Price : Too low to display
Buffalo’s USB 3.0 ExpressCard Adapter IFC-EC2U3/UC is an economic solution to quickly upgrade your notebook or netbook to USB 3.0. Boasting the latest generation of USB technology, the USB 3.0 ExpressCard Adapter supports SuperSpeed transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps on two ports for simultaneous connections. Ideal for creative professionals, computer power users and digital content creators requiring high speed data transfers, the Buffalo IFC-EC2U3/UC provides unparalleled performance compared to the ubiquitous USB standard and offers backward compatibility with countless USB 2.0 devices. With quick and easy installation, the Buffalo USB 3.0 ExpressCard Adapter offers a simple and inexpensive way to upgrade your laptop to SuperSpeed USB technology.
This review is from : Buffalo Technology DriveStation SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ExpressCard 2-Port Adapter Card IFC-EC2U3/UC
Partially works . ROUND 1
I installed the Buffalo Technology IFC-EC2U3/UC ExpressCard USB 3.0 2-port adapter on an HP notebook using WinXP Pro SP3. It was very easy to install using the supplied CD.
I went to the Control Panel | System | Hardware | Device Manager | Universal Serial Bus Controllers location to make sure the driver was loaded. Sure enough an NEC Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller and an NEC Electronics USB 3.0 Root Hub showed up there with no discrepancy flags.
I then tested the Buffalo adapter with an Oyen USB 3.0, 2.5-inch drive form factor, 12.5mm drive height enclosure with a Western Digital 1.0TB 5400RPM 12.5mm height hard drive installed. The Oyen enclosures are very high quality, although they lack a receptacle for providing external supplementary power (see later rounds for the significance of this when 2 drives are used). The hard drive is the biggest capacity 2.5in notebook hard drive available. The combination works fine together.
The USB 3.0 enclosures I used have no provision for an external power supply, so I was concerned that there wouldn't be enough power for the drive when connected to the USB 3.0 port. The Buffalo adapter itself does have an input receptacle for supplemental 5V power (see later rounds for why it proved to be useless).
With the one hard drive connected, I found that it all worked fine and I didn't need to connect the supplemental power.
My only gripe with this round of testing is that it sticks out about 3/4 inch further than the PC Card that I used for adding 2 eSATA ports to the same laptop. I suspect the Express Cards are longer than PC Cards because they are not as wide as PC Cards and there isn't as much room to squeeze the electronics into them.
Bottom line: It was easy enough to install and it works with one drive in an un-powered enclosure.
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ROUND 2
This didn't go so well. I connected 2 Oyen USB 3.0 un-powered enclosures. One had a 2.5in 5K 1TB HDD in it and the other had a 2.5in 7K 500GB hybrid HDD.
In this configuration only one drive can be recognized. One or the other will drop off.
I also tried it with same Oyen enclosure and also added an Acomdata USB 3.0 enclosure with a 2.5in 7K 200GB HDD in it. The result is the same; it drops one or the other drive, depending on which one was last connected.
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ROUND 3
I suspected the Express Card slot was short on power so I connected the supplemental power cord. It plugs into any nearby standard USB 1.1 or 2.0 slot and sips the 5V power from the slot. It passes the power through the cable to a standard DC round plug which fits in a round receptacle on the side of the Expresscard.
In this configuration both drives in the un-powered enclosures drop offline and don't come back.
Even with only one un-powered enclosure connected, it still drops the drive offline when the supplemental power is connected.
If you plug the USB cable in fresh, it will not recognize the drive at all.
--------------
NOTE - The supplemental power cable passes the 5V through the center conductor of the plug (+5V, center positive).
I plugged it into a USB 2.0 port on an HP notebook and checked it with a voltmeter to figure this out. The manual doesn't mention this. This is fairly standard, but they should state it clearly in the manual for those who wish to use an external power supply to provide the supplemental power. Getting the polarity wrong on a switchable external power supply can destroy the hard drives.
The outside diameter (OD) of the DC plug is 0.160in, which is one step up from the 0.140in OD plug typically used to mate with the receptacles on most 2.5in HDD enclosures.
So while the plug is a standard DC plug, it is not the size typically used for HDD enclosures. If you try to re-purpose one of your existing wall-powered adapters from a typical enclosure in order to power the ExpressCard, you will likely find that it won't go in the receptacle because although the OD of the typically used plug is small enough to go in the receptacle, the center pin in the receptacle is too large to allow the plug to fit over it.
I've had good luck for several years using the wall-powered, switched (regulated), adjustable voltage, adjustable polarity, and changeable tipped Velleman power supplies (the PSSMV1USA is particularly good for covering most such needs).
As you'll see in Round 4 however, it is likely to be a waste of time to try to use supplemental power with this Buffalo ExpressCard.
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ROUND 4
I tried using an adjustable external power supply (Velleman PSSMV1USA) and the result was the same.
I tried it at 4.75V (measured) and 5.75V (measured).
As soon as supplemental power is plugged in, any drives connected to the un-powered enclosures drop offline and don't come back.
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ROUND 5
I removed the supplementary power cable and got a 2.5in enclosure connected (and the drive recognized) again.
I then connected a 3.5in Sans Digital TowerStor TS1U-B enclosure with a 7K 2TB HDD in it. The Sans Digital is a USB 3.0 enclosure and is similar to the Oyen enclosures in that it is a top quality product.
However, unlike the smaller 2.5in Oyen, the 3.5in Sans Digital enclosure has it's own power supply. It will not work without it.
I added the 2TB drive to the mix by plugging the USB 3.0 cable from the Sans Digital into the ExpressCard while the Oyen enclosure and drive was already running.
Eureka!! Both drives were recognized and ran simultaneously without a problem. This was true with either of the 500GB and 1TB 2.5in drives, when used in the un-powered enclosures, in combination with the 3.5in 2TB drive in a powered enclosure.
