Express Card Adapters for USB3 and esata

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lscman

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Jun 20, 2008
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Anyone try to upgrade an older laptop with one of the dirt cheap express cards?

I have a Dell XPS M1330 which works great for everything including hdmi movie play, but it has no esata connector for fast backups. All I'm trying to do is backup to an external drive occasionally using something faster thn usb2.

I bought an AKE brand express 54 slot internal adapter that has one esata II connector and one usb3.0 connector. Wow, geez....this thing is cool as heck but I can't figure out what drivers to use. So far it just looks stylish. A driver disc came with it, but it contains a whole suite of drivers covering their product line that I believe I need to pick from.

product cost: $12
flush fit in express 54 slot (no protrusion)
comes with a USB pin power plug (for powering a hub I think)

driver disc contains the following stuff:

via gigabit ethernet controller drivers
realtek wlan controller drivers
asmedia 104x host controller driver
fresco logic fl1100 usb3 drivers
renasis usb3 host driver 3080

anybody ahve any ideas what I need to install on my dell to make this card work at all??????????

thanks in advance.
 

lscman

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Jun 20, 2008
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good news!!

The $12 ebay chinese AKE card works absolutely perfectly. It exactly doubles the data throughput compared to the laptop's USB2!! The USB3 and esata connectors offer nearly identical speed. I tested this by moving a 50G folder 3 times.

I copied the supplied drivers from the oddball 3" mini disc to a regular 5" disc, since my laptop has a slot drive instead of a tray. Then I moved the files from the 5" disc to the c drive. I went ot hte device manager and let it search the folder for the drivers. Voila, it found and installed them!!!

I have win7 64-bit. The card does not require the use of the supplemental dc power cord if you're using a powered external esata or usb3 drive.

my hardware config:

dell xps m1330, 2.5ghz dual core intel, 4g mem (approx 4-1/2 yrs old)
rosewell hard drive case with 120vac adapter, 2tb WD drive, USB3 and esata capable
AKE express 54 card adapter, flush mount, esata II plus usb3 outputs, dc power cord (for hub use or unpowered drives I guess)
 
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