USB3 on Mac?

[Ztardust]

I am very interested in getting USB3 on my MacPro...

 

I just saw a USB3 card from Asus:

http://nexgadget.com/2009/10/30/asus’-u3...6-0-pci-e-card/

 

I assume that we can't use this card on a Mac? At least we will be missing some driver I guess..?

 

Anyone here know anything about plans for USB3 support in OSX?

 

 

- Ztardust

[delphinus87]

I personally wonder if Apple will ever release USB 3.0 support. A couple of months ago, Intel demonstrated a new kind of universal interface called LightPeak using OS X. People initially thought they were using a Hackintosh, but it turned out they were using a prototype Mac Pro MoBo, which implied Apple support. They demonstrated 10Gb/s over a 30m cable and claim a 100Gb/s potential. This is faster than anything out now. I foresee Apple picking up on this in a few years.

 

BTW, here's the standby Cable speed comparison.

 

USB1.1 < FireWire400 < USB 2.0 < Firewire800 < eSata < USB 3.0

 

I don't think USB 3.0 will ever reach the saturation of USB 2.0. The speeds needed are only useful for external HDDs and other professional gear, not flash drives in the shape of humping dogs. If you must, just get a FW800 drive. save yourself a couple hundred dollars by spending an extra 20 seconds transferring files ~.^

[Meeno]

I didn't even know this existed.

[docmacps]

I am very interested in getting USB3 on my MacPro...

I assume that we can't use this card on a Mac? At least we will be missing some driver I guess..?

Anyone here know anything about plans for USB3 support in OSX?

 

USB 3.0 SuperSpeed on the Mac is an inevitability. I'm tracking the naescent, emerging market at my USB 3.0 For Mac website. Even if Apple pursues 'Light Speed' or whatever - it'll still be a 'higher-level' bus technology that'll be able to interface to a USB 3 controller (or FireWire, or any other physical interface types) and grant access to the flood of SuperSpeed 3.0 devices that will hitting the market.

 

The 10-fold speed improvements of USB3 promises benefits for more than just hard drives. It's a better match for the demands of HDTV Tuners and capture devices, Solid-State SSD flash drives, ultra-high resolution image scanners - things that USB 2.0 already has a problem keeping up with. Even the higher milliwatt power available on a USB 3.0 port will be a boon to charging iPods, iPhones and whatnot in half the time -- and syncing data on handheld devices will be far swifter. So even keyboards with built-in USB3 ports will be a smart thing to have, with far fewer 'There's not enough power' warnings popping up onscreen when you plug something in.

 

I'm really not sure - yet - But for simple things like Buffalo's USB3 PCI-e card and, say, Western Digitals new external USB3 interface hard drive - Apple may not NEED to write 'special 3.0 drivers' to support rather simple USB MASS STORAGE block data transfer. (Perhaps the card and drive can handle the 'how fast' issue at a hardware level?)

 

(P.S. If anyone's willing to donate a free MacPro, USB 3 card and SuperSpeed gadgets and cables -- I'll blog about and report my Mac experience in detail...

[Blackbooks]

Wouldn't suprise me if Apple totally skipped it and went to Lightpeak. They constantly change their display ports and do things like ditch firewire when they were the huge force behind it!

[jeebster]

Not sure about desktops but I'm fairly sure some third party company will create a USB 3.0 express card for macbook users. Pretty sure Apple will adopt USB 3.0 though as it seems to be the standard the industry is coming to adopt.

[hy-per]

Not sure about desktops but I'm fairly sure some third party company will create a USB 3.0 express card for macbook users. Pretty sure Apple will adopt USB 3.0 though as it seems to be the standard the industry is coming to adopt.

 

The ST Lab C-470 ExpressCard/34 is just out. Don't know if my MacBook Pro has the necessary software to accommodate it, however. The manufacturer only specifies Windows support.

[Dilemma Prison]

USB 3.0 will appear on various macs when intel starts shipping chipsets with it for apple. Give it a year or so and any new product coming down the pipe wil have a USB 3 host controller. Accessories will take longer. Aka keyboards with USB 3 in their bult in hub etc.

