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What do you guys do with your ExpressCard/34 slot?

mikeinternet

mikeinternet

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 1, 2006
630
2
Oaklnad, CA
I just got a macbook pro, and i'm curious what to do with the ExpressCard/34 slot. seems like i should get some use out of it.

-apple mentions a cellular 3g card but i'm not into any more monthly data fees.

- i found out about an hd tv tuner that can use it.

- and i pretty sure i can expand ports with it. (would they be just as fast as the built in ports?)

SO... what do you guys do with it?
 
Haven't done anything with it yet, but some album projects I've got coming up this next summer may require me to get an eSata card for super fast external harddrive access.
 
Teej guy said:
Haven't done anything with it yet, but some album projects I've got coming up this next summer may require me to get an eSata card for super fast external harddrive access.
Click to expand...

so a eSata drive through the ExpressCard/34 slot would be faster than a FW800 drive? I'm using this for protools and was looking forward to bumping up to 800 from 400.
 
mikeinternet said:
I just got a macbook pro, and i'm curious what to do with the ExpressCard/34 slot. seems like i should get some use out of it.

-apple mentions a cellular 3g card but i'm not into any more monthly data fees.

- i found out about an hd tv tuner that can use it.

- and i pretty sure i can expand ports with it. (would they be just as fast as the built in ports?)

SO... what do you guys do with it?
Click to expand...

I swap out a eSata card and a sdhc card reader. Just couldn't stand how slow a USB card reader was.
 
mikeinternet said:
so a eSata drive through the ExpressCard/34 slot would be faster than a FW800 drive? I'm using this for protools and was looking forward to bumping up to 800 from 400.
Click to expand...

The eSata spec speed-wise is exactly the same as normal SATA, so you'll get massive speed, faster than FW800. For the ultimate MacBook Pro ProTools rig, it would be fantastic. If you're using a Firewire interface, it also leaves the FW controller to do only audio, which I believe is a good idea when dealing with a whole bunch of 24/96 tracks going in and out.
 
darngooddesign said:
I wonder if anyone has made a small cooling fan to fit in there?
Click to expand...

no doubt theres some factory in china knocking them out, the thing ive learned with express card devices is that if you get them cheap they'll mess with your mac, and im not joking, because they've got direct access to your motherboard, and the cheaper devices arnt self power regulating.
 
I stick my finger in it to make sure the spring loaded mechanism is still fully functional, other than that, nothing.
 
UltraNEO which CF card reader do you have?? I cant find an expresscard one

EDIT: No worries I did a better search and found one!
 
Only problem with eSATA with the ExpressCard slot is that you can't boot from it. I was thinking of getting a 4 channel soundcard for mine, but am now unsure what the longterm future of my MBP will be, whether I'll sell it or eventually turn it into a home server of sorts.
 
Blue Velvet said:
Only problem with eSATA with the ExpressCard slot is that you can't boot from it.
Click to expand...

You can if you have 1) a Santa Rosa or later MBP and 2) a JMicron-based eSATA ExpressCard.

My Early 2008 MBP is at this very moment booted from a Samsung 750GB HD connected to a PPA 1172 eSATA ExpressCard.

I've been experimenting with this setup for a few weeks, but I'm still not convinced it's wise, mostly because the physical hardware of both eSATA and ExpressCard is so delicate and finicky. Already, I've had one hard system hang which console logs showed was attributable to the eSATA card. Fortunately, the only damage was a corrupted Mail database which I rebuilt.

The physical delicacy of eSATA is one reason it would be unwise for Apple to adopt it in place of FireWire, the other reason being the one-drive-per-slot limit. I hope USB 3 will perform sufficiently well to be a viable FW replacement.
 
dal20402 said:
You can if you have 1) a Santa Rosa or later MBP and 2) a JMicron-based eSATA ExpressCard.
Click to expand...

Really? That's news to my ears. Thanks. :)

As you say though, I still wouldn't like to entrust my boot drive to it for various reasons including reported problems with the card coming out at the slightest of knocks.
 
Teej guy said:
The eSata spec speed-wise is exactly the same as normal SATA, so you'll get massive speed, faster than FW800. For the ultimate MacBook Pro ProTools rig, it would be fantastic. If you're using a Firewire interface, it also leaves the FW controller to do only audio, which I believe is a good idea when dealing with a whole bunch of 24/96 tracks going in and out.
Click to expand...


faster than 800 yes, but not massively. Transfering from internal->esata or viceversa, I get roughly 75MB/s vs my FW800 getting about 50 (thats with a 2.5 HD also).

Now esata to esata, i see constant 100MB/s, thats massive.
 
kgeier82 said:
faster than 800 yes, but not massively. Transfering from internal->esata or viceversa, I get roughly 75MB/s vs my FW800 getting about 50 (thats with a 2.5 HD also).

Now esata to esata, i see constant 100MB/s, thats massive.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for some actual usage numbers. Which eSata card do you have and what kind of reliability have you experienced? (in terms of bumping it etc as has been mentioned in this thread)
 
Teej guy said:
Cool, thanks for some actual usage numbers. Which eSata card do you have and what kind of reliability have you experienced? (in terms of bumping it etc as has been mentioned in this thread)
Click to expand...


its labeled "Dynex" from Bestbuy. It is the same card on newegg by Rosewill though. 34$
 
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