Mustek Scanexpress A3 USB 1200 Pro Problems

Hello. I can't get my Mac Desktop Pro to recognize my new scanner since I upgraded to Snow Leopard. Mustek's website doesn't have a new driver and I am waiting for a response to my e-mail that I sent 2 days ago.
Anyone else have this problem or a solution?
Thanks;
Henry

I have adopted a work around to solve (my) problem.
I don't trust Mustek nor Apple to find a solution any time soon, or later.
I'm using a virtual machine created with Parallels Desktop 4. VMWare can be used too.
I use the virtual machine as a "layer" that supports a scanner application. I mean, with Windows 7 running, optimized for speed, set with a large virtual memory and the strictly necessary programs running in the background.
The virtual machine itself was optimized accordingly with my MacMini.
Once I got this light and fast machine and a fast and light Windows 7, I installed "Vuescan", and (among other preferences), I set it to save the scanned files in the Mac Desktop.
It runs and scans even faster that in the previous OS X Leopard, when ironically the scanner drivers ran natively in the Mac and with Photoshop CS3 and CS4 (for MAC)
Here you have some shots of my configuration:
Parallels machine menu: The scanner-machine in suspend mode for faster start:
http://img.skitch.com/20091031-geqkrjwakfjnusxw7w6k73p5qm.jpg
The machine selected and ready to start:
http://img.skitch.com/20091031-gkkpwsaia7a7axu3e2g7tq8rsw.jpg
The (application) started maximized in the machine, so it looks like the application running by itself on the Mac desktop:
http://img.skitch.com/20091031-fx6fafedcicj54iqgjx3gjsgpq.jpg
Making a preview with the scanner:
http://img.skitch.com/20091031-bia7w5pucb9rfx7isjsbg5dwwq.jpg
Scanning the selection field:
http://img.skitch.com/20091031-8t3ngftuyyas526a2ugybfypga.jpg
Setting up the default "Save" folder:
http://img.skitch.com/20091031-rk6ekhjcygkbkd8y8up3kg3hdj.jpg
File saved conveniently on my desktop, so I don't have the go for it through the virtual machine and do additional steps like drag 'n drop or copy and paste:
http://img.skitch.com/20091031-j7bs7pxuaftcpxx3finx428tx3.jpg
This can be made using Windows XP, Vista and any other application for scanning, i.e. Photoshop.
I will stick with this solution until I can!

Similar Messages

Mustek Scanexpress A3 USB 1200 Pro Poor Image Quality

I just got the large format A3 USB 1200 Pro to replace an older Epson large format scanner that only works sometimes in Leopard. I'm using the provided 10.4-10.5 drivers through CS1 and find the scanned images VERY soft/blurry. A side by side comparison of the same scanned subject show a LOT more detail in the scan from the older scanner, and this is just at 300ppi!
The Mustek is a fraction of the price, but I was hoping to have significantly better scan quality than what I am seeing. Anyone have any ideas, perhaps someone that has this model? Would a different driver yield better results? Could the scanner hardware be off? It is an odd scanner in that there is no on or off switch and it only comes to life when a scan job is sent through via the Photoshop import. I have tried contacting Mustek but have not heard anything back yet.
Thanks.

Templeton Peck wrote:
Mustek scanners are awful and they have never fully supported Macs...
And you get what you pay for. Good quality Epson and HP scanners are so cheap these days, I suggest you just save yourself the hassle, get one and return the Mustek.
Thanks Templeton, but I think the image quality would be below the standards of even a value brand company such as Mustek. It does scan, but I am wondering if some setting is off or even if there is a hardware issue.
I was aware of Mustek's questionable reputation when ordering the scanner, but there were enough good reviews warrant giving it a shot. Cost is an issue and you you can find an A3 or larger scanner that works with the latest OS X for well under $1000, I'd be interested. As it is, I don't have the $2000+ that it looks like it would cost.
Thanks.

Mustek ScanExpress A3 USB 1200 Pro Flatbed Scanner

Has anyone experience with this scanner? At newegg.com the price ($165.99) looks good and the document size 11.7"x16.5 seems great for music which is often larger than letter size.

