Is the ORICO PFU3-4P (4 port model) also recommended if you are willing to provide a power drop?
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USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro
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Is the ORICO PFU3-4P (4 port model) also recommended if you are willing to provide a power drop?
2 Port Rear. After adding it to your cart, make sure it says this:
Orico PFU3-2P
It worked well for me.
Both of you keep in mind the limitations mentioned in the post 1 on the first page... there is only one USB controller shared for all ports, so if you had drives operating on multiple ports simultaneously, expect them to share the bandwidth and run at reduced speeds.
If multiple drives running simultaneously is important, the RocketU is the better way to go. But then keep in mind that IT has limitations too.. it only works with storage devices.
Do you know if the CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 also shares 1 controller for the 2 USB-3 ports?
I am not sure either but I know it does not matter if there is one drive in or all four filled, it is still about 1/2 the rate of normal eSata or USB3 connection that I can tell.
Mango posted this link that may shed some light on it:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/15442734/
Yes I saw that post ... and the Caldigit support comments (max 250MB/s =~ 2Gbps) certainly don't support the specs on their site:
http://www.caldigit.com/FASTA-6GU3/index.html
Supports all USB communication speed data rate of Low-speed (1.5 Mbps) / Full-speed (12 Mbps) / High-speed (480 Mbps) / SuperSpeed (5Gbps)
Supports all SATA communication speed data rate of 6.0 Gbps / 3.0 Gbps / 1.5 Gbps
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If you are going to be using bus powered drives, there's a good possibility the Orico cards will require a power cable to be connected. Since you do not want to add a power cable, the Orico cards are probably not a good fit for you unless you intend to use a powered USB 3 hub.
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Finished my mini-review of the Inateck 4port USB3 card for the MP.
Very good card - performance is spot on (same drive r/w as the imac's USB3 ports). The card is simple enough to fit if you haven't filled all your drive sleds.
It comes with a wiring loom to take power from a SATA power connector.
There is a pass through on this loom, but I found it a bit untidy for my liking so I have fitted my own loom from the optical bay. I used the two cables as pictured below to make the loom and found the SATA connector does squeeze through the loom where the opti bay cables run into the main section of the MP.
Now it all looks nice and tidy indeed.
The card is working flawlessly (well as my use tells - which is mainly external hard disks (one bus powered)).
Very good card - performance is spot on (same drive r/w as the imac's USB3 ports). The card is simple enough to fit if you haven't filled all your drive sleds.
It comes with a wiring loom to take power from a SATA power connector.
There is a pass through on this loom, but I found it a bit untidy for my liking so I have fitted my own loom from the optical bay. I used the two cables as pictured below to make the loom and found the SATA connector does squeeze through the loom where the opti bay cables run into the main section of the MP.
Now it all looks nice and tidy indeed.
The card is working flawlessly (well as my use tells - which is mainly external hard disks (one bus powered)).
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For my 3,1 slot 2 was the only one the X2 worked 100% but I still can't get it working on bootcamp just yet (I'm still tweaking to find the correct rEFIind settings to boot the Windows volume correctly and when I've cracked it everyone here will know). At the moment Windows is on another SSD in the sled. It wouldn't work with another ESATA card inside full stop in any slot but the Inateck card with the generic chipset in slot 4 works perfectly and great for my needs to hook up a few externals and a hub.
Thanks, yeah, this whole USB3 thing is really a joke at this point. I ordered the effing card and Amazon won't allow me to cancel, so now I have to see if I can play the game of refusing it. I am going to be out the price of a card in shipping charges alone.
I did move a lot of sustained data across the Caldigit card last night because I have work to do, it hit it's actual limit of 250mb/s but for $145 that is not right. On the MacBook Pro side it went above 500MB for most of the transfer of 350GB of data.
I'm furious at this now, wasted time and money, I can deal with a handicapped USB3 flow rate but having my eSata drives slow down on the same card is NOT going to work. Running some BS cable system to power a card is NOT going to work!
I worked at great length to get bootable Windows on a SSD working from a PCIe card, and had no success with the Sonnet Pro card (I believe someone posted that Sonnet support said it wouldn't work), and little success with Windows on the Solo x2 card (although I think at one point I was able to get it to boot from the x2 if that was the only card on the PCIe bus other than video card). I finally gave up and just mounted the Windows SSD in the optical bay on the second SATA port and it has worked flawlessly from there.
Please let us know if you get it working ... and how!
