Can I suggest icydock, it is a bit expensive but it has removable tray.
In the long run, it will save more.
In the long run, it will save more.
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E-sata Express card , which one actually works.
- Thread starter Guy Mancuso
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Well I can tell you the Rosewill card DOES NOT W0RK! It is the WORST product I have had the misfortune to use!
Thats odd. I have the Rosewill card and it works fine on my MBP 2.4gz 4Gb with 10.5.6. I ran Xbench and with a 2.5" hard drive I get the same speeds as my internal drive.
So today I got my Voyager Q and put my X-25M in it connected via eSata to my computer using the BC338 card and I notice in QuickBench that I'm getting on average 130 mb/s
So is it possible that the card is capping me to 150 mb/s and this card is never going to do 300 mb/s over eSata?
Is there likely to be any card that can do 300 mb/s with my X-25M in the Voyager?
So is it possible that the card is capping me to 150 mb/s and this card is never going to do 300 mb/s over eSata?
Is there likely to be any card that can do 300 mb/s with my X-25M in the Voyager?
From what I've read it's the JMicron controller. ie. the only card that can come close to 200 mb/s is the Sonnet Pro card and that's pricey.
http://www.barefeats.com/hard113.html
http://www.barefeats.com/hard113.html
Yea the Sonnet is the one to get but it is pricey. I may do it and run a external Raid 0 external but I see more need inside the MBP so just waiting for prices to come down on the E class SSD and remove my M class ones. But that right now is a 1400 dollar option. Ouch
I'm also wondering if Snow leopard is going to help us or put more pressure on the CPU / hard drives and or Ram. Right now my programs like CS4 PS run well because it is more Ram based which is running good with 8gbs of Ram. My issue is Raw Processing of images that is more core based, running 2 cores instead of 4 i have taken a hit from the Mac Pro.
I'm also wondering if Snow leopard is going to help us or put more pressure on the CPU / hard drives and or Ram. Right now my programs like CS4 PS run well because it is more Ram based which is running good with 8gbs of Ram. My issue is Raw Processing of images that is more core based, running 2 cores instead of 4 i have taken a hit from the Mac Pro.
Late 2008 Unibody 15"
Cloning the OS X system partition leads to the destination partition being corrupted beyong repair. It can be accessed, but if Disk Utility tries to Verify/Repair it the same error occurs every time leaving the volume unmountable. This only happens via eSATA, not via FW or USB and it's not because of the enclosure, for testing I even connected the HD directly to the ExpressCard (eSATA-SATA cable).
Cloning the OS X system partition leads to the destination partition being corrupted beyong repair. It can be accessed, but if Disk Utility tries to Verify/Repair it the same error occurs every time leaving the volume unmountable. This only happens via eSATA, not via FW or USB and it's not because of the enclosure, for testing I even connected the HD directly to the ExpressCard (eSATA-SATA cable).
I just got a lockup trying to use Time Machine to backup things up whilst Retrospect was doing the same. I think Time Machine is something I'm going to have to stop using unless I see similar problems with Retrospect 8.0
In my case it seems that the corruption really affects the Volume Label since afterwards the system doesn't even seen the volume anymore.
In my case it seems that the corruption really affects the Volume Label since afterwards the system doesn't even seen the volume anymore.
I just got my BC338 card from Hong Kong (shipped in 11 days to Boston), and it seems to be working so far! 
I have been following this thread closely, and the information I found here has been helpful, and is in fact the reason why I ordered the BC338 in the first place. I have two external drives in USB/eSATA enclosures, and I've been looking for a way to access them with faster than USB speeds, with the added benefit of potential boot support. (My enclosures do not seem to support USB booting, unlike most of the other ones I've encountered.)
Unfortunately, both my 400GB drives are full with data, so I won't be able to test some of the stuff I'm interested in examining until I get a third drive/enclosure combo.
I'll be interested in testing if the BC338 supports:
-Booting Mac OS X off an external drive
(That is, does it work in the boot selection menu and are its drivers loaded in EFI, etc.)