G'morning!
Hardy, I came very close to downloading the wrong driver because the paperwork inside the scanner box was for the 2400 - I realized at the last minute that something didn't sound right and got the correct one.
Geoffrey, oh boy. I think that you have given me something to try and a heads-up to the reason it hasn't worked thus far. The link to the driver you gave is the very one that MUSTEK had me download. The driver that ADOBE had me download was here: (I hope but if the link doesn't work the name of the dmg is in it)
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/search/index.cfm?loc=enus&term=PHSPCS4_ContLS1.dmg&siteSection=support%3Adownloads
In the file structure for PSe8, the folder Plug-Ins has 10 sub-folders. OK. The twain.plugin that came with the original installation of the PSe8 program was placed in a sub-folder called Import Modules (where it remains). The twain.plugin that I downloaded per MUSTEK's instructions, the same one you used, was placed at their instruction in a sub-folder called Extensions. The third twain.plugin (can you believe it?) that ADOBE had me download was placed at their instruction in a sub-folder called File Formats.
The one thing ADOBE had me do that Mustek did not, was to add the folder pointer under Preferences/Plug-Ins in PSe8.
The documentation that came with the package you used, and that MUSTEK recommended directs the plug-in to be placed in Import-Export. That sounds similar to the folder called Import Modules, where the program's own pre-installed plug-in resides.
I hope this is clearer than my own confusion makes it seem to me (keeping all the variations straight is making me dizzy). I am going to try to use the plug-in you are using, place it in the Extensions sub-folder that MUSTEK wanted and then add the folder pointer in preferences. I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough at this point to try replacing the program's original plug-in with the legacy version. I just don't know what other implications that would have.
Of course, I could use all this as the perfect excuse to treat myself to an upgrade to Photoshop.
I really appreciate the input you all have given me, and your patience with a newbie. While I do want the scanner to work, I am very much enjoying this as an opportunity to learn more about my Mac and how it works. A week ago I had no idea of "TWAIN" and laughed at the "Technology Without An Informative Name" and other versions. If I get something to work, I'll post the specifics of what went where to make it happen.
Thanks! MJ

Mustek scanexpress a3 usb 2400 pro

Hi,
So at work I was trying to hook up this scanner I have near my station, a mustek scanexpress a3 usb 2400 pro, but I can't detect it.
I downloaded the latest drivers off the Mustek website and I tried using Vuescan, Image capture and Photoshop to see if I could get it to work, but nothing.
It wasn't detected in the preferences Scanner and Printer utility.
My coworker who runs a windows machine got it to work without any issues.
Anyone have any good fixes for this?
Thanks

Templeton Peck wrote:
Mustek scanners are awful and they have never fully supported Macs...
And you get what you pay for. Good quality Epson and HP scanners are so cheap these days, I suggest you just save yourself the hassle, get one and return the Mustek.
Thanks Templeton, but I think the image quality would be below the standards of even a value brand company such as Mustek. It does scan, but I am wondering if some setting is off or even if there is a hardware issue.
I was aware of Mustek's questionable reputation when ordering the scanner, but there were enough good reviews warrant giving it a shot. Cost is an issue and you you can find an A3 or larger scanner that works with the latest OS X for well under $1000, I'd be interested. As it is, I don't have the $2000+ that it looks like it would cost.
Thanks.

Mustek A3 USB 1200 Pro-blems.

I bought a Mustek A3 USB 1200 pro and haven't been able to find any answers online on how to get it to work with my macbook. The software included isn't an option and I'm using CS2 or CS3. Any suggestions? The Mustek site seems to be outdated. I DLed Sane and changed some lines of code as one site suggested but I realized it was in referrence to a version of PS that I wasn't using and I'm not sure how to reset it, or if it matters that I do. Any help would be greatly appreciated, finally getting an 11 x 17 scanner was supposed to be awesome, no more crappy paste ups from all-in-ones, but alas, still no scanning...
Daniel

Templeton Peck wrote:
Mustek scanners are awful and they have never fully supported Macs...
And you get what you pay for. Good quality Epson and HP scanners are so cheap these days, I suggest you just save yourself the hassle, get one and return the Mustek.
Thanks Templeton, but I think the image quality would be below the standards of even a value brand company such as Mustek. It does scan, but I am wondering if some setting is off or even if there is a hardware issue.
I was aware of Mustek's questionable reputation when ordering the scanner, but there were enough good reviews warrant giving it a shot. Cost is an issue and you you can find an A3 or larger scanner that works with the latest OS X for well under $1000, I'd be interested. As it is, I don't have the $2000+ that it looks like it would cost.
Thanks.

