Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

sonnet expresscard to thunderbolt adapter

I own one too. only works with sonnet expresscards for the time being, and just a limited amount. the ethernet card doesn't work, new drivers allow for the 3gbps tempo pro to work, but the drivers are incredibly unstable. running on snow leopard right now, and it crashes my system out a lot on my macbook pro. plugging in any new storage device on any port (fw, usb, another expresscard) and accessing external storage with it just sitting there crashed me out too. Let me know if you have better luck. maybe it works better with Lion, but I'm not ready to upgrade to Lion yet... it's still buggy and 30% slower than snow leopard...
 
I bought one too with my new NOTEBOOK and can't get it to work with LION. In fact, the driver crashed my system and I had to reinstall my entire notebook. Not happy.

EDIT: Jeff Kilgore... doesn't this also have bus limitations on the Express 34 that kind of defeats the TB speed advantage. Jeff is an expert on this stuff.

Im going to call Sonnet when I get a free second as their support IS awesome... just been too busy
 
I believe that it is not only happen to this adapter, some Sonnet's products also had a problem in the beginning. I tested a Qio, and had a problem with the driver. I had to Re-Install my laptop. I guess you guys have to wait for some times to get the updated driver.

I'm afraid, when they release The PCIe Thunderbolt Expansion, we're going to have the same problem. And it's not good...
 
danu prasd said:
I believe that it is not only happen to this adapter, some Sonnet's products also had a problem in the beginning. I tested a Qio, and had a problem with the driver. I had to Re-Install my laptop. I guess you guys have to wait for some times to get the updated driver.

I'm afraid, when they release The PCIe Thunderbolt Expansion, we're going to have the same problem. And it's not good...
Click to expand...


I am talking about the TB PCI adapter. I got one of the first shipped and still can't even get it to work!
 
Tim Whitcomb said:
I am talking about the TB PCI adapter. I got one of the first shipped and still can't even get it to work!
Click to expand...

Tim, I know...that's why I shared my experiences with Sonnet's product. Have you contacted their tech support ? Usually they will tell you to wait for driver update. This is based on my experience with their products.
 
danu prasd said:
Tim, I know...that's why I shared my experiences with Sonnet's product. Have you contacted their tech support ? Usually they will tell you to wait for driver update. This is based on my experience with their products.
Click to expand...
OK thanks... no not yet.... been too busy,... but yeah, those guys are great...
 
Hey guys i have one of these and it works great! Here is my setup.

MacBook Pro/iMac > Thunderbolt Drive > Daisy Chained to Sonnetech Express Card Adapter w/eSATA > Red Station Redmag

It's incredibly fast, and I have had no problems with crashing as listed above. It transfers a full 128 GB Redmag in 12 minutes.

One thing to know is that it does not come with a Thunderbolt cable ($50), nor do any Thunderbolt Drives ($50). The ONLY problem I have with the adapter is that my eSATA express card does not sit as securely as I'd like into the adapter. Have not had any problems is accidental disconnection yet just because I am aware of it and take extra caution.
 
I believe intel have released Thunderbolt technology to the wider PC market as of April 2012 so expect a lot more solutions in the 2nd half of 2012 I suspect :-)
 
Adam Howden said:
I believe intel have released Thunderbolt technology to the wider PC market as of April 2012 so expect a lot more solutions in the 2nd half of 2012 I suspect :-)
Click to expand...

Yes this is true. The Sonnetech from my experience thus far is a great solution while waiting another six months for more options.
 
I simply cannot fathom why they did not put another TB port not there! One of the much touted features of TB and the argument for a single port on the computer is that you can daisy chain up to 6 devices.
I was excited about this especially for Data Management with the Sonnet eSATA pro card but with only on port that means no possibility of an external monitor which means it's useless for work at home on my nice monitor.

Really Sonnet.... Really?
 
Yeah at the office I have the new iMac though which does have two TB ports. Really nice, perhaps next gen MBP will have two TB ports.
 
Apparently, The thunderbolt cable carries so much data including power that to add additional ports is very costly. So, even products from Black Magic don't have an additional port. Aja is releasing the Io XT thunderbolt device which does include a 2nd port. This doesn't solve the problem of having a simple thunderbolt hub. I hope the thunderbolt protocol gets easier and cheaper to implement.

http://www.aja.com/news/index_article.php?id=159

I'm also wondering when Belkin will release this hub:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1228403

belkin_thunderbolt_dock_1.jpg




Tehben Dean said:
I simply cannot fathom why they did not put another TB port not there! One of the much touted features of TB and the argument for a single port on the computer is that you can daisy chain up to 6 devices.
I was excited about this especially for Data Management with the Sonnet eSATA pro card but with only on port that means no possibility of an external monitor which means it's useless for work at home on my nice monitor.

