Mini-PCIe eSATA Solution!

jkgm · Last edited by jkgm on Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:07 am; edited 1 time in total

I just found this at Brando (yes, the ones that make the USB Christmas trees...), and I think it will allow me to ADD an eSATA port to my Mac Mini without removing the internal SATA HDD:
http://usb.brando.com.hk/mini-pcie-to-usb-sata-adapter_p00853c042d015.html

It would replace my unused Airport Extreme card, and I would use an eSATA port like this one on the back of the Mini:
http://usb.brando.com.hk/sata-single-internal-to-esata-port-adapter-bracket-50cm-_p00195c046d015.html

For $20 shipped, this could be an amazing Mini mod! I'm going to buy it now and post on my success, but does anyone see anything that might not work with this kind of setup? You know, warn me if you've tried this and it blew up in your face or anything like that. Very Happy

SolarWorld · New Member Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 4 Location: Oregon

I am very interested on how this turns out. Keep us posted.

cheef · Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 4:17 am Post subject:

Yep, I'd be interested too.
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mooblie · Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:39 pm Post subject:

+1

Spot any trends, here, jkgm? Smile

I am fascinated that there don't appear to be any active components on the miniPCI Card??
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mooblie · Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:06 am Post subject:

Bump! Any progress yet, jkgm?
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jkgm · Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:51 am Post subject:

Not yet, no. Still waiting on air mail from Hong Kong to New Zealand. Smile

AssetBurned · New Member Joined: 14 Apr 2009 Posts: 10

sometimes a mail around the world is faster that a mail like that.
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NeveSSL · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:49 am Post subject:

I'm curious as well. Smile

Brandon
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JackyPerformance.com · New Member Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Posts: 7

won't the data transfer speeds still be limited by the USB 2.0 standard since it's simply re-using the USB 2.0 bus?

jkgm · Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 4:31 am Post subject:

It's not a USB to SATA controller, so no. PCI-E devices can also use a USB interface alongside the PCI bus. If this card does what it appears to do, it is connecting a SATA device to the 1-lane PCI-E bus, which runs at 2Gbps, or 4x faster than USB 2.0, and 5x faster than FW400.

NeveSSL · Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 2:57 pm Post subject:

Any updates?

Brandon
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Is picking up a new Mini soon... just got a new job!

jkgm · Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 9:29 pm Post subject:

I have the board and eSata cable ready to go, and I've mapped out the wire connections. Hopefully I'll be able to whip it together this weekend, and take pictures while I'm at it.

mooblie · Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 8:38 am Post subject:

Looking forward to that.

Can I suggest using the free and very useful Aja System Test utility (half way down here) to test what speeds you get?
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wulauki · Junior Member Joined: 07 May 2009 Posts: 31

jetboat · Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 12:38 pm Post subject:

I'm interested to see if this, as well. Thanks


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