Mustek ScanExpress A3 USB wide format scanner - any experiences?

Greetings.
At $200 (new) this looks too good to be true.
As usual, they barely mention Mac interface, but they do say that it works with OS 9 (not OS X).
Thanks for your time!
Regards from sunny Vermont, where Spring has finally arrived.

Joe- thanks for the nod. The instalation procedure we posted at the Mercury Studio blog has been confirmed on a whole bunch of pre-intel macs on most versions of OSX, but I haven't heard if anyone's using it with the latest machines. (presumably if you can afford a state-of-the-art Mac, you can spring for a better scanner than the Mustek.)
There are two downsides to the Mustek. One, they aren't terribly sturdy. It's got a plastic drive chain that can just wear out. We went through three or four of them. And two, their resolution maxes out at 300 dpi. (Weirdly, it has a setting for up to 600 dpi but I'm told that that data is "interpolated," a process best described as "the software looks at two pixels and makes a guess what color should go between them.") We were able to make do for several years with 300 dpi scans, and there are dozens of comic books out there containing art we scanned on our Musteks.
In the past year or so, we've moved up to a couple of Epson 836xls and we couldn't be happier. It's an old model, so you can somethimes find good deals on the 836xl on ebay, but please note that it's scsi only, so you'll need either a scsi card or the ratoc firewire to scsi converter (and the 50f MicroD to 50m Cent adapter) to get it working. Also the 836 doesn't come with OSX software, so you'd need to purchase a copy of Vuescan.
Steve Lieber
http://stevelieber.com
Big ol' G5 cheesegrater Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Leopard and the Mustek A3 usb 1200 Scanner?

Hello,
I have been attempting to connect a Mustek A3 usb 1200 scanner to a macbook 2.0
I have tried downloading installing/packages from this site...(in order)
1.0 http://www.ellert.se/twain-sane/
but alas the scanner still doesn't function.
2.0 The Sys Profiler, reads it,
3.0 The "A3 1200 USB" option appears when in Photoshop for import still no results
4.0 Silverfast seems to want to read it, but its unregistered...need registration number, copy(?)
5.0 HPScan Pro doesn't read it (different Brand, I know)
6.0 Vue scan 8.5 (registered) doesn't read it either
7.0 Lastly I am attempting to load PC P-shop on Boot camp (XP) to scan, the free Text recognition software can use it in XP via Boot camp, but doesn't read the image as an "image" need a an edit image program for that...hence incoming p-shop
8.0 What about Image capture, how would I set the App to use the scanner?
Any other suggestions?
Message was edited by: Maczbook

I can now see it in Image Aquire ... image capture does not see it nor does VueScan.
Image aquire is a horrible program. It crashes continually.
I still have no idea where the driver files that I have downloaded are. I cant find them anywhere. Admittedly I know very very little about how the computer runs ...I just use the programs. And, I believe reasonably, that when I purchase a product that it will work on my operating system. The business that I purchased from will be open tomorrow and I will ring them. If I cannot sort this out I will have to return it.

Windows 8 USB 3.0 Problems

I have run into many USB 3.0 problems across multiple devices and computers running Windows 8 Pro 64-bit. After many headaches and sleepless nights I think I have narrowed all the problems down to one thing in Device Manager:
"Intel (R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller -0100 (Microsoft)”
The controllers (Multiple Computers) have had problems with all the Microsoft Drivers including the most resent: 6.2.9200.16548 3/1/2013
The problems:
USB 3.0 External Optical Drives (labeled Windows 8 compatible) not recognized or continuously disconnecting/reconnecting with or without manufacturers drivers.
USB 3.0 Flash drives running slow and/or disconnecting often with data corruption/loss
USB 3.0 Flash drives not recognized
My solution: <Disabled> “Intel xHCI Mode” or “XHCI Pre-Boot Mode” in BIOS/Firmware
This solution Takes the
"Intel (R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller -0100 (Microsoft)” out of Device Manager and eliminates all the problems stated above across multiple machines running Windows 8 Pro 64-bit.
However: This is not a fix.
The Intel USB 3.0 controllers on the machines seam to only run at 2.0 speeds. (Before they were also slow but much less functional, often not recognizing devices)
Non-Intel USB 3.0 controllers are fully functional at full USB 3.0 speeds. (Before they had limited or no function depending on the controller)
This appears to be a fix for non-Intel USB 3.0 controllers but what about the Intel controllers that take the lion’s share of USB 3.0 controllers on the market?
Dose Microsoft have a fix for
"Intel (R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller -0100 (Microsoft)”
Is there a new Microsoft driver coming out soon? How about an Intel driver for Windows 8 like the one they have for 7?
Am I the only one who is being slammed with this problem from every windows 8 machine I touch? I have not seen a large amount of discussion on the internet with such a seemingly big thing like USB 3.0 not working with Windows 8!