-Potentially booting a Windows (Boot Camp) installation
I'll be sure to contribute my experiences once I have a chance to test these things. I'm also concerned about the data corruption issues some people seem to have run into, so I'll test that as well and report back what I find. (For this reason, I have only read data from my drives with the card, but not written anything, in case there really are corruption issues.)
I have a three-year-old, first generation Core Duo MacBook Pro running 10.5.7. My initial impressions of the card are mostly related to physical connectivity: you've gotta be careful when pushing the card in or out. I've never used an ExpressCard with my MBP before, so I'm not sure what to expect as normal behavior, but I'm never sure how far to push it in until it's "okay" and ready to go. I mean, I suppose when the ExpressCard icon shows up in the menubar I should be all set, but sometimes the icon shows up before I feel it's all the way in, and since I don't want it to slide out, I usually push just a little more.
I also seem to be having some trouble with connecting the eSATA connector to the card. Several times, upon inserting the cable, I actually triggered the ExpressCard eject mechanism, as the force I use to connect the cable actually ejects the card from the machine. I think it's a matter of technique, though, and I'll get the right angle/force eventually.
I found that removing the cable without pulling the card out of the machine is best accomplished by pulling the cable with one hand while pushing the *edges* of the card into the machine as you pull. That seems to do the trick.
Again, I'd like to emphasize that the card and the cable have to be connected properly, or your drive might not show up.
I've also experienced the issue that some people mentioned, where the ExpressCard icon in the menubar shows multiple "ghost" entries of the card, if it slid out and you reinserted it. I found this can be fixed by command-dragging the icon off the menubar so it poofs into oblivion, and then shoving the card back in. Then it will only show up once and work again.
Anyways, that's it for now. I'm happy to finally have eSATA connectivity on my Mac, and *very very* happy that I can now check the SMART status of my external drives, which is not supported through either USB or FireWire.
If anyone has questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them!
I have been following this thread closely, and the information I found here has been helpful, and is in fact the reason why I ordered the BC338 in the first place. I have two external drives in USB/eSATA enclosures, and I've been looking for a way to access them with faster than USB speeds, with the added benefit of potential boot support. (My enclosures do not seem to support USB booting, unlike most of the other ones I've encountered.)
Unfortunately, both my 400GB drives are full with data, so I won't be able to test some of the stuff I'm interested in examining until I get a third drive/enclosure combo.
I'll be interested in testing if the BC338 supports:
-Booting Mac OS X off an external drive
(That is, does it work in the boot selection menu and are its drivers loaded in EFI, etc.)
-Potentially booting a Windows (Boot Camp) installation
I'll be sure to contribute my experiences once I have a chance to test these things. I'm also concerned about the data corruption issues some people seem to have run into, so I'll test that as well and report back what I find. (For this reason, I have only read data from my drives with the card, but not written anything, in case there really are corruption issues.)
I have a three-year-old, first generation Core Duo MacBook Pro running 10.5.7. My initial impressions of the card are mostly related to physical connectivity: you've gotta be careful when pushing the card in or out. I've never used an ExpressCard with my MBP before, so I'm not sure what to expect as normal behavior, but I'm never sure how far to push it in until it's "okay" and ready to go. I mean, I suppose when the ExpressCard icon shows up in the menubar I should be all set, but sometimes the icon shows up before I feel it's all the way in, and since I don't want it to slide out, I usually push just a little more.
I also seem to be having some trouble with connecting the eSATA connector to the card. Several times, upon inserting the cable, I actually triggered the ExpressCard eject mechanism, as the force I use to connect the cable actually ejects the card from the machine. I think it's a matter of technique, though, and I'll get the right angle/force eventually.
I found that removing the cable without pulling the card out of the machine is best accomplished by pulling the cable with one hand while pushing the *edges* of the card into the machine as you pull. That seems to do the trick.
Again, I'd like to emphasize that the card and the cable have to be connected properly, or your drive might not show up.