-howard
I worked at great length to get bootable Windows on a SSD working from a PCIe card, and had no success with the Sonnet Pro card (I believe someone posted that Sonnet support said it wouldn't work), and little success with Windows on the Solo x2 card (although I think at one point I was able to get it to boot from the x2 if that was the only card on the PCIe bus other than video card). I finally gave up and just mounted the Windows SSD in the optical bay on the second SATA port and it has worked flawlessly from there.
Please let us know if you get it working ... and how!
-howard
I get a white boot screen i.e. it doesn't boot into bios emulation mode at all with the primary SSD in the x2 and the bootcamp volume on the secondary partition of the 840 evo. When I get some spare time (which won't be for at least another 7-10 days) I have to post some logs up with the rEFInd and hackintosh forums as technically I'm sure the booting issue can be sorted using rEFInd as the boot loader. As many others will attest the 3,1 is particularly finicky booting Windows off a PCIe card and it's easier with the later models. I know the Sonnet seems to be impossible and the X2 can do it so I bought that!
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$145 is a decent chunk of $ for an unsuitable solution, I feel your pain. I can tell you that the RocketU 1144CM is a superbly awesome card. Think of it as HUB in itself. It has 4 independent controllers and flat out screams regardless of how many drives are plugged in, and if moving from one USB3 drive to another.
It requires NO additional power leads and drives won't get lost or eject themselves when waking from sleep or anything else.
It is a RAID capable device and it works well. In my experience, it will only work with storage devices (Drives, USB Keys, Card Readers). I does require installing a driver (which seems to be pretty flawless).
Now, I've only used it with ONE no name brand card reader of the USB 2.0 variety, so can't attest to it's work ability with most of them. I have however plugged in a multitude of external drives and they have all worked perfectly with no compromise of transfer speeds.
I have 2 of the Orico cards. Both work well as driverless solutions, but the 4P card requires additional power. You can pretty much plug any USB3 device you want into these cards, but if you plug anything else into the other open port(s), you will see a marked decrease in speed.
If you intend to run only storage devices, I'd go for the RocketU (but make sure you do the research, and get the model DESIGNED FOR YOUR MACHINE AND OPERATING SYSTEM.
There are a few different models and not all of them work with all versions of OSX, and all versions of the MP. I think I read a few posts up that you have a 5.1 machine. If you are running 10.8 or 10.9 you need the same model that's in my signature.
I really can't find any devices other than storage devices, that need USB3. I have many USB devices and most of them are running from a powered USB2 Hub. Drives are what the USB3 ports are for here.
If you just need to plug in one drive, or a random device, I would get the ORICO PFU3-2P Lightning Mac USB 3.0 2 port
I have both cards (not at the same time) just incase some kind of an OS upgrade temporally disables the RocketU. I don't want to have to wait for the driver upgrade. I doubt that will happen, but it has happened in the past, and I'm ready for it.
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OK I used now two cards with not much luck
one is the brand new RocketU 1144CM
installed exists but will not connect to anything
I had it connected only one time to my devices and since than no go
Any ideas on a good card? that works
What year is your MP and what OSX version are you using? What slot are you using?
What devices did you plug in. It only works with drives mostly. It's a raid controller.
READ POST #389 carefully
I'm a little confused since you said (POST# 357)
And now you are looking for one that works.
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OK I used now two cards with not much luck
one is the brand new RocketU 1144CM
installed exists but will not connect to anything
I had it connected only one time to my devices and since than no go
Any ideas on a good card? that works
Do you *really* have all those digi-bodies in your sig? As a long time pro I would utterly hang my self if I had to keep a DSLR inventory like that, I thankfully shoot 80% black and white film hand printed for work these days which is why this round of computer upgrades in terms of my Mac Pro is the last of it, done, no more.
I dont envy you man, LOL!
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Great info and I sincerely appreciate the time you took. I am running pretty much the same machine you are except I have a GTX680 for a GPU. I am going to send the Orico card back, it just does not seem to be a good fit for bus powered drives in 2.5" form factor, especially the Envoy which I bet pulls some juice when it is moving gobs of data at once, pretty much it's job. At most, I can see having a USB3 card reader hooked up to it full time, the other port would be null until needed.
Like I said before, my primary need of USB3 is mostly to use two 2.5" drives to move data between the home machine and the roadie. Being able to use a USB3 card reader would be great, that is about it.
OWC is being good about the FASTA return, I am going to just talk to Caldigit on Monday and get the low down on their USB3 only card, if the lack of a PLX chip that is used for the eSata/USB3 version makes it to where the NEC USB3 controller allows for a full spec data rate, maybe I will go that route because I am tired of chasing this.