Hi I guess I am going to add a few more flies to the ointment.
I have a serious issue with USB 3.0 and I would like to hope that somebody may have an answer even if they are unable to help.
I run three different computers, for three completely different purposes, they are of different makes, One is an Acer, the other is a Pryon and the third is a Toshiba, I also have 2 Toshiba laptops, one brand new running Windows 8, the other running
Windows 7. So basically what I am saying here probably has nothing to do with the systems I am running.
I guess a lot of people are getting swindled here by the hard drive manufacturers and everyone here seems to be blaming it on windows. I have spent thousands of dollars replacing all my old 2.0 drives (and some were getting a bit tired) with these new fangled
super duper super fast 3.0 drives. I think overall in the past year I have bought around thirty of them, mostly portables, but some desktop ones, all different brands too I might add, Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba and Samsung. This as you can imagine has
cost me a lot of money. The data I had on the old 2.0 drives equated to about 20 years of my life. Out of the roughly thirty I have bought, nine of them have bit the dust so to speak. Nearly all, once they become unusable, come up with the same thing, "The
last USB device you connected to this computer is not recognised.
As an example I will recount exactly what has occurred with the last one to fail, which was today about 4 hours ago as I write this. It was working perfectly fine this morning, never gave off one indication that it may be about to fail. Then after a restart
(which incidentally I am wondering if anyone else has this problem whereby once they shut down their computer they have to either power off or remove every USB 3.0 device from their unit before the computer will even start - this happens on two of mine - but
not on the Toshiba)
So I shut down, I am using a powered 9 port hub for most of the portables on this particular system (Pryon) which I have to power off so all the drives disappear else the computer just hangs at the boot screen until I have done this) I have one 2,0 disc
connected which I don't need to remove for the system to start.
Anyways once I have restarted the computer I then re-power up the hub and all the drives are loaded again and away I go. Well that was all good except when I checked one of my drives was missing from the File manager that I use (Salamander) and also not
showing in Windows Explorer either. So I trace down the culprit, unplug it and re-plug it back in. Lo and behold up comes the afore-mentioned windows does not recognize this device. This is odd given that there are five other drives of the exact same make
and model attached to the same hub still working. As I don't have all the slots in the hub filled I decide to change the slot and plug it into a different one. Same result. So then I decide to plug it into a 3.0 slot connected directly to the box, same result.
As a last try I then plug it into a 2.0 slot on the box, same result. So then I take it out and try it on the other two boxes and eventually the laptop...same result....
I now have nine of these contraptions all totally useless to me....yes I guess I could send em back to Seagate and Toshiba and Western Digital and they will replace em with a brand new one...clean as a whistle with my twenty years up the poop chute....
I have looked everywhere through Google trying to find someone or somebody with the same problem as me, surely I cannot be the only person in Australia that happens to keep on getting the duds.
I've had 2.0 drives that have lasted ten years or more and probably may have went another ten if I didn't keep so called upgrading....some of these that have failed on me are not even 3 months old. I even had one desktop 3.0 drive that I bought on the Wednesday
in Adelaide and by the time I had gotten it home after my son had copied some stuff onto it..it wouldn't work.
I have tried just about everything I've ever read on these forums, like using a different cable, Ive even pulled one of the portable to pieces to be able to use an attachment that I can plug it directly into a 3.0 slot and still nada....
My newest laptop is still under warranty and I have had that back to the supplier twice with a main hard drive failure which they have had to replace.
The reason why I am suggesting here that it may not be all windows fault is that my other laptop is still running windows seven and once a drive cacks it it wont show up in that either....I will say this though, I only have one drive that I use in that laptop
and that is still running well.
Now before everybody jumps down my throat I have checked thoroughly for viruses on all my boxes, and they all are clean. And in anycase I've never heard yet about a virus that can attack one hard drive only, given that all that is on there is music, just
like the other six.
Unless windows eight itself somehow manages to render a hard drive useless somehow then it has to be a fault in the manufacturing technology and that even though a drive might work perfectly for a week or two there is something there that the manufactures
are missing in their testing.
Like someone said earlier, maybe it is going to take some massively big law-suit from a huge company that has lost everything against somebody for them to realise that USB 3.0 is tainted and no good.
Do they still make 2.0 cause I am going back there and hopefully I can do it before I lose everything, even though it will take a good part of six months to copy back over whatever it is that I still may have left....
Like I said I don't expect any answers but thank you for taking the time to at least read this...
Cheers Vern