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ROUND 6
I repeated the experiment noted in Round 5, except that I used 2 x 3.5in Sans Digital USB 3.0 TowerStor TS1U-B enclosures, one with a 7K 2TB HDD in it and the other with a 7K 1.5TB HDD.
It works with the same good behavior.
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ROUND 7
I tried various combinations to try to destabilize the solutions noted in Rounds 5 and 6.
I tried wiggling the ExpressCard to see if it had been loose and was causing the drives to drop. The card was tolerant of wiggling and no drives dropped.
The same was true of the cables. Wiggling them did not result in drops.
I tried plugging in the supplemental power cables (the USB to DC plug cable that was supplied with the ExpressCard, as well as my own powersupply plugged into the wall). Using the stable solutions noted in Rounds 5 and 6, when supplemental power is added via the side receptacle on the ExpressCard, the drives drop off momentarily, but then come right back up. Not great, but it works.
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CONCLUSION
This Buffalo ExpressCard adapter seems to be able to power one non-powered 2.5in USB 3.0 drive enclosure, even with a large capacity (1TB) HDD in it.
Using a combination of 1 un-powered enclosure together with 1 powered enclosure works.
Using 2 powered enclosures works.
It does not seem to be able to power 2 un-powered 2.5in USB 3.0 enclosures. This was the case, even when using supplemental power cables to provide extra power to the receptacle on the side of the ExpressCard. This was true using 2.5in USB 3.0 enclosures from 2 different manufacturers. These were tried using 5K and 7K HDDs and hybrid HDDs of 3 different sizes from 3 different manufacturers. It just couldn't do it under any circumstance I tried.
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UPDATE - 2011-06-18
Using the same old HP laptop with WinXP SP3, I replaced the Buffalo ExpressCard with an Oyen ExpressCard (sold at Amazon as the 'Oyen Digital 2-Port ExpressCard SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Card Adapter'). The Oyen card appears to be a re-branded SohoUSB HBU-330NC USB 3.0 ExpressCard.
Installing the Oyen was as easy as installing the Buffalo. One commneter mentioned that when installing ExpressCards, the drivers should be installed first, then install the expresscard. The Oyen instructions clearly recommended doing just that. So I did.
When using the Oyen CD to install the drivers it correctly identified that I already had a previous version of the NEC USB 3.0 controller chip drivers installed. It asked if I wanted to remove the old version and install the newer version of the drivers, which I did. All went well and the results were much like the installation of the Buffalo version of the drivers. Except this time, I ended up with a newer version of the same NEC USB 3.0 controller chip drivers.
The NEC controller chips that are embedded in these cards are almost all made by NEC, and for the moment, all are probably the same NEC chip model number. This makes for one of those rare cases in computing where if you upgrade your hardware to a different brand, you might be able to use same drivers, or a version of the drivers that is only slightly newer.
I tested the Oyen ExpressCard for about half a day, swapping out various combinations of USB 3.0 hard drives. As before, some were 2.5 inch drives and some were 3.5 inch drives. In addition to drives in enclosures, I also tried some bare 2.5in drives that were merely attached using dongle style adapters. The dongle style adapters that I used were some Seagate 'Flex' drive USB 3.0 adapters that came with some 1.5TB 2.5in 15mm Ht hard drives that I have been using extensively the past several months.
The Oyen handled every individual drive I tried. It also handled thumbdrives as would be expected.
It also did something the Buffalo did not: The Oyen handled every combination of drives that I could throw at it, including running with 2 un-powered 2.5in hard drives (either enclosed or bare).
To achieve this, the Oyen ExpressCard needed the supplemental power connected.
Without supplemental power attached, the Oeyn ExpressCard's bus power could only keep one drive going. Attaching a second drive would cause both to drop offline. This is an expected limitation of the ExpressCard slot, as opposed to any deficiency of the ExpressCard adapter manufacturers. The ExpressCard slot was apparently not designed to provide enough juice to power two hard drives simultaneously.
I found that the supplemental USB power cable that Oyen included (the one that sips the power from an open USB 2.0 port on the computer in the same manner as the one provided by Buffalo) worked fine for its intended purpose (as opposed to Buffalo's, which did not).
As before, I also tried using the Velleman PSSMV1USA wall powered supply. When I tried it at 4.5V (indicated on the switch on the power supply) which yielded 4.75V (measured), it did not work and any drive connected to the Oyen ExpressCard dropped offline.
I switched the voltage up one notch to 6.0V (indicated) which worked out to 5.75V (measured with a multi-meter). This worked fine and I've left it connected that way since.
For the past three days I continuously ran the laptop with two 2.5in hard drives in un-powered USB 3.0 enclosures attached to the Oyen ExpressCard USB 3.0 adapter which is running with supplemental power from the Velleman power supply / adapter that is plugged into the wall.
Simultaneously, the laptop has an OWC PATA MercuryLegacy Pro SandForce based SSD installed (the best laptop PATA SSD I've used out of three that I've tried) and also simultaneously, two additional 2.5in hard drives in un-powered USB 3.0 enclosures that are attached to two of the USB 2.0 ports on the laptop (these run at the slower USB 2.0 speeds, as expected).
In 3 days of running the laptop with these 5 drives installed, there haven't been any anomalies that I've been able to detect. They have been running continuously without a drive dropping, beeping, or blooping since I setup the current configuration with the Oyen ExpressCard.
I also repeated my previous attempts to destabilize the whole lot by wiggling the card and cables, but nothing dropped offline.
It's early days yet, but we are off to a good start with the Oyen card. I'll be posting most of the above in a separate review of the Oyen. If it causes me any trouble, I'll post updates to that review.
I've relegated the Buffalo card to my parts drawer for the moment.
UPDATED CONCLUSION
If you need to simultaneously run 2 un-powered USB 3.0 2.5in hard drives, a USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter that accepts supplemental power should be able to do the job.
