Best Express Card?

I have a Sony A1U and I want to begin taping in 1080i and editing on my MacBook Pro Dual Core. Does anyone have any experience with the cards listed below? I plan on purchasing a card tonight or tomorrow morning, but I would like to know if those on my list are good. If those are not good, can you post a solid express card...sata or fw800? my only problem with SATA, is that I can't find any portable, bus powered SATA drives like the Lacie All-Terrain.
The cards I am reviewing to purchase :
Belkin FW 800 Express Card
SIIG FW 800, 1-Port card
2-Port NitroAV FireWire800/1394b Pro Express Card (34mm)

Check this out:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=002&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3A IT&viewitem=&item=120044861033&rd=1&rd=1
Supports MacOSX, Linux, Windows with RAID and FIC based switching (port multiplier), so you can use one cable to connect up to 5 drives. Thats 10 drives for this card in total.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-Bay-HotSwap-SATA-eSATA-PORT-MULTIPLIER-Enclosure-Case_W0 QQitemZ120083480944QQihZ002QQcategoryZ3757QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem
This is one of those cases which comes with port multiplier. It's big and heavy, but you can get up to 300 Mbytes/s drive speed (have to use 4 or more drives for that).
I just bought all of this equipment and waiting for it to come .
Here is official web site for SATA technology info:
http://www.sata-io.org/portmultiplier.asp
Regards,
Ayrat.
MBP 15.4" Core Duo 2.16Ghz, 1GB DDR2, 256 GDDR3, 100GB HDD Mac OS X (10.4.8) + Windows XP Pro SP2

Similar Messages

NitroAV FireWire 800/1394b Express Card (34)

After some foot dragging by FireWire direct, today I finally received the NitroAV FireWire 800/1394b Express Card ordered almost a month ago.
First Impressions: Unimpressive at best.
According to the FireWire direct rep, it is supposed to work using the Mac OS built in drivers and require no additional driver....
Upon first insertion, my MacBook Pro promptly went into a kernel panic.
NOT a good introductory performance!
Upon restart, I did get the thing to work, "sort of".
First, it requires AC power even with a 2.5" external drive meant for bus power. Bummer, but so be it. However, less acceptable: it is VERY fussy about sequence, reminding me of evil SCSI voodoo rituals from the past century. Seems it only likes to work once- if I remove the card, it requires a reboot to recognize anything attached to it subsequently.
Functionality is intermittent. Sometimes I can mount and unmount a drive several times in a row, sometimes just once before it fails to recognize the drive and requires another reboot. One drive it took a long time to recognize but eventually it did- only to freeze up rock solid soon thereafter requiring an uncomfortable long push on the power button to shut down- nothing else worked. That drive was a known to be working Lacie, the first a known to be working WiebeTech and both are totally reliable on my G5 and previously completely reliable on the MacBook Pro using the integrated FireWire 400 port.
Unscientific results so far show a modest speed increase transferring a few large files, nothing like double the FireWire 800 speed hoped for. In any case if it ain't reliable it ain't gettin' used. Hoping for a driver solution in 10.4.7? (Wishful thinking)
No one likes a fussy device, much less one doomed to corrupting directories with that kind of behavior. I'm disappointed with Apple for omitting the FireWire 800 port on the 15 inch model and leaving us with this cheesy "solution".
I am not a big fan of dongles, or things like Express cards which are just asking for trouble by introducing intermediary third party connectivity issues exactly like these...
Oh yeh, and the little metal door on the Express Card slot tends to hang open and not snap closed- just to add insult to the whole process.