ASUS M5A97 USB 3.0 Problem

Even though my ASUS M5A97 has USB 3.0 i get this error: Check your USB controllers for Kinect Windows v2 compability
Result: No supported USB 3.0 port detected
I saw that back in November another person had the same problem and the only solution was to get a standalone USB 3.0 PCIx Gen 2.0 card that has an Intel or Rensas chipset.
Is there anything new to know? Or is this still the only way to get kinect v2 to work on motherboards that have different chipsets?

Diabolusz wrote:
Nobody has any idea what I could try?
You'd probably get better results posting in the MacBook Pro forum; this is the Mac Pro (desktop workstation) forum. Also, it looks like USB 3.0 problems have been around for a while. See, for example, https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4028808?start=0&tstart=0.

A85XA USB 3.0 Problem

A85XA USB 3.0 problem
I've been using the A85XA a problem with the connection from the board to the USB3 front panel on a Corsair R400 housing. A 3.0 port on the panel can be connected to a USB 3.0 drive is off and log on again continuously. The other connection works fine. The same behavior also comes in a 3.0 2-port cable which is plugged onboard. One works, the other "pulses". I put the plate on any 2.0 port, the drive is running without hesitation. Could it be that delivers the power from the onboard power connector different?
Used google translator ;-)
If further input needed, please ask.

Diabolusz wrote:
Nobody has any idea what I could try?
You'd probably get better results posting in the MacBook Pro forum; this is the Mac Pro (desktop workstation) forum. Also, it looks like USB 3.0 problems have been around for a while. See, for example, https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4028808?start=0&tstart=0.

MSI 945gz-f USB 2.0 Problem

Good day! I'm facing a problem with my MB MSI 945GZ-f USB 2.0 problem. I try to upgrade and downgrade the BIOS but still no help. Still i can't use the USB 2.0 feature of my MB, Is there anyone here facing same problem and can help me? I'm using windows xp SP2. Thank you very much!

I try to used backside and front usb slot, but still show me that i am not running with 2.0. Even in device manager There is no enhanced host controller. I have 2 MB same model, and I solved my problem with my 1 MB, solution I tried to downgrade the BIOS version but the other one Still no help. Also tried to update my Intel inf software but still cant find the enhanced Host controller. Please kindly help me with this problem. Thank you and more power!

Usb disk pro driver missing

Where can I find and install the driver for my usb ports? there is a error message that says driver not installed code 28.
thanks in advance
vershawnda

Which computer do you have? There is a label on the bottom.
usb disk pro driver missing
What's this about a disk?
-Jerry

K9VGM-V USB 2.0 problems

I'm assembling systems based on K9VGM-V motherboards.
They all have the strange behaviour that the front USB 2.0 ports , not always are recognised by Windows as 2.0
Sometimes they are reported as 1.0.
The USB ports on the back of the motherboard , are always working as 2.0.
Tested other brands of motherboards in same cases with the same USB apparatus , no problems.
All the K9VGM-V boards i tested have the same strange behaviour.
Who can help ?. Even bios update did'nt solve the problem.

MSI's USB configuration has the #10 pin set as OC(overcurrent), but many cases have a 9th wire(you only need 8 wires) leading to the #10 pin as a GROUND. This is where the problem occurs. It is likely, that the "other" MOBOs that work may have the #10 pin, but it is not electrically connected and that's why you don't have an issue. BTW, Have you checked to see if you can remove the wire leading to the #10 pin on the USB header block of the case? For my case, there is a tab you can lift to pull out a wire. If you aren't going to cut or remove anything, then I guess you'll need to get a USB PCI card and use that instead.
MOBO drivers are the chipset drivers; the VIA 4in1. http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=downloaddetail&type=driver&maincat_no=1&prod_no=260
Also, and I'm partly responsible for this since I answered your question, start your own thread instead of hijacking anothers. Please read and comply with the Forum Rules. Also, list all your components. Make a signature to make it easy and so that you don't have to keep typing your system components in other posts. See my signature as an example of what we need to know.