The results show that USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapters can use a variety of 2.5in and 3.5in drives, including the hard to tackle ones, such as 2.5in un-powered drives (either installed in un-powered enclosures or connected to un-powered dongle style SATA to USB 3.0 adapters, such as those sold by Seagate and other manufacturers). Further, almost any 2.5in hard drive should work in such a setup, including the usual 500GB 9.5mm height hard drives, the larger 1TB 12.5mm height hard drives, and the 1.5TB 15mm height drives that are now the largest available.
That is, when they are connected to the right USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter. The Buffalo card I received could not do it, but the Oyen card works solidly so far in three days of stability testing.
PERFORMANCE
One commenter requested information on performance. I never got there with the Buffalo, but with two drives connected to the Oyen, I copied a 1GB file back and forth reliably in 20 seconds (this was almost 4 times quicker than the 1 min 15 seconds it took with USB 2.0).
NEXT PROJECT: HUBBING IT TO GET 4 SIMULTANEOUS USB 3.0 HARD DRIVES WORKING
I tried various ways to get a Bytecc 4-port USB 3.0 Hub to split a USB 3.0 signal off of the Oyen USB 3.0 ExpressCard so that I could run all four of the 2.5in enclosures off of only one port of the Oyen Card.
The Oyen ExpressCard and Bytecc hub combination worked with low power thumbdrives, but not with hard drives (not even one hard drive).
Attaching supplemental power to the Oyen Expresscard did not help. Attaching supplemental power to the Bytecc hub did not help either. Connecting supplemental power to both the Oyen ExpressCard and the Bytecc hub failed also.
I plan to eventually try an industrial quality USB 3.0 hub (with better power-regulating internals) in the hope that it will work smoothly with the Oyen ExpressCard USB 3.0 adapter.
-
Partially works . ROUND 1
I installed the Buffalo Technology IFC-EC2U3/UC ExpressCard USB 3.0 2-port adapter on an HP notebook using WinXP Pro SP3. It was very easy to install using the supplied CD.
I went to the Control Panel | System | Hardware | Device Manager | Universal Serial Bus Controllers location to make sure the driver was loaded. Sure enough an NEC Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller and an NEC Electronics USB 3.0 Root Hub showed up there with no discrepancy flags.
I then tested the Buffalo adapter with an Oyen USB 3.0, 2.5-inch drive form factor, 12.5mm drive height enclosure with a Western Digital 1.0TB 5400RPM 12.5mm height hard drive installed. The Oyen enclosures are very high quality, although they lack a receptacle for providing external supplementary power (see later rounds for the significance of this when 2 drives are used). The hard drive is the biggest capacity 2.5in notebook hard drive available. The combination works fine together.
The USB 3.0 enclosures I used have no provision for an external power supply, so I was concerned that there wouldn't be enough power for the drive when connected to the USB 3.0 port. The Buffalo adapter itself does have an input receptacle for supplemental 5V power (see later rounds for why it proved to be useless).
With the one hard drive connected, I found that it all worked fine and I didn't need to connect the supplemental power.
My only gripe with this round of testing is that it sticks out about 3/4 inch further than the PC Card that I used for adding 2 eSATA ports to the same laptop. I suspect the Express Cards are longer than PC Cards because they are not as wide as PC Cards and there isn't as much room to squeeze the electronics into them.
Bottom line: It was easy enough to install and it works with one drive in an un-powered enclosure.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ROUND 2
This didn't go so well. I connected 2 Oyen USB 3.0 un-powered enclosures. One had a 2.5in 5K 1TB HDD in it and the other had a 2.5in 7K 500GB hybrid HDD.
In this configuration only one drive can be recognized. One or the other will drop off.
I also tried it with same Oyen enclosure and also added an Acomdata USB 3.0 enclosure with a 2.5in 7K 200GB HDD in it. The result is the same; it drops one or the other drive, depending on which one was last connected.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ROUND 3
I suspected the Express Card slot was short on power so I connected the supplemental power cord. It plugs into any nearby standard USB 1.1 or 2.0 slot and sips the 5V power from the slot. It passes the power through the cable to a standard DC round plug which fits in a round receptacle on the side of the Expresscard.
In this configuration both drives in the un-powered enclosures drop offline and don't come back.
Even with only one un-powered enclosure connected, it still drops the drive offline when the supplemental power is connected.
If you plug the USB cable in fresh, it will not recognize the drive at all.
--------------
NOTE - The supplemental power cable passes the 5V through the center conductor of the plug (+5V, center positive).
I plugged it into a USB 2.0 port on an HP notebook and checked it with a voltmeter to figure this out. The manual doesn't mention this. This is fairly standard, but they should state it clearly in the manual for those who wish to use an external power supply to provide the supplemental power. Getting the polarity wrong on a switchable external power supply can destroy the hard drives.
The outside diameter (OD) of the DC plug is 0.160in, which is one step up from the 0.140in OD plug typically used to mate with the receptacles on most 2.5in HDD enclosures.
So while the plug is a standard DC plug, it is not the size typically used for HDD enclosures. If you try to re-purpose one of your existing wall-powered adapters from a typical enclosure in order to power the ExpressCard, you will likely find that it won't go in the receptacle because although the OD of the typically used plug is small enough to go in the receptacle, the center pin in the receptacle is too large to allow the plug to fit over it.
I've had good luck for several years using the wall-powered, switched (regulated), adjustable voltage, adjustable polarity, and changeable tipped Velleman power supplies (the PSSMV1USA is particularly good for covering most such needs).
As you'll see in Round 4 however, it is likely to be a waste of time to try to use supplemental power with this Buffalo ExpressCard.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ROUND 4
I tried using an adjustable external power supply (Velleman PSSMV1USA) and the result was the same.
I tried it at 4.75V (measured) and 5.75V (measured).
As soon as supplemental power is plugged in, any drives connected to the un-powered enclosures drop offline and don't come back.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ROUND 5
I removed the supplementary power cable and got a 2.5in enclosure connected (and the drive recognized) again.
