Sonnet Technologies Tempo SATA Pro ExpressCard/34 eSATA Controller

"I use it with to OWC HDD, both with esata, and it works great!

It works now with thunderbolt adapter."

"There is a big difference in speed with the Pro model versus the standard model, noticeably in speed. The speed tests I ran on a set of 2-drive RAID-0 externals were faster on my Macbook Pro i7 than on my Mac Pro! My specific application was downloading RED Drives onto a pair of hard drives, and the card reader cut my transfer times in half; 100 GB transfered in under a half-hour. When the drives were clean, AJA reported over 150 MB/s read and write. (that's capital MB).



There are complaints about installing drivers for the card to work completely; honestly, you'll never notice it. With these types of ExpressCards on Mac's, you do have to turn off the card before removing the card itself (via a drop-down menu on the top bar near the clock), but the driver itself is invisible. The card may work without the drivers, but I went the safe route and did as the instructions said. There have been no issues with the card or drivers crashing the system.



The port expansion is also invisible, although you'll need a drive carrier that supports port-multiplying or get a standalone add-on device. The card has eSATA 2.0 (or 3 Gbs), so each eSATA port on the card will completely saturate if writing to 3 drives per port. So with a JBOD-like scheme, the card can add 6 individual drives simultaneously reading/writing before any performance is lost. That being said, the card actually supports 5 drives per port on the card for a total of 10 drives.



Those looking for hardware RAID need to get an enclosure that has built-in hardware RAID. Simpler solutions like the Burly enclosures will also work, but that will require a software RAID solution (which is compatible)."

"I use this for video editing with Final Cut Pro on my MacBook Pro. I have it connected to a GRAID 1TB Quad Interface and have also used it simultaneously with my G-DRIVE 500GB Quad Interface. It's noticeably faster than Firewire 800. I used to use that all the time for my primary editing interface with external drives. Renders are faster, not mind-blowing, but you can see and feel the difference. Scrubbing thru the timeline is also snappier especially when working with standard definition video. Dropped frames aren't as frequent as video plays back smooth the majority of the time but part of that might be due to my computer and what I have running. I got this item because I felt I needed to maximize my editing solution once I started working more with HD material and felt Firewire 800 wouldn't suffice. On my MacBook Pro I felt this was the most affordable solution all around from pre-production, production, to post and it's been working great."

"So far it serves its purpose-- allows the data to transfer from my computer to my external hard drive. However, I seem to be lacking the appropriate driver for it to function fully with my Snow Leopard and Lacie Hard drive. When using the card, the Lacie icon does not show up on my desktop. It is connected, and I can save stuff to it, but it is not easy to transfer files without its icon present on the desktop or in the finder. Additionally, if I leave the hard drive on, and then put the computer to sleep, a kernal attack will ensue upon awakening. Connecting by other means (firewire) shows that it is not an issue with the hard drive but with the card itself. I look forward to finding a driver for full functionality."

"I got this do do data transfer from card/hard drive based cameras on set through my laptop. First day I used it I called customer service because the drives i connected were showing up as internal, more of a cosmetic issue than anything. I could still do what I needed but, I was just used to drives or card readers showing up on my desktop as external. After walking through my concern and question with customer service and nothing changing unless I chose to display hard drives on my desktop, which put up the mac HD too, the agent suggested I return it and buy a different manufacturer's product. The product is good, Sonnet's customer service leaves something to be desired."

"The Tempo SATA Pro is being used to drive a two part raid 0 RAID. I'm using a MacBook Pro 2.8Mhz i7 with 8G of memory and a 500G 7200 RPM drive. I have encountered 4 kernel panics while using the card and I think we have traced it down to the driver not playing well while another drive is being used at the same time (Firewire 800). When it's just the RAID, I've had a few freezes but nothing as bad as a kernel panic.

Card gets warm but not a problem."

"My Tempo Pro Express/34 eSata Controller works great with my MacBook Pro 17" laptop using Final Cuts Pro using my 1TG external drive. According to Sonnet tech. support this is the 64 bit controller that can be used for future 64 bit use. I purchased the controller and the G drive from B&H and they were very helpful with my purchase. Ted M."

"This adaptor is responsible for several crashes of Mac OS 10. Once you receive it, make sure to download the new driver as the one provided with it is a crash monster.

I had high hope of making video editing faster on my macbook pro, but this adaptor has made my system lagging with a one second lag when pressing the playback button. Maybe it's because I'm running mirror drives on it.

It's great to free up other ports on the computer."

"everything i have expected from the product.



With the updated january 2011 driver things are working fairly smooth. I had one kernel panic! Yes those are not good as the machine needs to be rebooted. but what can you do?



That is the biggest con."

"Installed it last week, and so far so good. Happy with the data transfer. I'm a little worried about the fact that it protrudes from the side of my macbook, which may get somewhat precarious in the rugged environment that I work in. However, this is not a design flaw, I just need to be extra careful."