Ati 9600 Pro Problem Sloved

Had serious problems getting my Radeon 9600 Pro to work with my MSI 875 Board.
System crashed after 5 seconds of play and sometimes after 10-15 minutes of gameplay. But it never crashed when I was surfing the net or stuff like that.
The solution for me was Zalman heatpipe cooling for the ATI card and a new 360 watt PSU to replace my old 340 watt PSU. And now my card is stable as ****
I guess the 9600 PRO problem is a PSU problem and if you take a look at the stock fan I think most of you would like to replace that one as well.

I am glad that you fixed the problem ...I also bet that the PSU was a greater factor in the fix ...Good job "RKbauge"!!...Sean REILLY875

MobileSTOR MS2UT + esata + USB + mac pro = never-ending problems

Hey gang,
I seemed to have entered a perfect storm here:
I had purchased the *MobileSTOR MS2UT 2 Bay SATA to eSATA/USB 2.0 RAID 0/1* Enclosure initially for a *dual 800 quicksilver G4* mac that I had, looking for a hardware-based Raid solution for back ups and to not burden the G4 processor. I have replaced the G4 with an early *2008 2.8 dual quad core mac pro*. After two machines and two different PCI sata cards, I've had no luck....
(website for the above enclosure)
http://www.sansdigital.com/mobilestor/ms2ut.html
For starters, in the G4, I had a quality Seritek/1ve2+2 controller that had no problem with two other single drive enclosures, but failed with the MS2UT.
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1ve2plus2/
A glib response from Seritek support says that I should use their enclosure. Digging around I find that I need a controller card that can handle a port multiplier enclosure rather than just any serial ata enclosure. Seems silly to me that the user has to dig for this. I mean the USB & FIREWIRE interfaces don't seem to care: it says USB/FIREWIRE on the effing box of both the controller and on the drive, badda-bing, badda boom: it works. Whats with this high maintenance of esata. Well you get roughly 2-3x the performance so Ok, maybe its worth it.
Well, with the macpro on the horizon,, I give up on the G4, close that unsolved mystery. For the mac pro I figure PCIe, a modern computer, no problem. I get the computer, fish around the internet for an esata PCIe card, then I come across this review of the WiebeTech SilverSATA II which appears to be similar to that of the MobileSTOR:
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/wiebetech/silver2/
It appears that the unit has specific tastes as far as having the right card to make it bootable, multiport aware, etc... (the Sonnet Tempo 4+4 card works but its a PCIx card, not PCIe)
Like I said: install a bootable Mac OS on any USB/firewire drive, plug it into any card, and it works... estata... its russian roulette...
Ok so I round up some vendors, (firmtek, sonnet, Highpoint) send them emails to see what they think: if their latest cards will work with the MS2UT... They are all over the place.. they think it may work, they dunno... it should work, they haven't tested it... then they try to push their own enclosure hardware on me. I mean see an astrologist or have your palm read.. it seems more likely you'll get a more accurate answer from them, rather than vendors... props to Sonnet, though, they list compatibility right on the page with their controller.
then 10.6 comes out... and you email vendors about compatibility on that OS, and they don't even email you back.
So I find this review of the highpoint rocket raid for the mac on the great sight: Barefeats.com
http://www.barefeats.com/hard119.html
to make a long story short:
+KEY FEATURES of the "eSATA for Mac"+
+1. Dual eSATA ports+
+2. 32 and 64-bit EFI onboard+
+3. Able to boot Mac OS X+
+4. Plug and Play for (Oxford and Silicon Image chipset) external storage+
enclosures
+5. 4x PCIe rating+
+6. Support for Direct Attached and Port Multiplied enclosures+
+7. RAID 0, 1, 5, and JBOD support using browser-based manager+
+8. Native support for Snow Leopard+
+9. Compatible with 2006 - 2009 Mac Pro+
I should be set, right? WRONG!
I email highpoint, detailing that I planned to mix both Port multiplied (PM) and direct access (DA) enclosures on the same card at the same time. They say maybe (only describing the PM enclosure, not even mentioning the DA enclosure compatibility as I specified), since its a raid card and I intended to use it with an enclosure with its own raid hardware, however they say they see no issues. Well it shows they don't even know their own hardware: Their docks say that the card supports PM enclosures as well as DA (direct access) enclosures. Their web based software even shows the two as separate categories. What is buried in the manual and not cleared up by tech support or their product page is that YOU CAN'T MIX PM AND DA ENCLOSURES ON THE CARD AT THE SAME TIME!!! I explained more in the paragraph above than any tech support from any company. Unbelievable where support has gone these days.
