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LaCie Brings USB 3.0 Hard Drive Support to Mac Pros and MacBook Pros

philipma1957 said:
the lacie pci e card is 50 bucks the caldigit is 75 bucks the real question it which works better? does one of them boot? if they don't boot they are not a big deal. has anyone boot tested them?


this is low cost and boots


http://cgi.ebay.com/PCI-E-x1-single...ultDomain_0&hash=item3ca3762a47#ht_4981wt_907


speed is around 115 to 120MB/s so the only way the usb3 is as good is if it boots.
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If it isn't supported by firmware, then the LaCie or other add-on cards will only boot at USB 2.0 speeds.

The LaCie driver has already been modded to bypass the check for LaCie peripherals. Current anecdotal tests with the hacked driver suggest that the hard drive is now the bottleneck and speeds are the same as eSATA.
 
Why is it a one or the other battle?

As I have said before, USB isn't going anywhere anytime soon. The installed base of consumer devices is just to great for Apple (or anyone else) to completely abandon it as soon as lightpeak hits the market. While we may see the introduction of LP ports on new computers, there will be USB ports right along side them. If you're going to have USB ports on your device, it makes no logical sense to keep them at USB 2.0 when they could just as easily be USB 3. Intel has stated multiple times that they plan on supporting USB 3 in future chipsets, AMD already is. USB 3 devices are available now and span from thumb drives to video interfaces, and new devices are being introduced rapidly.

If anything lightpeak will become (in a future, faster iteration) a transport for USB 3, along side other protocols in the form of a single-cable solution for desktop displays.
 
Lightpeak combines ports

After taking a look at the ports on my computer I can see where lightpeak would be better than USB 3.0. Imagine having the same standard port that would replace USB, eSATA, firewire, and any video out ports on your computer. It would also mean that I would only need one type of cable when normally I would need to carry different ones around.
 
Azathoth said:
Regarding the use of USB/PS2 adapters - the PC world regards legacy support as an important feature. Apple does not.
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Henry Ford didn't offer the option of a horse with the Model T, but Michael Dell does. And this makes you happy?

Which of these companies is the most successful?

I haven't got time or patience to explain to you the benefits of progress, but not having legacy ugliness in one's life would seem to be one.
 
Ho-hum. Apparently USB 3 isn't all that exciting.
Half of these posts here are about something else called BlewWray. ;)

Anywho, most of what i do has to pass through WiFi or ethernet anyway. I'll leave this heated discussion up to the pros.
 
technima said:
Imagine having the same standard port that would replace USB, eSATA, firewire, and any video out ports on your computer. It would also mean that I would only need one type of cable when normally I would need to carry different ones around.
Click to expand...

Then they should drop USB and eSATA and just make Firewire, not introduce yet another cable that isn't backward-compatible with anything.

(Apple's way ahead on dropping eSATA by the way... they never bothered making it!)
 
technima said:
After taking a look at the ports on my computer I can see where lightpeak would be better than USB 3.0. Imagine having the same standard port that would replace USB, eSATA, firewire, and any video out ports on your computer. It would also mean that I would only need one type of cable when normally I would need to carry different ones around.
Click to expand...

OK, you convinced me. I'll take one. Oh . . that's right. They are not available yet, and there are no peripherals yet, and. . . oh yeah usb 3.0 stuff is all over the place. Seriously, I'll get usb 3.0 Lacie card now and when lightpeak is available, I'll get that too and have both. I really don't see why there is or should be any controversy. Both sound good top me.

On second thought, the Lacie, even though the drives have already been hacked, is stock proprietary to Lacie's devices and I will not support that, so I will buy the Caldigit version that uses the same NEC controller and whose drivers are NOT proprietary to peripherals.
 
