DYNEX eSATA II PCI Express card not working

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DYNEX eSATA II PCI Express card not working

I am having trouble with a DYNEX 2-port eSATA II PCI Express adapter (DX-ESATAP). It will not show up in my system profiler (or mount my external HD)

The manual says to connect the 4-pin power supply, but I thought you don't have to do this on Mac's. Anyone have any insight?

I have downloaded the latest drivers from the DYNEX website.

Mac Pro 2 x 3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 4 GB 800 MHz

Posted on Aug 8, 2009 3:09 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Aug 8, 2009 3:27 PM in response to John Kaplan

Have you actually tried using the power supply? If not then perhaps you should. Otherwise contact the manufacturer's tech support.

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Answer 2

John Kaplan Author

Level 1

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Aug 8, 2009 4:42 PM in response to Kappy

I actually can't figure out where to plug in the 4-pin cable to the Mac. I've tried looking through the support pages, but haven't been able to find a diagram or anything.

Is it attached to the power supply? How do I open that compartment?

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Aug 8, 2009 4:59 PM in response to John Kaplan

Well, I think this is why you contact their tech support. I know nothing about the card. I'm guessing it connects to one of the hard drive power connectors. If it's the size of the power cable connector on your optical drive, then I'm guessing you connect it to the free connector. If it's a small rectangular connector it may connect to one of the two power ports used with video cards.

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Answer 4

John Kaplan Author

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Aug 8, 2009 5:00 PM in response to Kappy

The connector on the card is easy.

I don't know where to connect on the Mac end.

I can't find any info about available connection points inside my Mac.

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Answer 5

Aug 8, 2009 5:04 PM in response to John Kaplan

It probably needs the power connector for the lower optical drive.

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Answer 6

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Aug 8, 2009 5:45 PM in response to John Kaplan

If the connector looks like one for an ATA hard drive - flat rectangular Molex connector - then it connects to one of the available power connectors for the optical drives.

If you're not sure then contact Dynex tech support for help.

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Answer 7

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Aug 8, 2009 5:50 PM in response to Malcolm Rayfield

Which, sounds to me anyway, that it really may not be very Mac or Mac Pro friendly or compatible, especially when you look at cards that are.

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Answer 8

John Kaplan Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 10, 2009 7:03 AM in response to The hatter

Any recommendations of a better card to use that IS Mac compatible?

The RocketRAID in the Apple store is reported as frying WD external drives. The other one I've been looking at is the Sonnet Tempo SATA.

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Answer 9

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Aug 10, 2009 7:10 AM in response to John Kaplan

Controllers that fry drives sounds like the Kool Aid kids, too.

If you use a real hardware RAID controller, then you need to use RAID Edition and/or Enterprise edition drives.

As long as you don't want to run one of those USB/FW/eSATA and just native SATA case, you should be fine.

OWC has a good list.

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