E-sata Express card , which one actually works.

[skierdb526]

just got my BC338 yesterday. Its causing kernel panics with my 2.4 unibody.
sucks.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Might need to download a firmware update. The caldigit I bought does work

 

[m85476585]

My BC338 works just fine.

 

[skierdb526]

Are you guys running unibody macbook pros? pretty much itll show up but then i start transferring and it will get so far then the screen starts to go grey and i get the kernel panic.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Mine is brand new unibody

 

[skierdb526]

Mine is brand new unibody

glad yours works. BTW you have a kick ass system. What is your occupation? (im asking in interest of if your computer is related to work)

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Great question. Commercial Photographer. With this kind of money involved in the system it certainly would not be for sport. Well sort of. LOL

http://www.guymancusophoto.com/

 

[skierdb526]

Cool. No way I'm paying 120 for an esata express card. I think id just buy a 1tb firewire 800 external hard drive for that. I'd really enjoy a Drobo if someone felt really kind.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

The Drobo is a great storage unit but don't recommend unless you have a ton of files. But they are really easy for the user , no management it does it all for you with backup storage..

E-sata really I think depends on how you really work. If you are just storing files than Firewire 800 is perfect. If you use a external to work off of or have say temp files that you have to work on but don't want to fill the desktop than it is great for that. The other is obviously putting two externals in a Raid 0 and using it as the OS or scratch drives for Photoshop. Big needs there

 

[XandeR803]

Bc338

I picked up the BC338 linked in this thread off ebay and it works perfectly on my early 2008 MBP.

 

[Gmoe]

Hey guys just for clarification-

Are there any users who have the BC338 express card with the new unibody mac book pros?

I have the new unibody mac and wanted to use the BC338 card to be able to boot from the external hardrive.

Also, anyone know, if I can connect a Blu-Ray esata optical drive for use with an esata express card. Just curious!

Thanks all!

Gmoe

 

[abz786]

Does anyone mind giving me a link on ebay or any other website to where i can purchase this??? I live in Canada and have the Macbook Pro just before the unibody ones.

Thanks

I got this one:
works great + its cheap, and the best is that it does not stick out from the laptop side

and by the way, its bootable.

 

[leetard]

We just got a few SeriTek/2SMS2-E esata cards from FirmTek and they work perfectly! We've been using Firmtek esata cards and housings with our desktops and after we tried the Belkin esata cards, decided to spend the extra dough for a proper set up.

 

[Gmoe]

any other esata express card users using a JMircon based chip on the newer unibody macbook pro.

(with no kernel panics)

thanx!

 

[Timur]

I advice anyone using a JMicron (JMB360) based eSATA card to check for errors. I am using such a card right now, it is bootable, it doesn't need drivers, runs well upto 100 mb/s with a 5400 rpm Caviar Green and it doesn't cause Kernel Panics. But it causes write errors!

You can most reliably check for these errors by cloning your system volume (either via Disk Utility, Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, doesn't matter) and after that run a Verify on the copy. If everything is error free after that then you're likely good to go.

Given my generally bad experience with the ExpressPort on my aluminium/unibody Macbook Pro I suspect this to be an Apple problem more than a problem of the ExpressCard/JMicron, but maybe others can do a checkup and report back for me?!

 

[Gmoe]

Hey Timur, would I have to check write errors on the drive everytime I hook up my drive to the estata express card? Seems like a big pain.

Thanks

 

[Timur]

No, what I mean is. If you are using a JMicron based card with an unibody Macbook Pro then check whether it does work reliable. Beside sporadic errors I found that doing a clone copy of my system partition via eSATA always leads to unrecoverable errors (leaving the clone completely unusable).

 

[khakilad]

Just to let everyone know. I have the AKE ESATA Express Card which fits perfectly inside my New 15"Alum MBP and it works great. No software or anything to install. It is so quick compared to my Firewire 800 cable.

It works great with both my Quadra LaCie Drives!

 

[advan031]

I just ordered one of these from eBay for my Penryn MBP to attached to my OWC 1TB

 

[steffi]

Can somebody post performance differences using QuickBench? USB2.0 vs ESata with that card.

I have some RocketFish cases and right now I'm using them over USB but they do support ESata. I guess the best thing for me would be a dual port card like the one you've mentioned.

I recently got the BC338, and it works great without drivers. I like it better than my old 2-port PPA International card (they sell them on Newegg for about $27) that sticks out a lot and is nearly as thick as the whole laptop.

These cards are limited to 2gbps because that is the speed of the expresscard bus (a PCIe 1x lane). You will probably never notice the difference between that and 3gbps because the hard drive will still be slower.

 

[alphaod]

I just got the BC338 card; works like a charm.

The only problem is that it gets jammed inside my slot and I have to wiggle it a lot to free it.

 

[steffi]

So it's worth it to go with one of these than say a Sonnet then? Sonnet offers two ports (yes it sticks out)

Is there any card that gives two ports without sticking out that's known to work?

I just got the BC338 card; works like a charm.

The only problem is that it gets jammed inside my slot and I have to wiggle it a lot to free it.

 

[Gmoe]

khakilad, thanks for that info. I think I will try to get the BC338 card. No problems with kernal panics or write problems.. as Timur reported...

Thanks also Timur for that clarification on doing a clone copy. I''ll try it when I get the card.

Stefii- I believe from the research here on the forum only this esata espress card doesn't stick out of the express card slot.

 

[m85476585]

I wish mine jammed in the slot. It always comes out when I try to pull the ESATA cable out.

You can't fit 2 ports on a card that doesn't stick out.

I have some Xbench benchmarks for my 1TB Samsung F1 disk. Here is what the cryptic file names mean:
2card1 is the 2-port PPA International card (eSATA) and my Azio enclosure
aziousb1 is the same enclosure connected by USB
cheapcard1 is the same enclosure connected to the BC338 card.
fw8001 is my IcyDock enclosure connected by Firewire 800
usb1 is also my IcyDock enclosure but connected by USB.

eSATA is the clear winner, with FW800 second, as expected, and USB trailing far behind. The different cards don't seem to make a difference, but that's expected since they have the same chipset. The different USB enclosures don't make much difference either. I did 3 tests for each connection, and they were all relatively close, so I didn't post all of them.

 

[alphaod]

So it's worth it to go with one of these than say a Sonnet then? Sonnet offers two ports (yes it sticks out)

Is there any card that gives two ports without sticking out that's known to work?

The JMicron B36x controller in the BC338 support SATA port multiplying, so you can always get one of these if you want:
http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/extpm.asp