I discover the above because I found the card at Fry's believe it not and since they have a generous return policy I tried it out and learned the above the hard way. No dice on the MS2UT with what is perhaps the most forgiving esata card for the mac.
So more hunting on the web, this time the enclosure's manufacture site: sans digital.
http://www.sansdigital.com/mobilestor/ms2ut.html
...clicking on the accessories tab I find several esata adapter cards... funny that they include ones that don't appear to support PM enclosures... Anyway, I study two that state they supports port multipliers:
http://www.sansdigital.com/adapters/ha-san-4espcix2.html:
http://www.sansdigital.com/adapters/ha-dat-4espcie.html
Ok, I may not get a bootable enclosure.. I just want to get this thing working in esata since cloning my internal raid on the mac pro takes 8 hours using usb, and my main purpose is to maintain a clone so I make my compromise.
I should be set, right? WRONG!
reading the fine print on both cards it says:
*(Please note that the host adapter card is based on Silicon Image chipset, which currently only support up to MAC OS 10.5.1 by Silicon Image.)*
I do more research, it seems any manufacturer using chips by Silicon Image will have an issue with 10.6 macs! On some websites it says Silicon Image will never release a driver. On firmtek it says they make their own driver and swears that it works. At the Silicon Image website they say they are an OEM provider so don't bother them, and that its up to the vendor to make a compatible driver. Sheesh!!
I don't get it.. whats the point in having an esata sticker if it appears to come in more flavors than an ice cream shop!
Oh and it gets better: I go to the sonnet site, thinking they have to have something that works, looking at their latest tempo SATA E4P:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/temposatae4p.html
well, the fine print is EXHAUSTIVE, but again props to Sonnet for making it crystal clear:
(4) Sonnet Tempo cards are compatible with most external SATA storage. However, external hard drives with USB 2.0/eSATA dual interface based on the Oxford Semiconductor OXU931DS storage controller chip may not be compatible with Mac OS X when connected via SATA. Known issues are kernel panics occurring when the drive is connected, or the drive not being recognized by the operating system.
+Summary of external SATA storage+
+• Storage with eSATA alone +
Compatible
+• Storage with triple interfaces +
Compatible
+• Storage with eSATA plus Firewire 400 and/or 800 +
Compatible
+• Storage with port multiplier support (multiple drives) +
Compatible
+• Storage with RAID 0, 1, or 5 (multiple drives) +
Compatible
+• Storage with eSATA plus USB (based on JMicron 20366) +
Compatible
+ these compatible drives include, but are not limited to:+
+- OWC Mercury On-the-Go USB 2.0/eSATA 2.5" portable+
+• Storage with eSATA plus USB (based on Oxford OXU931DS) +
+not compatible+
+ these incompatible drives include, but are not limited to:+
+- Western Digital My Book™ Premium ES Edition™+
+- Seagate Technology FreeAgent™ Pro+
+Advanced users note that this card is not yet compatible in full 64-bit boot. Snow Leopard default boots in 32-bit mode, except in an Xserve.+
So in short: if you have an enclosure that has both USB and esata, but does not use the JMicron 20366, then it will not be recognized by the card. If you have an enclosure with three interfaes: USB, FW and esata, you're fine. Keep in mind too: most manufacturers don't put the source manufacturer of their chipsets on the box. So I ask..
*HOW IS THE CONSUMER SUPPOSED TO KNOW!*
I swear, a perfect analogy is if I go to best buy, buy a toshiba DVD player only to discover it doesn't play DVD's that contain movies produced by Sony Pictures..because its not a a Sony/columbia House movie. You think consumers would put up with that crap? UNBELIEVABLE...
So now I have this really versatile enclosure that apparently can't run on Mac 10.6 with ANY esata controller for the mac. I really like the design of the enclosure, with its hardware based raid that is hot swappable and has a small footprint. However there seems to be no way to get a controller card for this device that will work on a 10.6 mac.
I guess whats inferred is that you should get an enclosure with the fewest variety of ports, i.e. esata/fw/usb... ironically if it has all three, you are ok, but not if it has usb/esata. Being that USB is the most popular, thats not easy. I'm looking to contact Sans Digital to see if they will exchange it for me, possible for a model with esata/fw800 or an esata only model, if it exists. My last resort is to just use it as a USB drive (my intention was to use it as a clone of my system, with the added security that the enclosure makes a copy of a copy in raid 1), however its like 3x as time consuming than esata.
If anyone has a working MobileSTOR MS2UT/wiebetech SilverSATA II in a 10.5 mac pro, please respond to me with your config. Thanks for reading!