I then connected a 3.5in Sans Digital TowerStor TS1U-B enclosure with a 7K 2TB HDD in it. The Sans Digital is a USB 3.0 enclosure and is similar to the Oyen enclosures in that it is a top quality product.
However, unlike the smaller 2.5in Oyen, the 3.5in Sans Digital enclosure has it's own power supply. It will not work without it.
I added the 2TB drive to the mix by plugging the USB 3.0 cable from the Sans Digital into the ExpressCard while the Oyen enclosure and drive was already running.
Eureka!! Both drives were recognized and ran simultaneously without a problem. This was true with either of the 500GB and 1TB 2.5in drives, when used in the un-powered enclosures, in combination with the 3.5in 2TB drive in a powered enclosure.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ROUND 6
I repeated the experiment noted in Round 5, except that I used 2 x 3.5in Sans Digital USB 3.0 TowerStor TS1U-B enclosures, one with a 7K 2TB HDD in it and the other with a 7K 1.5TB HDD.
It works with the same good behavior.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ROUND 7
I tried various combinations to try to destabilize the solutions noted in Rounds 5 and 6.
I tried wiggling the ExpressCard to see if it had been loose and was causing the drives to drop. The card was tolerant of wiggling and no drives dropped.
The same was true of the cables. Wiggling them did not result in drops.
I tried plugging in the supplemental power cables (the USB to DC plug cable that was supplied with the ExpressCard, as well as my own powersupply plugged into the wall). Using the stable solutions noted in Rounds 5 and 6, when supplemental power is added via the side receptacle on the ExpressCard, the drives drop off momentarily, but then come right back up. Not great, but it works.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CONCLUSION
This Buffalo ExpressCard adapter seems to be able to power one non-powered 2.5in USB 3.0 drive enclosure, even with a large capacity (1TB) HDD in it.
Using a combination of 1 un-powered enclosure together with 1 powered enclosure works.
Using 2 powered enclosures works.
It does not seem to be able to power 2 un-powered 2.5in USB 3.0 enclosures. This was the case, even when using supplemental power cables to provide extra power to the receptacle on the side of the ExpressCard. This was true using 2.5in USB 3.0 enclosures from 2 different manufacturers. These were tried using 5K and 7K HDDs and hybrid HDDs of 3 different sizes from 3 different manufacturers. It just couldn't do it under any circumstance I tried.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE - 2011-06-18
Using the same old HP laptop with WinXP SP3, I replaced the Buffalo ExpressCard with an Oyen ExpressCard (sold at Amazon as the 'Oyen Digital 2-Port ExpressCard SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Card Adapter'). The Oyen card appears to be a re-branded SohoUSB HBU-330NC USB 3.0 ExpressCard.
Installing the Oyen was as easy as installing the Buffalo. One commneter mentioned that when installing ExpressCards, the drivers should be installed first, then install the expresscard. The Oyen instructions clearly recommended doing just that. So I did.
When using the Oyen CD to install the drivers it correctly identified that I already had a previous version of the NEC USB 3.0 controller chip drivers installed. It asked if I wanted to remove the old version and install the newer version of the drivers, which I did. All went well and the results were much like the installation of the Buffalo version of the drivers. Except this time, I ended up with a newer version of the same NEC USB 3.0 controller chip drivers.
The NEC controller chips that are embedded in these cards are almost all made by NEC, and for the moment, all are probably the same NEC chip model number. This makes for one of those rare cases in computing where if you upgrade your hardware to a different brand, you might be able to use same drivers, or a version of the drivers that is only slightly newer.
I tested the Oyen ExpressCard for about half a day, swapping out various combinations of USB 3.0 hard drives. As before, some were 2.5 inch drives and some were 3.5 inch drives. In addition to drives in enclosures, I also tried some bare 2.5in drives that were merely attached using dongle style adapters. The dongle style adapters that I used were some Seagate 'Flex' drive USB 3.0 adapters that came with some 1.5TB 2.5in 15mm Ht hard drives that I have been using extensively the past several months.
The Oyen handled every individual drive I tried. It also handled thumbdrives as would be expected.
It also did something the Buffalo did not: The Oyen handled every combination of drives that I could throw at it, including running with 2 un-powered 2.5in hard drives (either enclosed or bare).
To achieve this, the Oyen ExpressCard needed the supplemental power connected.
Without supplemental power attached, the Oeyn ExpressCard's bus power could only keep one drive going. Attaching a second drive would cause both to drop offline. This is an expected limitation of the ExpressCard slot, as opposed to any deficiency of the ExpressCard adapter manufacturers. The ExpressCard slot was apparently not designed to provide enough juice to power two hard drives simultaneously.
I found that the supplemental USB power cable that Oyen included (the one that sips the power from an open USB 2.0 port on the computer in the same manner as the one provided by Buffalo) worked fine for its intended purpose (as opposed to Buffalo's, which did not).
As before, I also tried using the Velleman PSSMV1USA wall powered supply. When I tried it at 4.5V (indicated on the switch on the power supply) which yielded 4.75V (measured), it did not work and any drive connected to the Oyen ExpressCard dropped offline.
I switched the voltage up one notch to 6.0V (indicated) which worked out to 5.75V (measured with a multi-meter). This worked fine and I've left it connected that way since.
For the past three days I continuously ran the laptop with two 2.5in hard drives in un-powered USB 3.0 enclosures attached to the Oyen ExpressCard USB 3.0 adapter which is running with supplemental power from the Velleman power supply / adapter that is plugged into the wall.
Simultaneously, the laptop has an OWC PATA MercuryLegacy Pro SandForce based SSD installed (the best laptop PATA SSD I've used out of three that I've tried) and also simultaneously, two additional 2.5in hard drives in un-powered USB 3.0 enclosures that are attached to two of the USB 2.0 ports on the laptop (these run at the slower USB 2.0 speeds, as expected).
