# Anyone have luck with eSATA express card



## holyc (Feb 22, 2005)

I bought a esata bytecc express card for my macbook pro. Cost was 43$ @ Canada Computers. I bought a cheap enclosure with a WD 500 gig drive. As soon as I installed the silicon image drivers for the express card, I've been having problems. The drive constantly dismounts with kernel panics. Thinking it might of been the cheap case, I purchased a Vantec esata + usb case. Same thing. Works fine in USB. So it has to be the express card. What I've found on some sites is some are succesful, while others are not. I'm about to give up on the esata unless someone has some positive experience. Maybe the cheap card, but they all use the same drivers. Anyone with some help?


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## WorldIRC (Mar 7, 2004)

Bytecc website only mentions Windows compat...no mention of Mac


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## holyc (Feb 22, 2005)

Yeah I know, but I read reviews with success on the macbook pro. Read one bad review that has the same problems I'm having. Guess it's my own fault for buying without proper support.


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## WorldIRC (Mar 7, 2004)

Try the Vantec enclosures...I've used them on Mac...via USB and Firewire and they've been flawless.


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## holyc (Feb 22, 2005)

I did end up buying a vantec enclosure. I thought that was the problem in the first place. Alas, looks like I have to dish out for a osx approved esata card.


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## Aero (Mar 2, 2006)

I saw this topic while I was trying to decide on getting the bytecc esata expresscard. It works on my end flawlessly. Good thing my gamble worked.


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## Greg H (Jan 4, 2002)

Aero said:


> I saw this topic while I was trying to decide on getting the bytecc esata expresscard. It works on my end flawlessly. Good thing my gamble worked.


Does this mean you have the eSATA Expresscard running?


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## Aero (Mar 2, 2006)

Greg H said:


> Does this mean you have the eSATA Expresscard running?


Yup, the Bytecc expresscard 2 port esata card with a vantec enclosure. I benchmarked it and its faster than my internal drive. (laptop drive)


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## WorldIRC (Mar 7, 2004)

This is EXCELLENT news.. I may just try it now!


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## Aero (Mar 2, 2006)

2nd update.

Things might be a little excellent.  

I bought my Vantec Nexstar 3 SATA - USB/eSATA enclosure a year ago, this was the one that I used. It works great with the Bytecc 2 eSATA expresscard/34. I recently bought another Vantec Nexstar 3 enclosure (same model). So I installed the HDD and plugin the eSATA. At first it wants to initialize (which is normal). I tried to partition using diskutil but there's an error. I tried to boot my mac os x dvd and use the diskutil there but the expresscard does not work (most likely no drivers). I used the USB and I partitioned it and formatted. So I boot to mac os x again but no luck. It doesnt recognize the drive. So I was thinking, maybe its having trouble reading the HDD because its 500gb or something. I tried switching drive with the old one and the 500 gb mounted. So I thought that the enclosure must be busted. I tried another test. I booted win xp (using boot camp). Im surprise that computer management recognize both drives. Right now I'm not sure if the driver, the enclosure or the expresscard that's causing the trouble. My next step is to do a clean install and update to 10.4.9 (for some reason I have trouble mounting my other enclosures with 10.4.10. 

Here's a pic, you can see the difference.

The top one is the new one (I haven't even remove the plastic).
The bottom one is the older one.


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## Aero (Mar 2, 2006)

I had both enclosure to work BUT its havinv trouble reading the newer enclosure. It either prematurely disconnects (I get the warning window saying that it was disconnected) or my computer will freeze whenever I open it. I have no problem with the older one though. I am gonna stop now before I corrupt my files :lmao: . I will try Coolermaster or the Bytecc enclosure next. lol


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## i stole this name (May 9, 2005)

Expresscard/34 esata controller available from Addonics - Mac Forums


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## kevinf (Aug 17, 2007)

Aero said:


> I had both enclosure to work BUT its havinv trouble reading the newer enclosure. It either prematurely disconnects (I get the warning window saying that it was disconnected) or my computer will freeze whenever I open it. I have no problem with the older one though. I am gonna stop now before I corrupt my files :lmao: . I will try Coolermaster or the Bytecc enclosure next. lol


I have the same card and Vantec enclosure. In my experience:

The Bytecc card works absolutely perfectly with the MacBook Pro. You might want to grab the latest drivers from Silicon Image.

The Vantec enclosure works fine for me, but only at SATA 150 speeds. I believe this is due to the USB circuitry. Make sure you have the latest firmware for your Vantec. It might be spinning your drive down when it shouldn't be. I had that problem with their USB/Firewire enclosure. 

Now I only buy what I call "dumb" eSATA enclosures--the ones with no USB or FireWire connectors and that just pass the SATA wires out to the external connector. With these I get full SATA 300 speeds and have achieved some VERY fast speeds, especially when striping two drives together. 

Xbench: Comprehensive Macintosh Benchmarking

I hope someone finds this useful!

-- K


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## lostchild (Jul 25, 2005)

bump

i'm in the same boat. 

Should I get the vantec enclosure or is everyone not getting the full SATA 300MB/sec speeds or whatever it claims?

Vantec vs Bytecc?


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## ender78 (Jan 23, 2005)

Can people please post and/or msg me with a link to where they bought their eSata cards.


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

The difference between SATA-150 and SATA-300 is immaterial for single drives -- there isn't a drive mechanism made that will saturate a SATA-150 connection.

The only time it will make a practical difference is if you have a port multiplier card, and a RAIDED array at the end of the cable.

But a single connection to a single drive? Not so much.

Now, if an enclosure has a bridge board that is slowing the eSATA connection down below 150, that's a different story.

Mac- compatible eSATA cards are available from Firmtek and Sonnet, and can be bought from the usual dealers who support ehMac.


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## lostchild (Jul 25, 2005)

CanadaRAM said:


> The difference between SATA-150 and SATA-300 is immaterial for single drives -- there isn't a drive mechanism made that will saturate a SATA-150 connection.
> 
> The only time it will make a practical difference is if you have a port multiplier card, and a RAIDED array at the end of the cable.
> 
> ...



the firmtek and sonnet cost arm and leg though...

Thanks for the insight! 

i just wanted to make sure and not end up where i buy everything and find out later that if i spent $10 more i could've double the speed....

My set up currently is:
500gig on firewire 400 (main working drive)
160 gig on USB 2.0 (third back up)
Macbook Pro (the very first ones out)


My 320 gig on usb 2, died of fat32 fatness...physical damage to the tables...yay.

What i'm looking for is a new 500 gig to be my main working drive and the older 500 gig on secondary backup. Right now I think i want a firewire/usb2/eSATA enclosure so I can use firewire for the time being and when I find a cheaper expresscard that's around $40-50 i'll get that. 

I haven't kept up with all these new drives and sata. 

thanks CanadaRAM!


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