> I'd like to know why my eSATA card on my PM G5 dual 2.7 transfers > files no faster than my F/W400 or F/W 800. Can it be the enclosure? I > get the same results on my Mac Pro.
Which eSATA card? The LaCie card and the very similar OWC card are based upon the Initio chip set and that chip set is SATA I, only, although the drives could be SATA I, SATA II or SATA III, assuming the drives are "well-behaved". The Silicon Image 3132 card is also SATA I, only, although the drives also could be SATA I, SATA II or SATA III. There are a number of SATA II cards with either iSATA or eSATA, or with both iSATA and eSATA (any combination of iSATA and/or eSATA, but only two ports are available, using various jumper options, at a time). There are a few SATA III cards and those, too, offer a manufacturer's option of eSATA or iSATA, at the time of manufacture. Modern SATA cards are adaptable to the drives being any combination of SATA I, SATA II and SATA III, with the card's internal data rate being limited to its design maximum, SATA I (1.5 Gb/s), SATA II (3 Gb/s) or SATA III (6 Gb/s). The options are greater for Intel-based Macks (and, of course, for Hacks). Most cards have a maximum internal data rate (data from the drive _in_ to the internal FIFO buffer and then _out_ from the internal FIFO buffer to the host's bus) in the 40 MB/s range, but there are cards with higher and lower performace. The very old (at this point) Initio-based SATA I cards (LaCie and OWC) are useful in PPC macs as their firmware supports booting the OS, even though the card is fundamentally limited to SATA I. For Hacks, the Highpoint Technologies RAIDRocket (or RocketRAID, I can't keep that straight) 622 supports two eSATA ports (there IS a manufacturing option of two iSATA ports, but I've never seen such a card) AND additionally it supports "port multipliers" and RAID at SATA III speed (the Silicon Image products generally support SATA I, although there IS a new chip which purports to support SATA III). This 622 product is based upon a new Marvell chip and is the first, or at least amongst the first, to support eSATA at SATA III speeds. Lots of options for Hacks ... not many options for Macks ... still fewer options for PPC Macks. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