Well, after two days of use I have a bit of data regarding the NitroAV (and Apple's implementation of ExpressCard/34).
First some general observations: like bigwheel, there are a few too many rough edges to be fully pleased. After inserting the card, a menu bar icon appears next to the Airport icon. On mouse over, the drop down shows "Unknown Vendor" and "Firewire Controller" are greyed out, while the 3rd "Power off Card" is selectable but does NOT power down the card. Looks like I have to shut down the MBP, then eject the Nitro card.
I also can confirm intermittent unmounting and remounting. My latest experiment is to leave the drive mounted and then have it wake up after sleep. So far it's worked once, but will post if it continues to find my FW 800 drive over time.
One major design flaw of the ExpressCard implementation - to engage the card you push in until it clicks, while to disengage the card you merely push in a second time. But how are you supposed to ATTACH FW800 cables?? I find I have to try to hold the ExpressCard firmly so it doesn't go in while fumbling with the FW800 connector. WAY too fussy...
OK, here's some actual test data, involving transfers of 1,000 MB of files (147 Canon RAW files, approx 7 MB each).
I used three hard drives for various transfers -
1. Internal stock 100 GB - 5400 rpm (TOSHIBA MK1032GSX)
2. FW 800 / 400 500 GB - 7200 rpm (Seagate 3500841A in OWC Mercury Elite case)
3. FW 800 / 400 250 GB - La Cie 7200 rpm drive
All test are transfer of 1 GB of files from HD to HD-
Test 1: Internal to FW 400 - 68 seconds
Test 2: Internal to FW 800 - 65 seconds
Test 3: MBP built in FW 400 daisy-chained - 54 seconds
Test 4: Nitro FW 800 daisy chained - 43 seconds
Test 5: Nitro FW 800 port A to Nitro FW 800 port B - 43 seconds
Test 6: MBP built in FW 400 to Nitro FW 800 - 35 seconds
So it looks like there is some speed increase, but I was surprised that mixing the FW 400 and FW 800 ports gave the fastest transfer speeds! The Nitro card is dependent on Apple's implementation of buses, and this seems to be the winning combo. Not that intuitive that shifting one of the FW 800 devices down to FW 400 will speed things up, but that's what my simple test seemed to imply.
I didn't test read times only, but it would seem that these should speed up (and hopefully speed up my primary application of Aperture).
MBP 2.0, 2GB Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Spectrum Expert - USB or Express Card

The Spectrum Expert is a great tool but the problem is to find a notebook with a PC-Card / PCMCIA slot.
I know that there are adapters available for EC to PC-Card but I think this is not a solution for customers.
I didn't find any information on the Cisco website about an alternative.
Question: When will be a Spectrum Expert Card available with USB or EC connector?

Hi Irina and Scott,
I know the AP SE-Connect feature but we need a portable solution.
Cisco should think about a USB or Express Card solution.
The APs are working with the Spectrum Expert and it will be hard to explain to a customer that he should use a 3rd party solution to get a mobile solution.
Thanks and best regards,
Carsten

Which is the best WLAN card for my lenovo x200 notebook?

Hello!
I hope somebody could help for me. I bought a new Lenovo X200 notebook but it hasn't got WLAN card. So I have to buy a mini PCI-E WLAN card. In my notebook there is a webcam so I find only 2 wlan cable (1 black and 1 grey). The question is: witch is the best WLAN card for me?
Intel 5100
Intel 5300
or
ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter
Please help me.
I can use intel 5300 (it has 3 connection port) if I have only 2 cable?

On the Lenovo X200 support page you will find the X200 Hardware Maintenance Manual which lists all the parts in the X200.
You will find there that the 43Y6493 is Lenovo's Intel 5100.
I don't work for Lenovo. I'm a crazy volunteer!

Express Card 34

Does anyone know if an adaptor exists to adapt a Compact Flash card into the Express Card 34 slot on a MBP? If not how about CF to Firewire or USB?

There is an adapter by Delkin Devices called the eFilm express card 34 compact flash adapter. Cost = $60 I haven't ever tried it so I can't comment on how well it works but there is one out there if you want to use the EC 34 slot for CF card reader.
But what I use is a typical Sandisk Compact flash card reader via USB2. It's a lot cheaper and the speeds are fast enough. My CF use is for digital photography. Got mine at Best Buy, I believe. You can also, of course, buy a firewire CF reader for the speed of transfer only, if that is very important to you, but the cost for those is expensive too.
Also, the CF adapter for express card 34, I am pretty sure that it is NOT flush with the mac book pro when inserted, so it will stick out there a ways, so it wouldn't probably be an adapter you'd want to leave installed if you move your laptop around a lot. That was the reason I decided to stick with the USB2 CF reader.
Hope the info helps.
Regards.

Firewire adapter or express card???

Trying to upload video from my camcorder to my Toshiba satellite A135 but I have no firewire port.... I'm so confused as to if I need a firewire adapter or express card and unfortunately the guys at my best buy are no help at all someone help please

Tape based camcorders have been phased out a number of years now.
It's hard enough to train staff on new and current products. Training staff skills to answer questions about products they no longer sell is much harder
Your camcorder is a MiniDV based camera, so a firewire port is best for asynchronous transfer to minimized dropped frames. Some firewire ports plug into an express card slot.
To clarify, what software are you planning to edit your footage? Some software products may include the necessary port.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Pinnacle+-+Studio+MovieBox+Ultimate+Collection+USB+2.0+Video+Capture+Har...
Reviewing your computer...
it appears you might have a low to mid-range duo core laptop from 2007.... expect your video editing to be slow.
120gb @ 5400rpm may mean your hard drive will be filling up quickly. 1hr of MiniDV footage is 13.7gb. You need work space, swap space and also output space.
Does your laptop only have 1gb of RAM??? You're going to be in pain.
some models already come with a firewire port.
You might want to look at a new quad-core machine.

