Good USB 2.0 PCI card for OS X 10.3. Discussion in 'Mac' started by Martin Frost me at stanford daht edu, May 10, 2004. You can install a usb 2.0 pci card but not all cards that are mac compatible are any good. I started with a startec hunk of junk, tried a belkin piece of garbage and finally found a great card from sonnet.
Thread summary for latest recommendations. This thread refers to PCIe cards for adding USB 3.0 and 3.1 to classic Mac Pros. General Notes:. The USB 3.0 cards in this list support UASP for faster transfer speeds and reduced CPU utilization (exceptions to this are noted). The USB 3.0 cards in this list do not require supplemental power to be attached. The USB 3.0 cards in the list are not limited to storage-only USB devices (exceptions to this are noted). The cMP will never boot from USB 3 or newer because there is no support until the drivers load in the OS.
Transferring data over USB 3.0 interferes with bluetooth reception and to a lesser extent 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi. Due to USB 3.0 ports in the nMP, native drivers are provided in OS X for Fresco Logic FL1100 chipset cards in ML 10.8.2 or later. 10.7.5 Lion through 10.10 Yosemite is supported through the. Cards using other chipsets require proprietary drivers. The Lexar USB 3.0 memory reader is known to be unreliable with several Fresco Logic cards. The USB 3.0 Asmedia ASM1042a chipset has native drivers included in 10.9 and newer. There are warning messages upon waking from sleep when using detachable USB media in OS X.
This occurs even with Apple's built-in USB 3.0 ports, so it isn't your card. USB 3.0: Inateck KT4004 If you just want a basic working card with a low price and no special features.
$30. This card uses the same FL1100 chipset as the nMP, so drivers are built into ML 10.8.2 and newer.
Works great with Yosemite and El Capitan, despite specifications stating otherwise. Big review. It does not have a dedicated USB controller for each port, so simultaneous transfers over multiple ports will have to share bandwidth. Ignore the mfr's statement 'Incompatible with Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite or Above'. It works on these operating systems. HighPoint RocketU 1144D If you want an independent USB controller dedicated to each port for using multiple drives at the same time.
$105-$125 ( Approximate price as of 10/2/2018). It has a dedicated controller for each port, meaning full speed for connected devices, even when used simultaneously. It uses Asmedia ASM1042a chipset, which has native drivers included in 10.9 and later. Slightly faster than the FL-based cards when using one device.
Substantially faster when using multiple devices simultaneously. One user reports zero bluetooth interference using this card. Big review. HighPoint RocketU 1144E If you want an independent USB controller dedicated to each port for using multiple drives at the same time, plus non-bootable eSATA. $140-$170.
Basically the same as RocketU 1144C, plus non-bootable eSATA. Requires third party drivers. CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Pro If you want bootable eSATA. $140. This model number with 'PRO' at the end is substantially better than the discontinued non-pro model it replaces.
The new model works with all USB devices, not just storage devices. It doesn't have the reduced speed problem that the old model had.
This card uses the same FL1100 chipset as the nMP, so drivers are built into ML 10.8.2 and newer. It does not have a dedicated USB controller for each port, so simultaneous transfers over multiple ports will have to share bandwidth. Sonnet Allegro USB 3.0 4-Port (and Sonnet Allegro Pro $130) If you want to charge battery-powered devices or connect bus-powered devices needing up to 2A each. $60. Supports the following power-related features: 2Amps of power per port (10 Watts at 5V) for bus-powered devices, USB 3.0 charging port handshake protocol, USB battery charging 1.2 compliant, and simultaneous charge and sync for iPhones, iPads, and similar devices at 1.5A.
This card uses the same FL1100 chipset as the nMP, so drivers are built into ML 10.8.2 and newer. The Allegro has a single USB controller, so all 4 ports share a single controller. The Pro model has a 4 dedicated USB controllers (one for each port). USB 3.1: Summary so far:. Some, but not all, USB 3.1 devices are working properly at 10 Gbps (theoretical maximum USB 3.1 speed). Some USB 3.1 devices are not even working properly at 5 Gbps (theoretical maximum USB 3.0 speed).
ASM1142 chipset cards:. Work as USB 3.0 (not 3.1) in Yosemite (10.10.3). Do not work at all in El Capitan without a USB 3.0 firmware (10.11). With a USB 3.1 firmware (default on most cards), appear as USB 3.1 in Sierra (10.12), might appear as 'Up to 5 Gb/sec' (USB 3.0 speed) in System Information.app, but may transfer data at more than 5 Gbps, up to 10 Gbps anyway.
