USB 3.0 card for Mac Pro

[howiest]

I'm in the hunt for a USB3/eSATA card and the CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Pro sounds like it would be perfect. BUT! It's unavailable everywhere, even via the manufacturer, CalDigit. None on eBay, or Amazon, or Newegg...

Any other USB3/eSATA cards that I'm missing in my search?

(I'm trying to replace a NewerTech MAXPower USB3/eSATA card which has drivers that kernel panic all recent versions of OS X)

 

[Synchro3]

I'm in the hunt for a USB3/eSATA card and the CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Pro sounds like it would be perfect. BUT! It's unavailable everywhere, even via the manufacturer, CalDigit. None on eBay, or Amazon, or Newegg...

Any other USB3/eSATA cards that I'm missing in my search?

(I'm trying to replace a NewerTech MAXPower USB3/eSATA card which has drivers that kernel panic all recent versions of OS X)

Yes the old CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Pro is a very reliable card, I'm using all four SATA/eSATA connectors. I am not surprised it is still in great demand.

If you need a USB card with (e)SATA included, I would recommend the new Caldigit FASTA-6GU3 Plus with this eSATA-encosure: https://www.firmtek.com/seritek/miniswap-es/

 

[fhturner]

I know it's an old thread but thanks anyways. Worked for me as well. They still make this card and it still needs a driver for Snow Leopard, though it's perfect out of the box in El Cap.

Since all I needed was a single USB-3 port to speed up daily back-ups, it is the perfect solution at half the price of the Sonnet card.

Thanks for adding your experience. Seems that it only "sort-of" worked for me tho when trying under 10.6.8 on a MP3,1...I'd get an initial connection to a device, but I could NOT disconnect it and then reconnect or connect another device. This was a couple of years ago, so I may give it a try again to confirm. But can you try ejecting/disconnecting and reconnecting a few devices to the KT-4004 under 10.6.8 w/ that Multibeast driver and see if you have any issues?

 

[howiest]

Yes the old CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Pro is a very reliable card, I'm using all four SATA/eSATA connectors. I am not surprised it is still in great demand.

If you need a USB card with (e)SATA included, I would recommend the new Caldigit FASTA-6GU3 Plus with this eSATA-encosure: https://www.firmtek.com/seritek/miniswap-es/

View attachment 800876

Same problem with the Plus as with the Pro... unavailable through all the usual channels, including the manufacturer. Bummer.

 

[crjackson2134]

Same problem with the Plus as with the Pro... unavailable through all the usual channels, including the manufacturer. Bummer.

Yeah, it’s kind of hard to source now. I’d like to have one myself. Not that I need it, but the dual function abilities are nice.

 

[howiest]

Yeah, it’s kind of hard to source now. I’d like to have one myself. Not that I need it, but the dual function abilities are nice.

crjackson2134, the thing that bugs me, is that my NewerTech card was quite expensive, but they never bothered to update the drivers after it's release. I wrote them about the kernel panics when El Capitan was released and got no response. Now I have these eSATA enclosures and USB 3 enclosures that I'd like to support for a little while longer.
Another year or two... another year or two...

 

[Synchro3]

Same problem with the Plus as with the Pro... unavailable through all the usual channels, including the manufacturer. Bummer.

Yeah, it’s kind of hard to source now. I’d like to have one myself. Not that I need it, but the dual function abilities are nice.

I didn't know the card is out of stock in the US store (and $169.99).

EU store: http://shop.caldigit.com/eu/Adapters And Cables/Peripheral Cards

 

[crjackson2134]

I didn't know the card is out of stock in the US store (and $169.99).

I may have been searching for the wrong card, I’ll have to revisit that. I don’t remember it having the USB3.1, so that may be why my search was unsuccessful. Thanks fo the link.

 

[fhturner]

Thanks for adding your experience. Seems that it only "sort-of" worked for me tho when trying under 10.6.8 on a MP3,1...I'd get an initial connection to a device, but I could NOT disconnect it and then reconnect or connect another device. This was a couple of years ago, so I may give it a try again to confirm. But can you try ejecting/disconnecting and reconnecting a few devices to the KT-4004 under 10.6.8 w/ that Multibeast driver and see if you have any issues?

Tried this again to confirm what I thought had happened a couple of years ago when I attempted to use the MultiBeast driver w/ the KT-4004...

It works great when you first connect a device, but when you eject and try to reconnect or try to connect a different device, it basically kills those ports and they don't work again until you restart. May be fine if you have a stationary drive that you won't need to ever move, but not good if you're, say, swapping out drives to transfer media to an edit station or to rotate backup disks offsite.