Anyone using eSATA connection on macpro

[Bob Zelin]

I am always amazed at posts like this. I hate Lacie, but I just went to their website, and the CORRECT eSATA card for the Lacie 4big Quadra 8TB is the following-

https://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11217

and this is the web page for your product from Lacie –
https://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11264

why did you buy a Highpoint card for this product ? Highpoint makes about 20 different cards. Do you assume that things just plug in and work, so you can go about your life ? Don’t you know that you have to sacrifice all good things in life so you may work in the blessed entertainment industry ? So, the moral is, if you don’t tell me the exact model # of Highpoint card that you own, I cannot help you any further. And if you answer “well, the salesmen said that the card I got cost less money than the card Lacie said to get”, then don’t write back.

Bob Zelin

[Jason Brown]

I got it working this morning…it was strange…

I had to go through a https://localhost/port# to get into a setup menu where I created an array…then was able to restart and it recognized the drive…then I had to create a volume through disk utility.

It worked much differently than the RAID I set up on my PC years ago!

Thanks for everyone’s input.

-Jason

[Jason Brown]

Hey Bob,

Thanks for your input…I have it working and we’re moving forward…

The problem is I’m in house of a corporation and my IT guy (who has no video experience) purchased the card…I had no input.

I did ASSUME that the eSATA connection would be compatible with other eSATA connections…I guess I should stop expecting things to work together.

-Jason

[Eugene Reynolds]

I have just had the exact same experience. Bought a Lacie Rugged XL drive and it was not recognised by my MacPro (through my Highpoint 2314 card). If I connected it by USB all was normal.

On my MacBookPro however, connected with my Lindy Dual Port Express card it worked fine.

I think like you, I was assuming that if I have a working eSata card then plugging in a eSata drive (Not trying to set up a RAID or anything fancy) wouldn’t be such a big ask, but I am willing to concede that this might have been naive. Can anyone suggest why?

The primary reason I have the Highpoint card is because it (very successfully) suns my 8 Bay ProAvio RAID. I have given up on the Lacie eSata drive and returned it and will go back to using FW800 for my portable option. Shame because it was nice and fast on my MBPro.

PS I am running 10.5.8 and the Highpoint driver is up to date. I did try Snow Leopard but was getting terrible conflict hell – even with the latest SL compatible driver

[Bob Zelin]

eSATA, SATA, SAS, ans even old dog SCSI is NOT plug and play.
Everyone says “I just want to plug it in, and have it work – why is all of this so complicated”. BECAUSE thats the way it is. Flexible products are COMPLICATED, and require research and study to get it to work – this not only applies to disk drives, but capture cards, and editing software (gee, like FCP – that’s why pros don’t use iMovie, and even easier applications). When you have products that possibly support port multiplication, or RAID 5 and other configurations, there is STUFF that you have to do – these things just don’t plug in and work.

AND THIS IS THE WAY IT SHOULD BE. With cameras, VTR’s, drive arrays, editing software, etc. The minute “little Johnny” can buy his little product from the Apple Store, and make a world class video for major distribution, we are all in trouble. Your genius IT guy should be ashamed of himself for making ANY assumptions – as even a PC Win network guy should know better – I can’t wait for him to have to deal with Windows 7 networking – maybe he will wind up on the unemployment line (whaaaa – it’s different now, I don’t want to learn anything).

Bob Zelin

[Jason Brown]

[Bob Zelin] “The minute “little Johnny” can buy his little product from the Apple Store, and make a world class video for major distribution, we are all in trouble. “

Hey Bob, with all due respect…my brother in law will NEVER be able to replicate what I can. All the technology in the world doesn’t make “little Johnny” a good visual storyteller. Timing, clean transitions…arrangement…use of natural sound…tweaking audio levels will ALWAYS be done better by professionals. (just look at the drywall job I did in my kitchen!)

We all (myself included) get hung up on the tech side of what we do…pushing the buttons…but in the end it’s about telling a captivating story…whether it’s a corporate video…training video…reality show, marketing piece or commercial. – If it ain’t good, people won’t watch.

I expect technology to work…why? Because I paid close to 15,000 dollars for all the equipment on/under my desk. Sure it’s not as much as my AVID Meridien was 12 years ago, but it’s still alot of money. I expect things to work…

Mac has always been touted as a *never-fail* *stable* *better than windows* computer system. I just expect more out of a company that I paid 3 times as much money for (vs a comparable PC).

I hope you don’t take it personally…I’ve always appreciated your good insight…I still remember an article you wrote on calibrating a monitor that rocked my world a couple years ago.

-Jason

[Jason Brown]

I ran a speed test, and I’m getting about 2/3 the speed of my internal RAID. Both set @ RAID0

I purchased the LaCie card (2 port) and I’m going to connect it via that way…see if I have better speed. I’ll report on this post what I find.

-jason

[Niklas Wikman]

Eric,

I’m just into buying a 4-port eSATA for my Mac Pro. I’m choosing between the Sonnet E4P and the Highpoint RocketRaid 2314.

No G-tech SpeedRAID (yet) but might be in the future.

What card do you suggest I buy? The 2314 is somewhat cheaper. Not sure I’ll need all that RAID stuff…?