R61i USB 3.0, 54mm EXPRESS CARD adapter

Hi there again.
After doing all the possible upgrades on my laptop ThinkPad R61i TYPE 7650-D7G 15.4in,
I have this problem with the Express Card slot.
I've bought this 54mm USB 3.0 express card but when I stick it into the slot it doesn't seem to fit. It just gets into the slot without "locking" anywhere.
So my question is this. Is there something wrong with my card (new buy) or doesn't my laptop accept such a card?
Is it just a CardBus slot? And if so, is there a way (adapter, hardware) to use my USB 3.0 Express Card?
Here's a photo of the card I bought. This cable came with the Express Card. Don't really know what it's for... It seems that one end goes into the slot between the Card's 2 usb slots.
Link to image
Thanx a lot.
just found this... would this work or won't i get the actual usb 3.0 speed?
http://www.amtron.com/expresscard/cbexp34a.htm
Moderator comment: Image(s) >50KB converted to link(s). Community Rules.

To answer the question in your first post, the USB cable that came with the ExpressCard was for power. The other end would have connected to one of your laptop's existing USB ports. You would've used that for certain devices which required more power, in which case you would've only gained 1 USB 3.0 port, not 2
The picture of your laptop (with the "O" on the eject button) means you definitely have a CardBus PC Card slot, not an ExpressCard slot. You won't be able to use that ExpressCard. PC Card, also referred to as PCMCIA card, is an older, slower technology. As you now realize, a 68-pin Cardbus PC card will fit that slot. If your objective is to gain extra USB ports, your best bet is to return that ExpressCard and search for "usb pc card" online. There are PC Cards which provide 2 USB ports or even 4 USB ports. However, you will be limited to USB 2.0 speeds. Yes, you could use a CardBus-to-ExpressCard Adapter but, once again, you will be limited to USB 2.0 speeds. (Also note the one you link to in your first post converts PC Card to ExpressCard/34 only). An even more inexpensive solution may be a "USB port hub."
Basic comparison/ diagrams and size charts of PC Card, ExpressCard/34 and ExpressCard/54 here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExpressCard
Have a great day. (I do not work for Lenovo)

FW Express card

for some reason i can't post in the Mac book pro forum, but wondered if anyone was using or had a recommendation for a Firewire 800 Express card.
I have a WD 800 HD and Saffire pro 26 (fw400). I want to put my drive on a separate bus and get max speed. Anyone know if you actually get the full 800 speed using express card (another user posted a speed test with 56mbs instead of 80mbs when using express card)
cheers
JD

FWIW, For maximum HD speed, your best bet is to get an Express Card eSATA controller... and use an eSATA HD.
I'm doing this - note that under Leopard, there are some compatibility issues in the driver for the Sil3132 (the chip inside virtually all the current expresscard eSATA cards), that cause a variety of issues if you have an external HD that has multiple interfaces (ie, USB+eSATA, FW+eSATA etc).
On my WD MyBook drive, the disk hangs after half an hour or so, so I've moved this back to the FW port until these issues get resolved in the next driver version. My other audio drive is Ok on eSATA I think...
It is pleasantly faster than FW....

W540 Express Card Chipset

Hi there,
I'm trying to figure out if I can use my RME Fireface 800 Audio Interface with the W540. It is firewire 800 so my two options are either thunderbolt > firewire adapter....or getting a firewire card for the Express 34 slot. Could anyone tell me if the express card slot uses the Texas Instruments chipset? This is the best one for audio and other makes seem to be problematic.
Many thanks
Owen

I was incorrect, as the device I was connecting appears to contain a bridge. The ExpressCard interface is via Intel(R) 8 Series/C220 Series PCI Express Root Port #3 - 8C14.
Yes, it uses the Texas Instruments XIO3130, datasheet at http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/xio3130.pdf

Suggestions for express card/cingular

I'm looking for the best options for an express card/34 for macbook pro that will work with Cingular service (only available service option for offshore in the Gulf of Mexico region).
I see that Cingular will soon be offering a GT Max 3.6 express card, but specifications only list for windows operating systems?
http://business.cingular.com/businesscenter/pciexpress/?_requestid=177996
Also found the very pricey Novatel Wireless Merlin XU870 3G HSDPA 3.6/7.2 Mbps ExpressCard ($399) - but know nothing yet about it's support for mac.
http://www.mobileplanet.com/p.aspx?i=141035
Any feedback from users who've found a successful express card option for cingular wireless service and the macbook would be welcome.
Thanks!
macbook pro, macbook Mac OS X (10.4.9)
macbook pro, macbook Mac OS X (10.4.9)

I posted in reply to a similar question. You might find the answer useful:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4460804#4460804

Express Card, 3/4 Slot Wireless Usage

I currently have a powerbook G4 15" (1.67 GHz) and that I use for travel. I would like to use the MacBook Pro but the Express Card slot is smaller than the one on my Powerbook.
Has anyone had any success with a wireless broadband card (cell phone card) on the MacBook Pro? I have verizon, but am willing to switch. I was told it was compatible???
Please Advise...