You should have no problems with the Drives at all. I can't say for sure on the USB3 card reader. I have some no name reader I got from BigLots!. It's a USB 2.0 reader but it works fine. Just realize this thing is really a Raid controller with a USB connector. I always have 2 2.5" drives plugged in (bus powered) and sometimes 2 more drives (full Size Desktop 3.5") at the same time. Of course the larger drives are in a AC powered enclosure though. I have no complaints and have grown quite fond of the RocketU. It's not for everyone, but works well for my needs.
Another tidbit of info... Because this is a Raid Controller at heart, mounted drives show up in finder, not the desktop
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Any suggestions, guys? Thanks, in advance, for your help. I really appreciate it.
I seems no one else has this problem. So, assuming you have installed everything correctly, you either have a defective unit or a conflict of sorts. I would test the card in a different system if possible. If it works fine in other 5,1 machines with the same setup as yours, then it's likely your particular configuration that just plain doesn't agree with the card.
If you can't try it in another system, can you return it for a replacement or different model?
Why is it not a good fit? The Orico PFU3-2P works fine for me with a 2.5" bus-powered drive. Specifically a WD "My Passport" 2TB USB3.
In fact, it has worked with everything I've thrown at it. The 2.5" bus powered drive, two 3.5" wall-powered drives, USB 2.0 and 3.0 thumb drives, a USB 3.0 hub, and a USB 3.0 card reader.
Granted, the new eject-on-sleep problem sucks. Make sure you don't have files open on the drive if you sleep the computer.
You might want to ask them if they are still using that older chip that causes kernal panic problems.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1627628/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1394168/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1583137/
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Mango, the Orico 4 port that I ordered and have since sent back would likely require a SATA power supply via Molex, all my SATA ports are filled up, I have none available for it, I figured why chance it given what I have arrived at below...
I am still using the FASTA eSATA/USB3 card alone with the Newer Tech Max Power eSATA shelved for now due to potential stability conflicts with the other PCIe devices. So it's a compromise at the moment, eSATA speeds compared to the Newer Tech card took a tiny hit in writes with the FASTA with a fast test SSD but that is OK because those connections are mainly used for mirrored RAID HDD archives, not the fastest setup in the world regardless of interface.
In practice USB3 takes a bit of a hit, not quite saturating SATA-II speeds in write but exceeding them in read, 260MB/s and 340MB/s respectively with my 240GB Envoy Pro EX SSD. And it is stable, I think at the end of the day, I can handle the speeds in exchange for that and the fact it is only taking up one PCIe slot.
I also think it is a bit unfair to expect this card in my MacPro to equal the performance of the Envoy via the new 13" Retina's USB3 port feeding a 1,000 MB's 1TB PCIe SSD, that damn thing blasted a 202GB folder of RAW files across at an average of 520MB/s, peaking at 550MB/s...that's just nuts for a bus powered USB3 device!
So for now I am staying put. I definitely value all the input, hopefully someone will value mine on this comprehensive thread.
I am still using the FASTA eSATA/USB3 card alone with the Newer Tech Max Power eSATA shelved for now due to potential stability conflicts with the other PCIe devices. So it's a compromise at the moment, eSATA speeds compared to the Newer Tech card took a tiny hit in writes with the FASTA with a fast test SSD but that is OK because those connections are mainly used for mirrored RAID HDD archives, not the fastest setup in the world regardless of interface.
In practice USB3 takes a bit of a hit, not quite saturating SATA-II speeds in write but exceeding them in read, 260MB/s and 340MB/s respectively with my 240GB Envoy Pro EX SSD. And it is stable, I think at the end of the day, I can handle the speeds in exchange for that and the fact it is only taking up one PCIe slot.
I also think it is a bit unfair to expect this card in my MacPro to equal the performance of the Envoy via the new 13" Retina's USB3 port feeding a 1,000 MB's 1TB PCIe SSD, that damn thing blasted a 202GB folder of RAW files across at an average of 520MB/s, peaking at 550MB/s...that's just nuts for a bus powered USB3 device!
So for now I am staying put. I definitely value all the input, hopefully someone will value mine on this comprehensive thread.
What year is your MP and what OSX version are you using? What slot are you using?
What devices did you plug in. It only works with drives mostly. It's a raid controller.
READ POST #389 carefully
I'm a little confused since you said (POST# 357)
And now you are looking for one that works.
The old one work but the new card doesn't
I trying it on both macs with no luck was trying to get 4 ports out of it
any help will be good