Most cards are PCIe gen 2 x2 electrically (x4 physically), allowing up to 10 Gbps in a gen 2 slot, but only up to 5 Gbps in a gen 1 slot, but some gen 1 slots (such as in the Mac Pro 2008) do not support x2, allowing only up to 250 MB/s. The CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Plus works in Sierra at 10 Gbps with a USB 3.1 firmware update which makes it stop working in El Capitan at 5 Gbps. It is an x4 card which can allow up to 10 Gbps even in a PCIe gen 1 slot.
The x4 connection is provided by a PCIe switch which is used for the ASM1142 and an eSATA controller. The Sonnet Allegro USB-C 4-Port PCIe Card (USB3C-4PM-E) has two USB controllers connected to a PCIe switch with an x4 upstream connection (similar to the CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Plus). The Sunix UPD2018 and Delock 89582 have a DisplayPort input to support USB-C alt mode, but they are PCIe gen 3 x1. ASM2142 chipset cards:.
The ASM2142 uses a PCIe gen 3 x2 connection instead of the ASM1142's gen 3 x1 or gen 2 x2 connections. The ASM2142 can be superior than the ASM1142 in the Mac Pro only if the ASM2142 is connected to a PCIe switch with an x4 upstream connection. Ableconn PU31-AC-2 (untested) PCIe x2. Ableconn PU31-2C-2 (untested) PCIe x2. Ableconn PU31A-ESA (untested). ESATA is provided by a USB to eSATA chip, not a eSATA controller so there is only one USB port, no PCIe switch, and therefore only PCIe x2 upstream like the others.
Thunderbolt 3 chipset cards:. A Thunderbolt 3 controller contains a USB controller. The controller uses a PCIe gen 3 x4 connection which can give it superior performance to any USB card using the ASM1142 even at the gen 2 x4 speed of the Mac Pro. Thunderbolt 3 add in cards based on Alpine Ridge currently do not work in the Mac Pro.
Thunderbolt 3 add in cards based on Titan Ridge can provide USB 3.1 gen 2 support in the Mac Pro. The Gigabyte GC-TITAN RIDGE has been tested. A jumper wire is used to force the USB controller to always be visible even when no USB devices are connected (similar to Force Power in PC BIOS settings). USB 2.0 support (optional) requires a connection to a USB port that supports USB 2.0 (one USB 2.0 port per Thunderbolt port). Thunderbolt support (for PCIe devices and displays - without hot-plug support) can be initiated by running Windows, then warm-booting into macOS.
Power delivery of 100W (optional) requires two PCIe 6-pin power connections. Other 3.1 hardware tested to work at sustained 5 Gbps speed are:. Ableconn PU31-1A1C (card). Satechi B01FWT2N3K 2.5' (drive enclosure).
AKiTiO Thunder3 Duo Pro (dual 2.5 or 3.5' raid drive enclosure). Other 3.1 hardware tested to work at sustained 10 Gbps speed are:. OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini (dual 2.5' raid drive enclosure). At 5 Gbps speed, several ASM1351 drive enclosures tested did overheat and stop working. This is not the fault of whatever card you are using.
I am waiting for a solution that doesn't require third party drivers. Searching around this forum it seems the only solutions are something with hacked drivers, a USB3.0/eSATA card that is slow because of a central controller chip, and a controller that will only work with drives of the same brand. These are not acceptable to me. With USB 3.0 available on new Macs, there should be native drivers for one of the USB 3.0 controller chips. Are there no PCIe cards using the same chip as the Macs with built-in USB 3.0? Click to expand.Apple's support for USB 3.0 is limited to the USB ports integrated into Intel's latest chipsets.
On the Mac Pro, your only option for USB 3 is on a PCIe card with an NEC chip. This driver works just fine for any generic NEC based PCIe USB 3 card without any compromises I'm aware of. (see post #6) Almost all PCIe cards that just offer USB 3.0 use the same generic NEC reference design and should work just fine. Here's an example of a card just like the one I have that works with the drivers above.
Since I'm considering a new Mac Pro early next year, I'd be interested if anybody has used the third party card(s) with a Promise unit? I have an R4 connected to my iMac, and the buying decision will come down to what Apple do as far as upgrades go, and the Thunderbolt issue. My options as I see it will depend on whether or not they do integrate T/Bolt with a new Logic Board.If not, then another maxed out Imac will be the upgrade. Has anyone here tried running a Pegasus unit with the PCIE card on a Pro? I don't want to lose speed at all, as I can currently work in real-time on the iMac.
Any degradation in performance would take me away from the Pro, although I do want the extra CPU grunt, it's really only for running X-Plane.My 3.4GHZ iMac with 16GB RAM 2GB VRAM handles all work tasks well. Our entire workflow switched over to USB 3.0 external drives, docks, and raid arrays. We went through a series of cards before landing on one that actually worked every bit as advertised - this one: All of the other cards we tried had crash bugs and suffered problems like not being able to hot swap a USB 3 connection or remount an ejected drive without reboot. Very aggravating trial and error process. We absolutely love the Buffalo Terrstation raid cans and the Porsche 3 TB external drives. Click to expand.I think you've got something else going on.
