this out.
I have the SD card reader in my expressslot but I would rather have 2 more USBs.
Can you give me a specific reading/writing speed you can get on the USB3?

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Originally Posted by yusukeaoki

That sounds awesome.
Too bad the expresscard wont restock on amazon till March 28.

How is the speed?
Do you feel the difference between USB2?
Im pretty sure it will be slower than the native 3.0 but it should be faster than 2.0 correct?

I think the upper limit is the only question. I get just as fast transfers with my Western Digital 3TB USB 3.0 drive on my Macbook Pro with that card as my Mac Mini with native USB 3.0 (i.e. the drive only does around 80-100MB/sec so it cannot saturate the card either way). I'd call it a HUGE speed improvement (4x faster on average) over USB 2.0 on the same Macbook Pro.

[yusukeaoki]

Originally Posted by MagnusVonMagnum

I think the upper limit is the only question. I get just as fast transfers with my Western Digital 3TB USB 3.0 drive on my Macbook Pro with that card as my Mac Mini with native USB 3.0 (i.e. the drive only does around 80-100MB/sec so it cannot saturate the card either way). I'd call it a HUGE speed improvement (4x faster on average) over USB 2.0 on the same Macbook Pro.

Thats definitely awesome.
USB2 claims 480mbps but in reality, they only transfer around 200 so its extremely slow.
Im also thinking to buy a WD 3TB USB3 or seagate 3TB USB drive.

[yusukeaoki]

Ladies and Gentlemen of this forum, I have now successfully installed USB3 on my 17in.
Tried with 4 different USB3 devices and all work perfectly.
Thank you all for helping me out!