[Hangten]

Not sure about desktops but I'm fairly sure some third party company will create a USB 3.0 express card for macbook users. Pretty sure Apple will adopt USB 3.0 though as it seems to be the standard the industry is coming to adopt.

 

 

Not to sure if thats going to happen with any sense of urgency sense the SATA2 bus is capped on Mac Book Pro's. In order to use that amount of bandwidth you also need devices that are capable of that much output. HDD can't even come close to saturating SATA2 let alone SATA3. SSD's on the other hand can but price is prohibited and some of the function commands such as command queuing and TRIM will not work on USB3 as of current. My blue tooth Apple keyboard and mouse work great on my Hackintosh. Stuff such as keyboards don't need much bandwidth and they can even run on first generation USB.

If there is going to be any revolutionary chipset it will be on Intel's "X68" (2011 3rd qtr release date)with a new socket and support for octa-core and more PCI-E X16 lanes to give more than enough improvement. If you haven't check out Woz (apple co-founder)

This guy kicks butt...

 

Light peak should go hand in hand with the extraordinary jump we are seeing in speed. My bets are Intel doesn't see the importance of USB3 as it will easily be outdated quickly and USB2 is plenty for covering peripheral connectivity.

 

If your not aware its now possible to boot from PCI-E card SSD's Hybrid controller cards.

 

Im not saying USB3 isn't worth it, but saying if you have SATA3 and an ESATA anyways there really aren't as many things to take advantage of USB3. This kinda stuff might but it seems to work on USB2 just fine

 

"Intel's optical-based successor to USB 3.0 may worm its way into products during 2011.

 

 

Zoom

It only makes sense that Intel's Light Peak is the next step after USB 3.0. After all, there's only so much speed you can push across a wire--optical cables however can handle far more data. The new tech is slated to not only provide a transfer rate of 10 Gbps, but will also be backwards compatible with a USB 3.0 port.

 

With that said, it's no wonder that Intel is pushing its new technology to take the place of the current USB tech in 2011. "We view this as a logical future successor to USB 3.0," said Intel's Kevin Kahn during a speech at the Intel Developer forum in Beijing (via PCWorld). "In some sense we'd... like to build the last cable you'll ever need."

 

Kahn said that Intel plans to make the Light Peak technology available late this year, and expects Intel partners to bring Light Peak-enabled devices to the market sometime next year. But with USB 3.0 just recently out the door, Light Peak may not go mainstream until at least the beginning of 2012 if not later.

 

"We expect both [uSB 3.0 and Light Peak] to exist together in the market and perhaps on the same platform at the same time," Kahn said during a presentation. While there's no conflict between the two technologies, Light Peak will still have the upper hand by allowing USB and other protocols to run together on a single, longer cable. The connections are also smaller than USB jacks, an important factor with small mobile devices.

 

Kahn said that Intel may add Light Peak supports into its chipsets, depending on how fast the industry embraces the new optical technology next year."

 

updated 05/06/2010

"Another interconnect technology, but this one does impress.

 

Intel's Light Peak technology is one that the chip company touts as being a possible future replacement for USB, HDMI and even DisplayPort. With the 10Gb/s in both directions being possible now, it's already impressive – but Intel says that it's just the beginning.

 

"Light Peak begins at 10Gbits/sec, simultaneously in both directions," said Intel's chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, to PC Pro. "We expect to increase that speed dramatically. You'll see multiple displays being served by a single Light Peak connection. There's almost no limit to the bandwidth - fibres can carry trillions of bits per second."

 

Intel demonstrated Light Peak running from a laptop that was streaming two high-definition video feeds to a single display. Observers said that they could not see any signs of lag.

 

Light Peak hardware is supposed to hit later this year, but Intel hopes that the technology will stick and have time to grow."

 

"The potential of that headroom will lead people to rethink the design of their systems," Rattner said. "We've very, very excited about the potential of Light Peak."

 

My 2 cents worth.

