Poll: would you buy a High Speed SSD card made for MBP ExpressCard slot?

[Consultant]

MacBook Pros have ExpressCard 34 slot. The bandwidth is there, but there doesn't seem to be any high speed SSD devices made for ExpressCard 34. High speed SSD cards are around 100MB read / write, or anything faster than harddrives, for example Mtron makes a number of high speed SSD drives (but no 34 card).

I think many professionals (photographers in particular) would be interested in getting a high speed SSD drive for on-location backup and scratch disk.

Note slower ExpressCard 34 SSD cards already exist for a few hundred dollars, but these are the slower version that are only USB speed. They are same slow usb speed as thumbdrives, but more expensive than thumbdrives of same capacity.

List your ideal SSD card config (or other usage ideas).

KEEP in mind the market price is 32gb high speed SSD in 2.5" goes for slightly over $1000, thus ExpressCard would be either at a lower capacity or a higher price, due to much smaller volume available than 2.5" drives.

 

[rhyx]

There used to be PCMCIA cards that had this capability. They never took off. I imagine ExpressCard "memory cards" will end up with the same fate.

 

[Consultant]

There used to be PCMCIA cards that had this capability. They never took off. I imagine ExpressCard "memory cards" will end up with the same fate.

That didn't work out probably because
- PCMCIA slots are slower than ExpressCard slots.
- The price is probably prohibitively high for relatively small storage size at the time. The price is still high for the average user, but definitely affordable for the pro user now (if they make one).

 

[UltraNEO*]

booting would be nice..

Hmm.... pity the mac doesn't have the ability to boot from the ExpressCard slot, it could of been a nice alternative...

 

[Consultant]

Hmm.... pity the mac doesn't have the ability to boot from the ExpressCard slot, it could of been a nice alternative...

Do you have a document on that? I thought if a volume can be mounted, then it can be bootable within OSX?

I have booted on my MBP:

OSX
OSX on DVD
OSX on Firewire drive
OSX on USB drive
Windows on CD and HD
Linux on optical media
Linux on USB thumbdrive

Edit to add:
Well, bootable except for some RAIDs of course.

People with eSATA typically have a RAID setup, so that might be why you think it can't be bootable? And I think it might depend on the eSATA card when it comes to harddrives?

 

[UltraNEO*]

Do you have a document on that? I thought if a volume can be mounted, then it can be bootable within OSX?

I have booted on my MBP:

OSX
OSX on DVD
OSX on Firewire drive
OSX on USB drive
Windows on CD and HD
Linux on optical media
Linux on USB thumbdrive

Nop, nothing solid yet!
Gimme a while and I'll probably try it myself!
But I do have doubts that not all cards are built the same, meaning some don't use the PCI bus.

 

[jturn00]

I was just looking into what I could use my Expresscard slot for. I saw on expresscard.org 2 or 3 manufacturers that make ssd expresscards (34mm) in sizes up to 16gb. But as someone previously said, they are expensive running around 300-500 dollars. Lexar and Delkin were the brands I was looking at. Not sure if they would fit flush into the express card slot though. I would hate to spend that money and find out I have some giant thing sticking out of my laptop.

 

[Consultant]

If you search "ssd expresscard" on newegg, you'll get to the slow but cheap SSD drives.

Lexar
4gb = $56
8gb = $90
16gb = $180

Transcend
32gb = $275, but reviews mention it's very slow.

Looks like they sit flush, because reviews for both the 32gb and 8gb said they sit flush.

At this price, I doubt they are even close to USB speed, although ExpressCard supports PCI-E speed on MBPs (note that as mentioned in the review for 8gb, many pcs might only have expresscard slots that support usb speed).

 

[kuebby]

If I could get a fast one, say maybe 16GB, for under $200 that was bootable I'd get one. I'd load OSX and my favorite apps onto it just to improve performance.

 

[UltraNEO*]

If I could get a fast one, say maybe 16GB, for under $200 that was bootable I'd get one. I'd load OSX and my favorite apps onto it just to improve performance.

making it bootable depends largely on the technology the card connects with. with that said, if you look at the card's specification and it's speed exceeds that of the USB2 standard, chances are it's not USB. Same goes for e-sata cards... many are still USB devices in the Expresscard format - bit of a con if you ask me.

 

[noodle654]

I dont see why anybody would waste their money on technology that is new and very expensive. Wait like 2-3 years...can you guys handle that?

 

[steeler]

I dont see why anybody would waste their money on technology that is new and very expensive. Wait like 2-3 years...can you guys handle that?

I second this. While I would love to have a fast, big (byte wise, not physical size) solid state storage device for the express card slot, it's just too expensive right now. SSD will become cheaper in just a couple years... much cheaper I imagine.

Until then, I'll have to live in a world of flash memory readers and Firewire, SATA, USB external drives.

 

[alphaod]

Just bought a SSD 2 days ago, got it yesterday, installed and set up; today it died on me. There goes all the money I spent, I thought; NewEgg is giving me a RMA and refund.

Hard drives have never failed me once; SSD failed me first time; I think I'll wait for the technology to mature and so should everyone else.

So I just bought the new Samsung 500GB to keep me company.

 

[Cloudsurfer]

I dont see why anybody would waste their money on technology that is new and very expensive. Wait like 2-3 years...can you guys handle that?

I know I can. In fact, until 256GB SSD's reach the Air at a reasonable price (100~200 euros) I will stick to platters.

 

[Consultant]

I dont see why anybody would waste their money on technology that is new and very expensive. Wait like 2-3 years...can you guys handle that?

Price is relative. Some people get $100 or more per hour on certain projects. For those people, time is money.

And no I don't want the cheap stuff that's below usb / harddrive speed.

 

[e12a]

Nope, you can't boot from Expresscard...at least from my superduper backup on my external via eSATA.

maybe if you install rEFIt...haven't tried it myself.