MP won't see Caldigit esata card

Hey Ms,

I'm sorry, I do remember now. Yeah, I guess that wouldn't be a good option then...

Newtech Mini 3, I have to say you're really racing ahead with your tech savvy. Allow me to search for that so I know what it is...
Is it this? http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/FWU2ESMSV3/
Yeah, advertised as whisper quiet. I guess that's what happens when the engineers test them on an airport runway...
I have two, possibly three, of these. (only use two)
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MESATATBEK/

One is starting to get a little noisy, the fan, but it's not too bad. I have my 4 VR's in them attached to the E4P. They work really well. Just very simple in design and little to go wrong. They may not be the hardiest external cases one can get, but I can buy, what, quite a few of them as opposed to getting one of these.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet%20Technology/FUSD4Q0TBR/

OWC says I can even put my SSDs in them, but I'm a bit leery about that.
With those cases, the VRs in Raid 0, and the E4P, I get close to an average of 470 R/W. Not too shabby at all.

That was a good link to the Highpoint card, disappointing, but good. Basically, "Works great but it doesn't boot and I really don't know how to use it because they provide poor instructions".
As Basil Fawlty would say, "Typical, just typical". 🙂

1) Would the firmtek driver possibly work with the Caldigit (chipset?) 2) where might this folder "incompatible" reside ?

Hi,
1. The FirmTek 5.4.1 driver will only recognize a FirmTek controller. It will not work with 3rd party Silicon Image based controllers. This is listed on the 5.4.1 release found here:

http://www.firmtek.com/news/541/
A FirmTek Controller is Required
The new series 5.4.x FirmTek driver is built from the ground up to take advantage of Apple's Snow Leopard. It adds SMART application support and full 32-bit or 64-bit “Snow Leopard” compatibility. However, it will only recognize FirmTek controllers.

2. The Incompatible folder was created in Macintosh HD when I installed Snow Leopard. You can read more about this process here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3258

I hope this information is helpful.

Yes, we here know now of the different models of VRs, but even though they had been out for quite awhile, the Firmtek CS person said they had never tested any of them. That is not a company I believe that prides itself on being on the cutting edge. What should have gave me pause though is that neither card was designed for MPs, just for Power Macs.

Dear Steve,
When a user tries to insert a Velociraptor into the FirmTek hot swap tray and it does not fit that indicates the Velociraptor is not a standard 3.5" HD design and will not work properly with the SeriTek/2EN2. As you note, FirmTek customer service answered your support request and stated that the Velociraptor was not tested with the SeriTek/2EN2. When standard 3.5" SATA hard disks are installed in the SeriTek/2EN2 they work fine. I am sorry but the odd shaped Velociraptor is not supported.

The SeriTek/2SE2-E is designed for the Mac Pro and the PowerMac G5. The SeriTek/2SE2-E is bootable with the PPC based PowerMac G5 using Open Firmware. It is not bootable with the Intel based Mac Pro. The SeriTek/2SE2-E is compatible with the Mac Pro and works well for adding additional storage. It also adds hot swap and SiI-3726 based 5-bay port multiplier support. These features are not available with the internal Mac Pro SATA ports. I use this controller every day with a Mac Pro, Snow Leopard and the SeriTek/5PM.

The fact that FirmTek is the first to develop a SiI-3132 based Snow Leopard driver for the SeriTek/2SE2-E shows me that FirmTek is interested in being proactive and supporting its customers.

Thank you,

FirmTek Support

That's interesting then. That means you did try the Velociraptor, or else how would you know it didn't fit? I didn't mention that. One thing I did was to remove the sleds and install them in the en2 that way. Still, it was the card that was the problem, which you obviously never tested with VRs. That's what didn't work with my VRs. Let me clarify that... it did work, but in just a few minutes the behavior of the drives attached was problematic. When I checked my drives they were blazing hot. Too hot to touch. Hot enough to know I had never felt it's like on any other drive I've dealt with. There's little doubt in my mind that had I left them attached to the card they would have been destroyed.

I'm not sure why you're mentioning the 3132. That's what didn't work with Snow leopard, that and another related component was put in the Incompatible folder. So it was Firmtek that installed that. Are you saying that because it was cutting edge at one time? And are you saying that card was not developed for the PowerMac and then changed to work on Mac Pros as well?