Really Sonnet.... Really?
Click to expand...
 
It should be cheaper in the second quarter of 2012 thanks to Intel finally. I have also been really interested in that Belkin Dock. It's everything the Apple Thunderbolt Cinema Display offers except without the Monitor.
 
Tehben Dean said:
I simply cannot fathom why they did not put another TB port not there! One of the much touted features of TB and the argument for a single port on the computer is that you can daisy chain up to 6 devices.
Click to expand...

Can you daisy chain eSata this way? I was thinking maybe having 2 TB ports on the Sonnet adapter might be a moot point anyway if you were using it for an Express34 eSata card.
 
Actually this one has been discussed already on a couple other threads... But here we go again...

Sonnet F'd this one up. The adapter could have been awesome, instead it's just a half-assed Mary Sue attempt. What's wrong with it?

1> Only supports ExpressCard 1.x.
2> Only one ExpressCard slot.
3> Only one Thunderbolt port (no pass-thru)


To clarify some of the questions or statements above -- It doesn't matter how fast Thunderbolt is, or aspires to be, you are limited to a maximum of 250MB/s throughput with this adapter. That is the upper most speed limit with the ExpressCard 1.x specification. It could have been 500MB/s if Sonnet had chose to support ExpressCard 2.0. But no... WTF?

Why only one ExpressCard slot? This could have been the bees knees, and tits as well, if they would have made a unit with 2 or 3 slots. It could have been a SxS offloading powerhouse adapter... Once again, WTF? Oh, wait, no EC2.0 support, I guess we can forget about the upcoming SxS Enhanced and Pro models working with this. Hey maybe we can all buy the upgraded model that they might choose to make 8 months from now that actually offers some of these features!

No pass-through port.... OMG... This is the ultimate way to dead-end your Thunderbolt product. In more ways than one. Intel has got to be kicking their own ass for not mandating a pass-through port. Apparently making a strong suggestion that devices really should have this wasn't enough. As for the port being expensive? Um, no... Intel currently makes all the Thunderbolt interface chipsets, this means both the host interface which gets incorporated on a system motherboard as well as the on-device hosts. You know what? The on-device hosts all include a dual-port interface. Adding a second port on the device for pass-through or daisy-chaining is literally as simple as attaching the chipset circuitry to power and the connector. So that means it's as simple or as complicated as the device integrator wants to make it. Thunderbolt connectors are somewhat expensive at the moment as they have active electronics in them. That's why the cables are $50 and only available a couple places. This will change as production increases and more manufacturers get on-board with Thunderbolt.

PC's will be getting Thunderbolt in the coming months. All upcoming Intel chipsets have the Thunderbolt host integrated into them. With Sandy Bridge, PC motherboard makers would have to buy the Thunderbolt header as a separate chipset to integrate. It's one of those catch-22 situations where none of them are willing because it could easily add $25 to $50 in cost to the end user to add Thunderbolt and there are no real devices on the market to support it just yet. Sure, BMD, AJA have stuff. Sonnet, LaCie, Promise, CalDigit, that's pretty much it. A bunch more coming though. And with the host controller right on the chipsets (starting with the soon to be released Ivy Bridge mobile platform), manufacturers now just have to hook it up. Intel made a big deal about 45 days ago about Ivy Bridge and how they were done with it ahead of schedule. Sounded great that the chipset was done, but the CPUs are not... Looks like current rumors are placing it on track for an April release.

Desktop class chipsets with Thunderbolt probably won't release until 4th quarter 2012... Server/Workstation Xeon chipsets are due real soon and *should* include Thunderbolt. However, the chipsets are behind schedule, the CPUs are already done. I haven't seen the final specs though. Most people are predicting a launch around the first of February.


Anyway, back on track about the Sonnet Echo ExpressCard thing... It could be great, but it looks like they didn't know who they were making the product for or why they were making it. My theory on the lack of the pass-through port is that they wanted to meet a certain price point and that was a sure way to shave off $10 or so on the final retail price. Which makes no sense... I can order the stupid thing a few places for $150. I'd pay $200 if it had the pass-thru, but I can't. The lack of the pass-thru (and lack of ExpressCard 2.0 spec) will most likely keep me from ordering. I've lived an entire year (almost) without an ExpressCard slot on my 15" MBP (got one on the 17")... I don't see a reason to buy one now.

No pass-thru is not the end of the world. Thankfully other devices have them. But not all do...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top