I've also experienced the issue that some people mentioned, where the ExpressCard icon in the menubar shows multiple "ghost" entries of the card, if it slid out and you reinserted it. I found this can be fixed by command-dragging the icon off the menubar so it poofs into oblivion, and then shoving the card back in. Then it will only show up once and work again.
Anyways, that's it for now. I'm happy to finally have eSATA connectivity on my Mac, and *very very* happy that I can now check the SMART status of my external drives, which is not supported through either USB or FireWire.
If anyone has questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them!
Ploki,
It looks like you're out of luck. The seller has sold all of his BC338.
For reference, this was the page:
http://cgi.ebay.com/eSATA-Express-c...wItemQQimsxZ20090430?IMSfp=TL090430122006r586
This is the seller:
http://myworld.ebay.com/nelson-338/
You can ask him if he expects to have the item in stock again any time soon. He ships worldwide, so he will ship to Europe should he have the item available again.
It looks like you're out of luck. The seller has sold all of his BC338.
For reference, this was the page:
http://cgi.ebay.com/eSATA-Express-c...wItemQQimsxZ20090430?IMSfp=TL090430122006r586
This is the seller:
http://myworld.ebay.com/nelson-338/
You can ask him if he expects to have the item in stock again any time soon. He ships worldwide, so he will ship to Europe should he have the item available again.
FYI I tried using my BC338 with UMBP and almost every time in Time Machine the machine locked up. I really don't have a lot of confidence in the integrity of my disk when using the BC338. When I moved back to FW800 everything returned to normal with no issues.
The problem with the combination of JMicron based ExpressCards (and maybe others as well) in combination with Unibody Macbook Pros is not only data corruption downto a very bad level, but OS X can also crash on a kernel level because of OS X' AHCI driver. I just send a corresponding crash report to Apple today. I doubt that they will do anything about it though.
Next week I'm gonna try an ExpressCard based professional audio solution and also using the JMicron based cards in a HP laptop. If the audio card shows problems, too, and/or if the JMicrons work properly on the HPs then it's likely the MBP's fault.
Next week I'm gonna try an ExpressCard based professional audio solution and also using the JMicron based cards in a HP laptop. If the audio card shows problems, too, and/or if the JMicrons work properly on the HPs then it's likely the MBP's fault.
Yeah, i had that as well. I tried a different eSATA cable and that problem was gone. This newer cable is easy to withdraw and insert so it doesn't pull the card with it.
The old cable was stiff so i wouldn't know when it was inserted properly, thus pushing too hard and causing the card to eject.
damn
i have an enclosure with only eSata & USB2.0...and usb2.0 aint so fast
Timur: which interface? (audio)
For Audio I'm gonna try a RME HDSPe with Multiface attached to it as soon as I can lay my hands on one.
And I will try the eSATA cards on an HP this friday. Furthermore I may install XP on my MBP in order to see whether we are dealing with hardware problems here or with a software/driver problem of OS X. Currently I'm running Vista as my Windows, but Apple failed to make the ExpressCard slot available on Vista even when they know about the problem for months.
And I will try the eSATA cards on an HP this friday. Furthermore I may install XP on my MBP in order to see whether we are dealing with hardware problems here or with a software/driver problem of OS X. Currently I'm running Vista as my Windows, but Apple failed to make the ExpressCard slot available on Vista even when they know about the problem for months.
Installing the only jmb36x driver available from JMicron doesn't make no difference (and it doesn't even seem to be used by OS X when inserting the ExpressCard): still corruption, still unstable system.
I received the RME audio card now and will try to do some meaningful test. It's harder to do than with the HD though.
I received the RME audio card now and will try to do some meaningful test. It's harder to do than with the HD though.
Does anyone know how to identify (other than testing) if an eSATA Expresscard is powered or not? Are they generally one way or the other? I was thinking of switching to eSATA thumb drives (http://www.kanguru.com/eflash.html).
What do you mean? All ExpressCards receive power from the PCIe bus. That's how they work.
Please rephrase your question! =D