Hi,
Take a look at this;
http://www.gearlive.com/index.php/news/article/verizon-v640-evdo-expresscard-rev iew-810527/
Also - and I can't say I know anything about this, but as the MBP has bluetooth - could a bluetooth enabled phone perform the same task? Might be worth asking Verizon.
Best of luck

High Capacity storage using Express Card slot

Hi guys,
I know this probably isn't the right forum but I couldn't find a more appropriate one.
I've got a MacBook Pro 2.16ghz Intel Core Duo and I need serious storage options!
I'm basically looking for high capacity RAID 5 storage to store/edit/capture onto. I edit mostly on SD but sometimes HDV (I own an HVR-Z1E). I've got a first edition MacBook Pro and so only have one firewire port which will be taken up when capturing by the camera.
I'm probably going to have to use the express card slot but haven't really thought about what card/wires yet. I'm wanting to spend under £1000 in total and would ideally like Raid 5 configuration to build some safety into my system (lost a project through a broken drive the other day). I'm hoping for a 2tb system or there abouts but am happy to go for less and keep plugging in more HDD later.
I was considering this la cie: http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=10850 but I'm very open to suggestion and at the moment am most concerned about data rate especially on capture. On RAID 5 is that a problem with this drive if I connected with USB2.0?
Sorry for the odd placement (I'd be happy to re-post in a more appropriate forum if that's useful).
All the best,
Dan

I've been thinking on simlar lines.
found this,
http://www.span.com/catalog/productinfo.php?productsid=15993
or
http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/productinfo.php?productsid=373
And maybe one of these.
http://www.span.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1913021329
or
http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/productinfo.php?productsid=260
with some of these
http://www.span.com/catalog/productinfo.php?cPath=23_502_568&productsid=7732
Alternatively you set up a gigabit network and use some NAS drives.... choices choices.
This stuff seems to have good reviews.
http://www.sansdigital.com/synology.html
Happy shopping....
MPB 2.33 15" 3GB Mac OS X (10.4.9) parallels and bootcamp are the furure...

64 bit 10.6 on Express card SSD?

I have read that if you had a boot Express Card SSD that it is possible to install Bootcamp or another OS onto it and run that OS off the Express Card SSD. I still have OS 10.5.8 on my Macbook Pro because there are some applications I have that will not run in a 64 bit environment. I'd like to know if it is possible to install the 64 Bit 10.6 on the Express card and still use the 32 bit 10.5.8 on my hard drive or vise versa or will my Macbook Pro be stuck in 64 bit processing once I install 10.6?

OS X on your machine already is running 64-bit unless you are referring to booting the 64-bit kernel. If that's not the case then both 32-bit and 64-bit software will run in the same OS X environment. For best results upgrade to Snow Leopard which runs the entire OS in 64-bit mode.

Ssd express card on macbook pro (late 2010)

could I use a ssd express card to run Win7 and/or OS X as a startup disk?
What size of ssd card would I require? any recommended ssd express card brands?
Thanks
Macbook Pro 17" 2.8 Ghz | 7200 HDD | 4 GB Ram | Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Greetings Jon,
I'm guessing from your description that you were using FaceTime Beta. With the release of the full version of FaceTime for sale in the Mac Appstore, the Beta is no longer available through Apple. If you have backups (which everyone with anything they care about on their computer should) you could restore the App from your backup.
If you don't like using a credit card online you can go buy an App Store gift card in a local store and add credit to your account to purchase it.
Best of luck!

Express Card/34 - what is it??

Looking on the left side of my MBP - what is the section that has a little trap door? On the apple site - it says Express Card/34. Anyone know what this is??

Hi,
Questions of this sort are best answered with a tiny bit of Internet search. Wikipedia is a truly amazing repository of information. To wit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExpressCard
And whenever there's a hardware standard behind a technology there's an industry organization and / or a standards body and it's all on the Web. And it perhaps bears mentioning that while Apple pushes the envelope and often adopts upcoming rather than well-established standards, it does pretty much use standardized technologies.
You can expect the Wikipedia article to link to the standards and / or trade group Web sites, and this case is no exception.
Randall Schulz
iMac 20" Core Duo; MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Best Express Card?

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