Your company knew some big changes were on the way with SL and that you've now made the card workable with it is laudable. But you were late compared to Sonnet and other manufacturers. Tell me, you should know that SSDs are taking the computer world by storm. Have you been testing them with your products yet? Or should users know not to use your enclosures because they are not an ideal fit. Will your cards work with them? Or should SSD users just stay away from your cards for now?

From what I know your products were the cat's meow in PowerMac days. It's that reputation I counted on when I put out some 200+ dollars in your products. But with your products and your customer service giving me such a bad experience, only a few years of perfect reviews would have me look your way again. Reactive is a tiger lying down at leisure waiting for prey to come into view. Proactive is a tiger in the bushes, waiting to pounce. Your pouncing ability is what's in question now.

I'm sorry to be so down on your company, but my experience with it literally burned me.

One thing I did was to remove the sleds and install them in the en2 that way. Still, it was the card that was the problem, which you obviously never tested with VRs. That's what didn't work with my VRs. Let me clarify that... it did work, but in just a few minutes the behavior of the drives attached was problematic. When I checked my drives they were blazing hot. Too hot to touch. Hot enough to know I had never felt it's like on any other drive I've dealt with.

Hi,
From my experience, a controller card will not usually cause the symptoms you describe. Since the VR was not in a tray, it is possible that the backplane SATA power plug was not aligned within tolerance. A poor power connection between the backplane and the HD can cause major issues. I would not recommend inserting any HD into the SeriTek/2EN2 that does not fit into the FirmTek tray. Standard 3.5" SATA HDs fit nicely in the tray and the SATA/Power connections will be aligned properly.

I'm not sure why you're mentioning the 3132. That's what didn't work with Snow leopard.

The SiI-3132 chip is very compatible with Snow Leopard. However, some generic SiI-3132 drivers are not. The generic driver is removed during the Snow Leopard installation. The FirmTek driver is not.

The Silicon Image SiI-3132 is the controller chip found on the SeriTek/2SE2-E. FirmTek was the first company to develop a Macintosh driver for this chipset. Later, the manufacturer of the chip created a generic Macintosh driver. Versions of the generic driver are used in many Macintosh controller products. To my knowledge, FirmTek is the only 3rd party company that builds its own Macintosh SiI-3132 driver. This allows FirmTek to add features that may not be available from other SiI-3132 sources.

I still prefer SATA hard disks for my personal use over SSD, based on the cost/size/performance ratio. This may change as SSD becomes more affordable. I would not match the SeriTek/2SE2-E with an SSD as it is limited to approximately 135MB/sec. with a single port or up to approximately 150-170MB/sec. with a dual drive direct connect RAID 0 configuration. The SeriTek/SE2-E is a low cost solution that works well for many uses, but it is not the product I would use to maximize SSD performance.

SSD is all about high performance and as such I would want to use a controller with it that matches or exceeds the performance ability of the SSD device. While I cannot provide details now, I can tell you that FirmTek will introduce a new high performance controller in the next few weeks.

Thank you

Apple has been pretty consistent in changing drivers and rules from last builds to release. Even MicroMat knows and waits to see final release version, remember?

There are reasons why a small company doesn't post here a lot. They are busy. I see 4 posts from SoftRAID, MacGurus use to stop by and be active, but they have their own forums. MicroMat use to be over on MacFixit and were unique in how much they put into helping anyone and educating all of us - for years. I've never seen Sonnet stop by here either.

AccelerateYourMac has almost acted like a clearing house of sorts for people to submit tips and feedback dealing with various products.

Windows 7 was mastered and sent out for mastering, and available for subscribers to download and give those people a good 3 months before its full public release. Imagine that! a window of opportunity.

A piece of history, before the G5, before SATA was out for the Mac, there was one company working on SATA products. And a number of companies caught unaware - and unprepared.

Well, you've done an outstanding job in remaining calm in the face of my emotional responses. I truly respect that. While I wish your CS guy had been more knowledgeable and emailed me back as he said he would to a question I had, you've brought me around to consider your company and products again in a different light.

I'll stop my vitriol against your company and not mention anything again. You're a credit to your company and I hope they appreciate that. I do.

Best of luck to you and Firmtek,
Steve

Points taken, Hatter. I apologize to the forums for my lack of decorum and for airing my grievances which now seem to have been off base.

Thanks for the heads up, MSB. 🙂

64bit version is out:

FASTA-4e/4x: 4-Port eSATA PCI-E/X Adapter:
Driver v2.1.0 for Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard (32-bit & 64-bit)
http://www.caldigit.com/support.asp