In 3 days of running the laptop with these 5 drives installed, there haven't been any anomalies that I've been able to detect. They have been running continuously without a drive dropping, beeping, or blooping since I setup the current configuration with the Oyen ExpressCard.
I also repeated my previous attempts to destabilize the whole lot by wiggling the card and cables, but nothing dropped offline.
It's early days yet, but we are off to a good start with the Oyen card. I'll be posting most of the above in a separate review of the Oyen. If it causes me any trouble, I'll post updates to that review.
I've relegated the Buffalo card to my parts drawer for the moment.
UPDATED CONCLUSION
If you need to simultaneously run 2 un-powered USB 3.0 2.5in hard drives, a USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter that accepts supplemental power should be able to do the job.
The results show that USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapters can use a variety of 2.5in and 3.5in drives, including the hard to tackle ones, such as 2.5in un-powered drives (either installed in un-powered enclosures or connected to un-powered dongle style SATA to USB 3.0 adapters, such as those sold by Seagate and other manufacturers). Further, almost any 2.5in hard drive should work in such a setup, including the usual 500GB 9.5mm height hard drives, the larger 1TB 12.5mm height hard drives, and the 1.5TB 15mm height drives that are now the largest available.
That is, when they are connected to the right USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter. The Buffalo card I received could not do it, but the Oyen card works solidly so far in three days of stability testing.
PERFORMANCE
One commenter requested information on performance. I never got there with the Buffalo, but with two drives connected to the Oyen, I copied a 1GB file back and forth reliably in 20 seconds (this was almost 4 times quicker than the 1 min 15 seconds it took with USB 2.0).
NEXT PROJECT: HUBBING IT TO GET 4 SIMULTANEOUS USB 3.0 HARD DRIVES WORKING
I tried various ways to get a Bytecc 4-port USB 3.0 Hub to split a USB 3.0 signal off of the Oyen USB 3.0 ExpressCard so that I could run all four of the 2.5in enclosures off of only one port of the Oyen Card.
The Oyen ExpressCard and Bytecc hub combination worked with low power thumbdrives, but not with hard drives (not even one hard drive).
Attaching supplemental power to the Oyen Expresscard did not help. Attaching supplemental power to the Bytecc hub did not help either. Connecting supplemental power to both the Oyen ExpressCard and the Bytecc hub failed also.
I plan to eventually try an industrial quality USB 3.0 hub (with better power-regulating internals) in the hope that it will work smoothly with the Oyen ExpressCard USB 3.0 adapter.
-
Buffalo Technology DriveStation SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ExpressCard 2-Port Adapter Card IFC-EC2U3/UC Reviews
usb 3.0 overall . on my dell inspiron 1545 laptop through the expresscard32 slot im getting on average about 40MB/s transfer speed to the wd hdd that i took out of my wd mybook 1tb usb2.0
i think for the best performance we should buy harddrives with large buffers like 64mb or similar,
sadly sata 3.0gb/s is slower than what usb 3.0 says its throughput is, therefor until someone starts creating new harddrives with a faster interface we will not see the true potential of usb3.0
this product coupled with my 3.0 reader overall has given me a fair 2X speed increase for all write transfers
my main use is to copy folders of videos back and forward from hdd's
5 to 20 gb in size with 20 or 30 files
it seems that the transfers are the fastest on singular large files
overall for me, this even with a now obsolete harddrive to use with the system is still a massive performance improvement.
sadly now we have to wait for other tech to catch up and implement 3.0
(my xbox and ps2 for instance, and of course new harddrives)
usb 3.0 overall . on my dell inspiron 1545 laptop through the expresscard32 slot im getting on average about 40MB/s transfer speed to the wd hdd that i took out of my wd mybook 1tb usb2.0
i think for the best performance we should buy harddrives with large buffers like 64mb or similar,
sadly sata 3.0gb/s is slower than what usb 3.0 says its throughput is, therefor until someone starts creating new harddrives with a faster interface we will not see the true potential of usb3.0
this product coupled with my 3.0 reader overall has given me a fair 2X speed increase for all write transfers
my main use is to copy folders of videos back and forward from hdd's
5 to 20 gb in size with 20 or 30 files
it seems that the transfers are the fastest on singular large files
overall for me, this even with a now obsolete harddrive to use with the system is still a massive performance improvement.
sadly now we have to wait for other tech to catch up and implement 3.0
(my xbox and ps2 for instance, and of course new harddrives)
Buffalo Technology DriveStation SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ExpressCard 2-Port Adapter Card IFC-EC2U3/UC Opinions
Remember to update your firmware . I'm, successfully using this ExpressCard/34 card into my laptop's ExpressCard/54 slot. The laptop is running Win7 x64 (No SP1). Since this card uses a NEC/Renesas USB3 chipset, I installed latest generic Nec/Renesas drivers (Version 2.1.16.0) and latest USB3 firmware (Version 3.0.2.7.0.8). With the help of the card I use an external WD Scorpio drive installed in a Vantec USB3 case (NST-280S3 new model with Asmedia 1051 chipset).Note: If you are using your buffalo card to drive a case based on the JMS551 USB3 chipset and you are affected by intermittent disconnections try upgrading the firmware of the case to the latest version. Install latest USB3 firmware and generic USB3 drivers. This may help you with that issue.USB3 has a tranfer rate of 5 Gbit/s maximum, but since the ExpressCard slot has max transfer rate of 2.5 Gbit/s, the adapter will performance will be limited by this fact. Never the less the performance is much better than plain USB2. This is not a limitation of the buffalo card. It is a limitation of the ExpressCard slot, so you will see the same issue other USB3 adapters.So far this card has been a stable, fast and capable card. I cannot provide feedback on the original Buffalo drivers, but with the latest generic firmware and drivers I have not been affected by any problem.*** Update *** 2-OCT-2011
I increased my rate to 5 stars. Latest firmware and driver made this adapter an excellent choice. With the external cases I'm using, I get speeds eSata II performance and I'm happy with it. Recently I got an USB3 to eSata II cable (StarTech.com USB3S2ESATA / LucidPort chipset + Latest firmware), and now I'm using it to connect eSata external cases through USB 3.0. The flexibility is amazing and the performance is the best I could get using my current laptop.The StarTech.com USB3S2ESATA (USB 3.0 to eSata) cable uses native features of the NEC/Renesas USB3 chipset (on the the Buffalo card) and the stability and performance is very good. As today I'm using the following firmware/drivers versions:- NEC/Renesas USB3 drivers: Version 2.1.25.0
- NEC/Renesas USB3 firmware: Version 3.0.2.8.0.8
- StarTech.com USB3S2ESATA firmware: USB300 Firmware 2580 - Mar16_11At least remember to use latest NEC USB 3.0 drivers and firmware.