[gaetanfo]

I am very interested in getting USB3 on my MacPro...

 

I just saw a USB3 card from Asus:

http://nexgadget.com/2009/10/30/asus’-u3...6-0-pci-e-card/

 

I assume that we can't use this card on a Mac? At least we will be missing some driver I guess..?

 

Anyone here know anything about plans for USB3 support in OSX?

 

 

- Ztardust

 

I know there one USB3 pci-e card is sold with drivers for OSX. I do not recall its name.

But I read it in one of one magazine's webpage, less that ten days ago.

It was stated that one could easily edit the kext to install any other card, since

all use the same NEC USB3 controller. But they would not say how, adding that it would

be illegal.

 

the most likely websites : AppkeInsider, Mac4Ever, or Macbidouille (French)é

 

 

 

I know there one USB3 pci-e card is sold with drivers for OSX. I do not recall its name.

But I read it in one of one magazine's webpage, less that ten days ago.

It was stated that one could easily edit the kext to install any other card, since

all use the same NEC USB3 controller. But they would not say how, adding that it would

be illegal.

 

the most likely websites : AppkeInsider, Mac4Ever, or Macbidouille (French)é

 

http://www.caldigit.com/avdrive/Card_PCIex.html

[Hangten]

@gaetanfo,

 

Good find...

[James cuck]

I personally wonder if Apple will ever release USB 3.0 support. A couple of months ago, Intel demonstrated a new kind of universal interface called LightPeak using OS X. People initially thought they were using a Hackintosh, but it turned out they were using a prototype Mac Pro MoBo, which implied Apple support

[jestera]

Lacie have released a USB 3.0 driver for OSX. I have installed it ok on my hackintosh (Gigabyte x58-UDR3 v2.0) board and it comes up in system profiler as a 'USB Super speed Bus' (See the attachment). The downer is I haven't got a USB 3.0 device to test it out.

 

You can get the driver from this link on the Lacie site:

 

http://www.lacie.com/more/index.htm?id=10112

 

Read the instructions and you can see the download link.

 

Can someone test it out?

[Hangten]

@jestera

 

Thanks

[J Lamp]

TA-DA!

 

Working here too!

 

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Unfortunately, so far it correctly lists / mounts everything I plug into it in System Profiler except my USB3 drive enclosure (which does work on the same machine under Win 7)

[bonaccij]

I personally wonder if Apple will ever release USB 3.0 support. A couple of months ago, Intel demonstrated a new kind of universal interface called LightPeak using OS X. People initially thought they were using a Hackintosh, but it turned out they were using a prototype Mac Pro MoBo, which implied Apple support. They demonstrated 10Gb/s over a 30m cable and claim a 100Gb/s potential. This is faster than anything out now. I foresee Apple picking up on this in a few years.

 

BTW, here's the standby Cable speed comparison.

 

USB1.1 < FireWire400 < USB 2.0 < Firewire800 < eSata < USB 3.0

 

I don't think USB 3.0 will ever reach the saturation of USB 2.0. The speeds needed are only useful for external HDDs and other professional gear, not flash drives in the shape of humping dogs. If you must, just get a FW800 drive. save yourself a couple hundred dollars by spending an extra 20 seconds transferring files ~.^

 

 

That isn't exactly correct. In real world tests the speed ratings are:

 

USB1.1 < USB 2.0 < FireWire400 < USB 3.0< Firewire800 < eSata

[ericdk]

Great work, i will test it later.

[splintah]

That isn't exactly correct. In real world tests the speed ratings are:

 

USB1.1 < USB 2.0 < FireWire400 < USB 3.0< Firewire800 < eSata

lacie says its the fastest

check their website they sell the cards for osx

firewire 800 - 800mb/sec

usb3.0 - 5gb/sec

[egnm1969]

Just wanted to know if anyone has success with this Lacie card & it's driver working with a USB3 hard drive, as I've just bought a USB3 HD and want to know which card I should get for my MoBo so that it can support the new HD ?

 

Thanks :-)