quick warning with 2011 MBP and Caldigit fasta 2ex

[Tom.Wong]

Have a brand new 17 inch mbp, and bought a caldigit fasta 2ex 6g esata card to accompany it. As of now, current drivers don't work with it, due to a unique version of OSX that comes with the computer. Probably has something to do with a enhanced version for thunderbolt. But if you try installing the drivers, they won't stick to the OS at all. you install, restart, drivers don't exist. I feel pretty gimped right now having no access to esata, and I'm debating returning the card and trying my luck with Sonnet. But I'll see how fast Caldigit support is first before I throw in the towel with it.

Just wanted to give everybody a heads up about it now incase you have something critical coming up and are buying the same setup.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Er... Haven't tried the new 6G model. Don't see the point since a single 3G port maxes out the ExpressCard slot anyway -- seems like a bunch of marketing fluff to me. Anyhoo, the FASTA 1-ex card works for me under 10.6.7. CalDigit drivers are not compatible with 10.6.8... So if you're trying under 10.6.8, you're hosed.. CalDigit is really behind on this one...

 

[Tom.Wong]

10.6.7

got the 6g just for additional overhead/compatibility with future 6g drives. if i can squeeze out a few more mb/sec out of a spinning hd I'm all for it. the fact that it's the 6g version is probably the main issue and driver conflict. pretty peeved, and really don't want the 1 port version. would much rather have 2.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Bummer. Contact their support people and see what they say. CalDigit support is usually pretty good. Maybe they have some insight or are working on a fix -- sometimes they have beta drivers they're willing to share if it can get you up and running. FWIW, I can offload a REDMAG SSD via eSATA REDSTATION to the new Promise Thunderbolt RAID at over 220MB/s on a 2011 MBP. Can't wait for some more reasonably portable TB storage solutions!

2 ports is handy. I always used the Sonnet card for 2-port configs. It was handy for offloading CF cards via FW800 and then connecting two CalDigit VR's or G-Raids in mirror mode.

 

[Tom.Wong]

returning the card, need a working esata card asap. can't wait on beta drivers or upcoming drivers. gonna just a get a cheapie rosewill for now and see how that fairs.

 

[Stephen Lovett]

Tom I've had good luck so far with the SeriTek card. It's a bit faster than the pro version of the Sonnet card, but not enough to make much of a difference. It is pretty inexpensive too.

I can't get both drivers to play nice though, so you'll have to choose one or the other, (I'm keeping the other and it's driver around as a backup)

Hope this helps,

Steve

 

[Tom.Wong]

thanks stephen. Gonna try a cheaper card for now, see how that fairs. If i'm not happy with the performance, I'll keep it as a spare and pick up the seritek. always like firmtek products, got the 4 port esata card for my tower and it's been rock solid.