Thank you hatter for your reply.
I'm familiar with OWC, as I've done business with them since 2001, as well as XLR8.
I have a 2008 mac pro so the 2009 model related problems are not an issue in my situation
As I stated above I go to reputable vendors for my hardware who have specific mac experience. I look specifically for hardened compatibility so that there is support for things like deep sleep. The Sans Digital enclosure was over $200..it was not cheap. The USB/Esata combo is the most common interface for the enclosure storage market. Having a compatibility issue is a vendor fault, not the buyer. Having minutiae flavors of esata compatability based on chipsets roulette wheel is inexcusable. The enclosure needs that I have is for the medium to be removable and be able to be rebuilt at the hardware level, i.e. at the enclosure's control panel. To the mac its just a drive. The hotswap and back up is transparent to the OS and mac hardware, and allows me to change from raid 0/1 and do back up right from the enclosure interface.
So far I haven't had problems with USB/Firewire. Meanwhile Esata to me has been nothing but beta testing for vendors and seeing how the chipset manufacturers have gone loosey-goosey on following spec and just dump cheap chinese crap into the market with no pride.
for comparison:
USB/FW, PATA, SATA, SCSI
1) industry standard
2) native drivers
3) bootable. Period.
4) buy a controller card/raid card, plug it in, format, it works even through major OS upgrades.
5) USB/FW: Hot-swapable. Yes it really does work.
Esata:
1) Multiple standards (again, look at the Sonnet website to see the minefield one has to walk through to mate a controller card to an enclosure)
2) non native drivers. Buying an esata card is like marrying into the vendors family. Plus if you manage to get things working and do an OS upgrade, you are playing russian roulette. If you system boots off it, then get life insurance because you may kill yourself.
3)Not bootable and no one seems to care to explain why. Whats odd is that some earlier PCIx cards were bootable (like sonnet Temp 4x4) but their PCIe successors aren't. Not sure if this has to do with the host computer BIOS and/or the current chipsets from SI which rely on custom drivers from the vendors. Another lovely example of this are the ODD_SATA ports on the Mac pro: storage only, not bootable. Sure it makes sense now that I've learned it the hard way, however to users of FW/USB and even IDE, one would think that motherboard ports are bootable. Yes I know this is a mac bios thing and its not even considered as part of the feature set of the computer
4) As I've shown, each controller card seems to be unique, even if its from the same vendor. Even the drivers vary from card to card! Heck even the vendors are unsure as to how compatible their controller cards are with various enclosures. That is proprietary, not industry standard. OS upgrades doesn't seem to provide native driver support for Direct access and/or port multiplying interfaces. The problem with this is that film/video users like myself like to build bullet proof systems, and with raids that I've built from IDE, FW, or USB, I've never had the minutiae of compatibility issues as I've had with esata. I installed an Acard raid controller in my dual 800 back in 2001, installed the drives and forgot about it. it just worked through multiple OS upgrades. Not sure whats gong on with esata.
5) Can't call it hot swappable if I can't get the **** thing to wok in the first place.
My analysis is this: Esata is basically a proprietary format to the vendor that sells the hardware, while USB/FW is an industry standard. I bought a quality enclosure that said "esata", I bought a quality controller that said "esata", it didn't work. I had to learn the hard way about DA and PM enclosures and now about chipset conflicts. I've built computers since the late 80's amiga days, hot-rodding that computer well beyond spec and with custom cooling. SCSI terminators and IDE master/slave issues were easy-cheesey because they followed straightforward rules. This esata stuff is just plain sloppy work on the part of vendors and as Danny Glover said I'm getting to old for this **** as far as being a beta tester for hardware.

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