Remember to update your firmware . I'm, successfully using this ExpressCard/34 card into my laptop's ExpressCard/54 slot. The laptop is running Win7 x64 (No SP1). Since this card uses a NEC/Renesas USB3 chipset, I installed latest generic Nec/Renesas drivers (Version 2.1.16.0) and latest USB3 firmware (Version 3.0.2.7.0.8). With the help of the card I use an external WD Scorpio drive installed in a Vantec USB3 case (NST-280S3 new model with Asmedia 1051 chipset).Note: If you are using your buffalo card to drive a case based on the JMS551 USB3 chipset and you are affected by intermittent disconnections try upgrading the firmware of the case to the latest version. Install latest USB3 firmware and generic USB3 drivers. This may help you with that issue.USB3 has a tranfer rate of 5 Gbit/s maximum, but since the ExpressCard slot has max transfer rate of 2.5 Gbit/s, the adapter will performance will be limited by this fact. Never the less the performance is much better than plain USB2. This is not a limitation of the buffalo card. It is a limitation of the ExpressCard slot, so you will see the same issue other USB3 adapters.So far this card has been a stable, fast and capable card. I cannot provide feedback on the original Buffalo drivers, but with the latest generic firmware and drivers I have not been affected by any problem.*** Update *** 2-OCT-2011
I increased my rate to 5 stars. Latest firmware and driver made this adapter an excellent choice. With the external cases I'm using, I get speeds eSata II performance and I'm happy with it. Recently I got an USB3 to eSata II cable (StarTech.com USB3S2ESATA / LucidPort chipset + Latest firmware), and now I'm using it to connect eSata external cases through USB 3.0. The flexibility is amazing and the performance is the best I could get using my current laptop.The StarTech.com USB3S2ESATA (USB 3.0 to eSata) cable uses native features of the NEC/Renesas USB3 chipset (on the the Buffalo card) and the stability and performance is very good. As today I'm using the following firmware/drivers versions:- NEC/Renesas USB3 drivers: Version 2.1.25.0
- NEC/Renesas USB3 firmware: Version 3.0.2.8.0.8
- StarTech.com USB3S2ESATA firmware: USB300 Firmware 2580 - Mar16_11At least remember to use latest NEC USB 3.0 drivers and firmware.
BUFFALO USB 3.0 EXPRESSCARD/34 . I have this card to expand my Dell Inspiron 1720 (17" desktop replacement laptop), running Vista 32-bit, to be USB 3.0 compatible with my next laptop, which will have it built in. Set up is easy, but I do recommend reading the short manual on the installation CD before use, for two reasons which I will explain. First, I loaded the drivers, logged in as the administrator user, in a minute or two. Going online revealed that I had installed the latest drivers from the disc, always a good sign. Then I plugged the Expresscard into the 34/54 slot on the left side of the laptop, which registered immediately as a hub and controller. The card sticks out of the slot by about 4 centimeters, so this is not a very robust or pretty-looking installed card. If you jogged it or leaned on it, I suspect it might lose power and data, or snap. I don't intend to do any test-to-destruction testing with it. I then plugged in an 8Gb USB 2.0 flashdrive, and it worked as normal immediately. Good so far.
Then I plugged in my Freecom ToughDrive USB 2.0 external hard disk drive and discovered that the laptop immediately shut down in a semi-hibernated state. The only way to recover was to unplug the external hard drive and do a full reboot. As the manual explains, in technospeak, it is essential to connect the wire which comes with the card into one of your USB 2.0 ports and then into the side of the ExpressCard - to give extra power to the ExpressCard to drive devices like an external hard drive which draws all its operating power from the USB 3.0 port. It is essential to do this BEFORE plugging in the external hard drive. The tech specs inform you that this extra power feed only gives a disappointing total 500mA power draw from the Buffalo ExpressCard 3.0, which is all a standard USB 2.0 port gives. And the aesthetic value drops again with an annoying wire taking up a whole USB port, to link to the frontside of the ExpressCard, not to mention the inconvenience of another wire to snag. So, if you are setting up a desktop replacement system, and not planning to move it too often, this will be acceptable, but probably very annoying if you move it around much.
If you have an ExpressCard/54 slot, as I do on my laptop, there will be gap at the side of the card to allow dirt in. This is a factor to consider if you have a dusty work area and get problems re-inserting the ExpressCard/34. It is most important to remember to set up the card with the extra power wire before plugging in other devices, and the manual is explicit about the need to dismount devices properly in the USB controller software, not just unplug-and-go. I would not like to dice with this advice, I do dismount properly, and pull carefully to avoid unseating the ExpressCard, which would cause undue wear-and-tear. The click-in feel of the card is not very positive, so I would not like to mount and dismount the card on a daily basis, as the `slop factor' might set in. So these points form the downside of this card in action.
PERFORMANCE: as I hoped, there is a modest speed gain when copying large folders of data (typical lazy backup technique), from the laptop to the Freecom ToughDrive, about 15% or more (averaged times to allow for cache benefits). Going the other way there is no difference. There was also no noticeable difference for an average performance flashdrive, but a faster one might easily show a modest speed gain. The recommended external hard drive for this card is the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Hard Drive DriveStation HD-HXU3, but I have not tested any USB 3.0 devices on it yet, let alone this specific one.