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Sucks for video production people. Firewire ports have already been cut out on PC desktops and laptops. Can't even find an external hard drive with firewire anymore...
 
xgman said:
On second thought, the Lacie, even though the drives have already been hacked, is stock proprietary to Lacie's devices and I will not support that, so I will buy the Caldigit version that uses the same NEC controller and whose drivers are NOT proprietary to peripherals.
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Wrong. Caldigit's driver is locked to its own peripherals. Just like the LaCie driver.

Caldigit does provide an open source version of its driver for anyone who is good at tinkering and recompiling, though.
 
G58 said:
Henry Ford didn't offer the option of a horse with the Model T, but Michael Dell does. And this makes you happy?

Which of these companies is the most successful?

I haven't got time or patience to explain to you the benefits of progress, but not having legacy ugliness in one's life would seem to be one.
Click to expand...

It must be nice living in a world where you don't need to support systems with a lifetime longer than your attention span.
 
weckart said:
Wrong. Caldigit's driver is locked to its own peripherals. Just like the LaCie driver.

Caldigit does provide an open source version of its driver for anyone who is good at tinkering and recompiling, though.
Click to expand...


Not any longer according to my call to them yesterday. They initially did and then they say opened it up after re-thinking it. Anyway the NEC controller drivers are apparently cracked and out there now.

from their site:
"Originally designed for the CalDigit AV Drive, the SuperSpeed Card now opens the door enabling the use of the latest USB 3.0 devices. With new USB 3.0 devices being announced everyday, the CalDigit SuperSpeed Card lets users take advantage of this next generation connectivity."
 
Azathoth said:
It must be nice living in a world where you don't need to support systems with a lifetime longer than your attention span.
Click to expand...

My attention span in the presence of imbecilecus maximus is much shorter than that...

What were you saying?
 
MacNewsFix said:
On the subject of the amount of data being sent to provide audio and video, if it is difficult to impossible for the human eye and ear to discern the difference between BD and streaming except in the rarest of instances, it really becomes a moot point.
Click to expand...

You are so wrong, a statement like "the sky is plaid with blue polka dots" would be more correct than your statement. Apples "hd" offerings are just slightly better than an upconverted dvd. My half blind grandmother could tell the difference between an blu-ray and apples "hd". I bet even Helen Keller could tell the difference between a blu-ray and most streaming media.
 
MacNewsFix said:
4.5 Mbps is the minimum. If you have higher bandwidth, you should get better results. Plenty of cities have ISPs offerring 50 Mbps or better. Also, like Blu-Ray, HDX can send tens of Mbps for delivering just the video in a movie.

On the subject of the amount of data being sent to provide audio and video, if it is difficult to impossible for the human eye and ear to discern the difference between BD and streaming except in the rarest of instances, it really becomes a moot point.

Let's also not forget human nature's propensity for the path of least resistance. All things being equal, people will often go with what is most convenient. Just look at audio formats. There are better ones out there than the most popular ones, but most people are content buying music tracks in the 5 or 6 MB range versus a 25 MB lossless track.

While "quality" is important, convenience no less so. Just ask all the people carrying portable record players.
Click to expand...

No where does MacNewsFix reference Apple's online streaming service in that statement.
 
linux2mac said:
No where does MacNewsFix reference Apple's online streaming service in that statement.
Click to expand...

Technically he does not mention any individual streaming service, which even the best streaming under ideal conditions still do not come close to a blu-ray. Apples hidef offerings should not even be considered when talking about hidef streaming. Second the only people who should be discussing this are those people that understand what bitrates are and how the affect video and audio quality.

Nice job derailing another thread with bad information.
 
G58 said:
Light Peak is the USB of 2011, and already Apple's chosen connector. We knew that 6 months ago.
Click to expand...
Biggest difference between LP and usb3 is that usb3 devices have been in the market about an year and LP is still vaporware.

And how do we know that Apple adopts LP?
In recent years they have been ditching all that is niche.
Xraid & Xserve were niche and gone.
Esata, bd, usb3, ec, 10G ethernet, matte screens and fw are all niche and Apple has been neglecting them more and more.
LP will be most niche of them all, so why Apple would adopt that?