We're using HighPoint cards and that's on 10.8.2 and 10.8.3 ML all around. Best USB 3.0 cards we've tested.Clarifying: You don't state which HighPoint card you're now having problems with. We've only tested the one I provided the Amazon link to above. I know HP makes a few different cards so it is possible you're having your compatibility issues with one of those other cards. Best of luck with that and sorry to hear it, but don't think that's across their line.
We've got a number of these cards up and running with 10.8.2 and 10.8.3 (plus 10.8.1 before it). All performed extremely well with no errors, crashes, mounting issues, or anything else.
USB to ExpressCard Adapter (Reader/Card Drive for USB 2.0 ExpressCard34/54) CompactFlash Products Miscellaneous Products High Speed USB-to-ExpressCard Adapter (Card Reader-Writer) f or connecting with various USB 2.0 based ExpressCards for PC & Mac click on image to enlarge USBEXP54B This USB interface ExpressCard Adapter supports various USB 2.0 based ExpressCard/34 and ExpressCard/54 cards. It adds one USB-based to desktop and notebook computers through USB port; allowing computers without ExpressCard slot to use the latest ExpressCard form factor cards. It accepts both. It works with USB-based ExpressCard devices including wireless broadband network modems, WiMAX, wireless AirCard ( All brands and models), flash memory expSSD, memory card adapters, security, I/O port (PS2, parallel, serial, USB, RS232), optical disk drives, GPS receivers, solid state disk (SSD), and others. This USB to ExpressCard adapter works with Microsoft Windows 2000 / Server 2003 / XP & XP 64-bit / Vista & Vista 64-bit / 7 & 7 64-bit and Mac OS X v10.3 and later. No software driver is required.
NOTE: This USB-to-ExpressCard adapter does not support such as eSATA, Firewire, Gigabit Ethernet adapter, etc. The Green LED is OFF when PCIe-based ExpressCard is inserted. Part Number Price (US$) Discontinued USBEXP54B NA. Please for other. Please for other. USB-to-ExpressCard Adapter. Optional USB A-type Male to Female Cable (100 cm / 39 inch long).
Installation Guide. USB-based and It supports USB-based ExpressCard devices including wireless network modems (such as CDMA, EV-DO, GPRS, HSDPA, etc. Wireless AirCard in ExpressCard form factor; all brands and models), WiMAX, flash memory expSSD, flash memory card adapters, security, I/O port (parallel, serial, USB, RS232) ExpressCard adapter, optical disk drives, GPS receivers, TV tuner card and others.
Does not support PCI-Express (PCIe) based ExpressCard such as eSATA, Firewire, Gigabit Ethernet adapter, etc. ExpressCard has two interfaces: a 480Mbps USB 2.0 channel and a 2.5Gbps PCIe channel. This adapter supports only the USB-based ExpressCard. Thus, if user plug a PCI-Express (PCIe) based ExpressCard into this adapter, the PCIe based ExpressCard device will not be detected and the Green LED is OFF. Please check with your ExpressCard device manufacturer if you are not certain. D esktop or notebook computer with an available USB 2.0 port.
Windows 2000 SP4 / Server 2003 / XP & XP 64-bit / Vista & Vista 64-bit/ 7 & 7 64-bit. Mac OS 10.3 & later Features. Fully RoHS compliant. Supports data transfer rate up to 480Mb/s. Connect USB-based card or card to USB 2.0 port. Suitable for desktop or notebook computers that are not equipped with ExpressCard slot. Easily adds one USB-based ExpressCard/54 slot to USB equipped desktop or laptop PC.
Share USB-based ExpressCard devices between laptop and desktop computers. Special active circuit to protect ExpressCard. Green LED in ON when correct USB-based ExpressCard is inserted and OFF when PCIe-based ExpressCard is inserted.
Transparent installation without added driver. Windows or Mac operating system will not detect this adapter until user plug a USB-based ExpressCard into it. The Green LED is ON. Hot-plug and hot-swap support allow user to connect/detach devices without turning off computer system. No software driver required.
No external power required. CE/FCC approved. 1 year warranty and free technical support Specifications. Bus interface: standard USB 2.0 port. Compliant with ExpressCard standard. Compliant with USB specification revision 2.0. Data transfer rate: Up to 480Mbps (0.48Gbps).
Operation Voltage: 3.3V ± 5% directly from USB port, 3.3Vaux and 1.5V power output.