Then I plugged in my Freecom ToughDrive USB 2.0 external hard disk drive and discovered that the laptop immediately shut down in a semi-hibernated state. The only way to recover was to unplug the external hard drive and do a full reboot. As the manual explains, in technospeak, it is essential to connect the wire which comes with the card into one of your USB 2.0 ports and then into the side of the ExpressCard - to give extra power to the ExpressCard to drive devices like an external hard drive which draws all its operating power from the USB 3.0 port. It is essential to do this BEFORE plugging in the external hard drive. The tech specs inform you that this extra power feed only gives a disappointing total 500mA power draw from the Buffalo ExpressCard 3.0, which is all a standard USB 2.0 port gives. And the aesthetic value drops again with an annoying wire taking up a whole USB port, to link to the frontside of the ExpressCard, not to mention the inconvenience of another wire to snag. So, if you are setting up a desktop replacement system, and not planning to move it too often, this will be acceptable, but probably very annoying if you move it around much.
If you have an ExpressCard/54 slot, as I do on my laptop, there will be gap at the side of the card to allow dirt in. This is a factor to consider if you have a dusty work area and get problems re-inserting the ExpressCard/34. It is most important to remember to set up the card with the extra power wire before plugging in other devices, and the manual is explicit about the need to dismount devices properly in the USB controller software, not just unplug-and-go. I would not like to dice with this advice, I do dismount properly, and pull carefully to avoid unseating the ExpressCard, which would cause undue wear-and-tear. The click-in feel of the card is not very positive, so I would not like to mount and dismount the card on a daily basis, as the `slop factor' might set in. So these points form the downside of this card in action.
PERFORMANCE: as I hoped, there is a modest speed gain when copying large folders of data (typical lazy backup technique), from the laptop to the Freecom ToughDrive, about 15% or more (averaged times to allow for cache benefits). Going the other way there is no difference. There was also no noticeable difference for an average performance flashdrive, but a faster one might easily show a modest speed gain. The recommended external hard drive for this card is the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Hard Drive DriveStation HD-HXU3, but I have not tested any USB 3.0 devices on it yet, let alone this specific one.
Works great . Worked great. Ran WD Passport 1 tb 3.0 off it. Didn't need extra power- nice, because other cards take up another usb slot. If you try to add other drives, you will need extra power. But, I ran the power/usb cable to a usb hub, and it worked great. Follow the installation instructions. Worth the upgrade for the increase in transfer speed.
A great usb 3.0 laptop adaptor . I purchased this adaptor for my wifes HP dv6700z laptop. It works flawlessly and has stabilized usb connectivity with her backup hard drive (a Buffalo usb 3.0 Drivestation). She was having issues maintaining connectivity to her old usb 2.0 external drive. Backup speeds have increase threefold so we are delighted with this purchase.
Solid Product . So I bought this just so I could have fast backup off my laptop onto my external HD, and also keep my backed up HD movie library running right off the external to my PC.
Installation: Easy, very fast and simple, I'm Windows 7 everything went easy.
Device: Sticks out a bit, not a problem- requires external power from a USB 2.0, which is annoying because my expansion slot is on other side of laptop, and i have to have a cable running across it just to use the USB 3 port.
Value for money: Good so far (had it one day I don't know long term). My laptop is going to be stationary so I won't mind the extra cables and expansion sticking out.
Speed: To me, its definitely faster than the USB 2.0. on my WD external (ac powered) hard drive, I compared a file transfer of one file on USB 2 and 3, same file same settings.
File: 4 GB folder (movie)
USB 2.0 : Copied in 3:01 seconds
USB 3.0 through Buffalo USB 3.0 laptop expansion: copied in 1:30 seconds
So roughly its 2x faster than USB 2.0.....Still fast, but USB 3.0 is being pushed as 3X faster, which it is not at least from my example.
I also ran the HD movie off of the external HD, it ran normally, better than running off USB 2.0 port which slagged a bit.
Overall 4/5: If you want USB 3.0 ports on your laptop, don't want to wait/buy a new laptop, this is does exactly what it says. Only drawback is external USB power, not something you'd really use easily "on the go", but fine for home use, it serves the purpose for which I bought it.
Installation: Easy, very fast and simple, I'm Windows 7 everything went easy.
Device: Sticks out a bit, not a problem- requires external power from a USB 2.0, which is annoying because my expansion slot is on other side of laptop, and i have to have a cable running across it just to use the USB 3 port.
Value for money: Good so far (had it one day I don't know long term). My laptop is going to be stationary so I won't mind the extra cables and expansion sticking out.
Speed: To me, its definitely faster than the USB 2.0. on my WD external (ac powered) hard drive, I compared a file transfer of one file on USB 2 and 3, same file same settings.
File: 4 GB folder (movie)
USB 2.0 : Copied in 3:01 seconds
USB 3.0 through Buffalo USB 3.0 laptop expansion: copied in 1:30 seconds
So roughly its 2x faster than USB 2.0.....Still fast, but USB 3.0 is being pushed as 3X faster, which it is not at least from my example.
I also ran the HD movie off of the external HD, it ran normally, better than running off USB 2.0 port which slagged a bit.
Overall 4/5: If you want USB 3.0 ports on your laptop, don't want to wait/buy a new laptop, this is does exactly what it says. Only drawback is external USB power, not something you'd really use easily "on the go", but fine for home use, it serves the purpose for which I bought it.
Cons Review
No support for Macs although their drives say Mac compatible . I bought this express adapter to use in a configuration with my MacBook Pro and their Drive STation USB 3.0 (2TB).
When I couldn't make it work, and I had been through their lousy doc, I called tech support and they said several things. First they said there was no support for Macs. Then they said they had no drivers for Macs, and they don't know if they ever will. Then they told me to just plug the drive into a regular USB 2.0 slot and it would work fine. Lets be clear about this. I didn't pay $200 for a 2TB drive, just to use it at USB 2.0 speeds.