Anyway usb3 is here, it's many times faster than fw800 and I'd like to use it with OsX. LaCie has proved how nicely this 3rd party driver game resembles windows ecosystem.
I miss the quality Macs used to have.
Now windows-PC's have 10x better quality in movies (=bd), 3x-5x faster external hdd's (eSata & usb3) and workstations have sane ram configs.
 
toke lahti said:
Biggest difference between LP and usb3 is that usb3 devices have been in the market about an year and LP is still vaporware.

And how do we know that Apple adopts LP?
In recent years they have been ditching all that is niche.
Xraid & Xserve were niche and gone.
Esata, bd, usb3, ec, 10G ethernet, matte screens and fw are all niche and Apple has been neglecting them more and more.
LP will be most niche of them all, so why Apple would adopt that?

Anyway usb3 is here, it's many times faster than fw800 and I'd like to use it with OsX. LaCie has proved how nicely this 3rd party driver game resembles windows ecosystem.
I miss the quality Macs used to have.
Now windows-PC's have 10x better quality in movies (=bd), 3x-5x faster external hdd's (eSata & usb3) and workstations have sane ram configs.
Click to expand...

If you really want an answer to that, I can give you one - or more:

First of all, the 'niche' concept as defined here is your own.

Second, FireWire was badly managed by the industry.

Next, if USB3 was the best option - and it had a roadmap worth betting on, Apple would be deploying it. If I'm wrong, what do you suggest Apple will be doing? Staying with USB2??

Finally, Light Peak was part of the Intel deal. If you're going to second guess Apple, you need to look more deeply than a simplistic, subjective level that informs comments like: "I miss the quality Macs used to have."
 
G58 said:
If you really want an answer to that, I can give you one - or more:

First of all, the 'niche' concept as defined here is your own.

Second, FireWire was badly managed by the industry.

Next, if USB3 was the best option - and it had a roadmap worth betting on, Apple would be deploying it. If I'm wrong, what do you suggest Apple will be doing? Staying with USB2??

Finally, Light Peak was part of the Intel deal. If you're going to second guess Apple, you need to look more deeply than a simplistic, subjective level that informs comments like: "I miss the quality Macs used to have."
Click to expand...

Why exactly are you talking about Light Peak? Because Apple PR wants you to? The reality of the situation is that we have a two options: computers with USB 3.0 (only PCs) and computers with USB 2.0. I do not think there is any doubt which is better. A far as Light Peak is concerned, PC might get it before Macs do. It's also possible that LP will be abandoned altogether.
 
A hard drive's max data transfer speed at this point is roughly 300MB/s.

Single volume hard drives cap at roughly 80-110 MB/s on Firewire 800 and eSata. Dual drive striped RAID pushes around 150-220 MB/s on eSata. What benefit does USB 3 bring the common consumer? Absolutely nothing I say. The highest bandwidth "common day people" consume is HD quality video. That caps at 10MB/s. USB 2 can already support this scenario.

They'll either buy a firewire 800 drive or eSata drive if they want fast transfer speed for video editing or archival transfer when compared to the much slower USB 2 speed.
 
Hellhammer said:
Would be nice if most Macs had PCIe or ExpressCard slot. Only Mac Pro users and some MBP users will benefit from this
Click to expand...

The lack of an ExpreeCard slot on the newest 15" MBPs is the only thing keeping me from upgrading. I have to have an ExpressCard slot to use a SATA card for work but I don't want the added size of a 17". Who cares about the SD reader on current MBPs. It cost me $20 for a Belkin ExpressCard media card reader. I wish Apple would bring back the slot on what they claim is a power user machine.
 
I just received my Lacie USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34 and the new d2 Quadra USB 3.0 drive.

They both don't seem to work on my MacBook Pro running Lion. Can someone confirm Lion compatibility?

I went to Lacie's site and there is no mention of Lion anywhere. Does this mean I will never be able to use them on Lion?
 
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