When I asked why the drive said "Mac compatible", and what Mac was known to work with the product, they could not answer the question and blamed me for not properly researching the product before I bought it.
I wondered how I could have made that mistake, so I went back to the product pages on Amazon for the adapter and the drive, and the adapter specifications in the product listing interestingly enough says nothing about supported operating systems. The product page for the drive however says "Cross-Platform Support Connects to USB on any PC or Mac? for a seamless integration". This led me to believe the drive would work on a Mac. Again the tech support people at Buffalo could not tell me any particular Mac model that was known to work with their products other than in legacy mode. They also suggested it would work fine if I just used bootcamp and Windows on my mac
I am inconvenienced several ways in that my money is already spent, and I have already waited for the shipping time. When the tech support jockey accusing me of improperly researching the product before buying, it really set me off. Any company that cared about their reputation, and their customers, and their repeat business, would have put a note in the doc about the express adapter that there weren't any Mac drivers for Snow Leopard. Instead their descriptions led me to believe if I bought their adapter and their drive, I would be good to go.
So I can't speak to the quality of the adapter or the drive in as much as they do not work on my system (other than in legacy mode USB 2). What I can say is that for reasons I cannot fathom, they left this ambiguous description on their adapter, and set customers up for a disappointment when the packages arrived, and a while later when calling their tech support, the BAD NEWS.
I will never again buy a Buffalo Technologies product in this lifetime. It was bad enough it didn't work, but the hostile tech support guy left me with a very bad feeling about them. He might of at least said he was sorry the system didn't work for me.
The documentation on the drive said (on page 8), "Installing software on a Mac. 1. Connect the DriveStation to your computer. 2. Open [UTIL_HDHXU3] to navigate to the Mac directory in the DriveStation and select the target software icon. It sure sounds like it works on a Mac..
That is all I can say right now about this situation. Sorry for the long winded grousing.
When I couldn't make it work, and I had been through their lousy doc, I called tech support and they said several things. First they said there was no support for Macs. Then they said they had no drivers for Macs, and they don't know if they ever will. Then they told me to just plug the drive into a regular USB 2.0 slot and it would work fine. Lets be clear about this. I didn't pay $200 for a 2TB drive, just to use it at USB 2.0 speeds.
When I asked why the drive said "Mac compatible", and what Mac was known to work with the product, they could not answer the question and blamed me for not properly researching the product before I bought it.
I wondered how I could have made that mistake, so I went back to the product pages on Amazon for the adapter and the drive, and the adapter specifications in the product listing interestingly enough says nothing about supported operating systems. The product page for the drive however says "Cross-Platform Support Connects to USB on any PC or Mac? for a seamless integration". This led me to believe the drive would work on a Mac. Again the tech support people at Buffalo could not tell me any particular Mac model that was known to work with their products other than in legacy mode. They also suggested it would work fine if I just used bootcamp and Windows on my mac
I am inconvenienced several ways in that my money is already spent, and I have already waited for the shipping time. When the tech support jockey accusing me of improperly researching the product before buying, it really set me off. Any company that cared about their reputation, and their customers, and their repeat business, would have put a note in the doc about the express adapter that there weren't any Mac drivers for Snow Leopard. Instead their descriptions led me to believe if I bought their adapter and their drive, I would be good to go.
So I can't speak to the quality of the adapter or the drive in as much as they do not work on my system (other than in legacy mode USB 2). What I can say is that for reasons I cannot fathom, they left this ambiguous description on their adapter, and set customers up for a disappointment when the packages arrived, and a while later when calling their tech support, the BAD NEWS.
I will never again buy a Buffalo Technologies product in this lifetime. It was bad enough it didn't work, but the hostile tech support guy left me with a very bad feeling about them. He might of at least said he was sorry the system didn't work for me.
The documentation on the drive said (on page 8), "Installing software on a Mac. 1. Connect the DriveStation to your computer. 2. Open [UTIL_HDHXU3] to navigate to the Mac directory in the DriveStation and select the target software icon. It sure sounds like it works on a Mac..
That is all I can say right now about this situation. Sorry for the long winded grousing.
Returned . Sticks out the side of laptop, I knew this at time of purchase, however Id didnt know that it would be constructed so that it would bend, after a few days of use, it would only work if I propped it up a certain way, and when you look at the card itself, the connection between the plastic and metal bends 15 degrees easily. Bad construction. I bought another unit that fits flush with the side of my laptop.
Problem Recognizing Hard drive . trying to connect 2 tb wd hard drive through it is very frustrating-- when i connect the drive thru usb2 ports it boots and installs immediately.. but when i plug it in through this port i have to pull the cable, turn the drive off and on several times or the drive just sits with the light on but is not recognized or installed on my computer!
Product Image
Feature Buffalo Technology DriveStation SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ExpressCard 2-Port Adapter Card IFC-EC2U3/UC
- SuperSpeed USB 3.0: accelerated file access and transfer speeds, up to 5 Gbps ? 10 times faster than USB 2.0
- Compatible with USB 2.0 and 3.0: Support for legacy USB 2.0 and SuperSpeed 3.0 devices
- Free 24/7 Tech Support: US-based tech support for life of the product
Product Details
EAN : 0747464120850UPC : 747464120850
MPN : IFC-EC2U3/UC
Brand : Buffalo Technology
Weight : 1 pounds
Height : 2 inches
Length : 9 inches
Width : 7 inches
Binding : Personal Computers
Format : CD-ROM
Manufacturer : BUFFALO
Model : IFC-EC2U3/UC
Operating System : N/A
Publisher : BUFFALO
SKU : DH_IFCEC2U3UC
Studio : BUFFALO
Where To Buy
You can buy Buffalo Technology DriveStation SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ExpressCard 2-Port Adapter Card IFC-EC2U3/UC on Amazon . Click here to Read More
