• Overview
  • Tech Specs
  • Accessories

Add SuperSpeed USB Connections to Your MacBook Pro or PC Notebook Computer

USB 3.0 Ports IllustrationYour MacBook Pro or PC notebook computer has USB 2.0 ports, and they’ve served you well. Talk about compatibility—keyboards, mice, printers, scanners, joysticks, digital cameras, flash drives—what couldn’t you plug in? Talk about performance—well, that’s where USB ports 2.0 are merely passable—they limit data transfer speeds to around 25–30 MB/s. For most peripherals, that’s perfectly adequate, but when you connect an external drive and expect great performance, that bottleneck is a problem—video editing, backing up, and other data-intensive activities suffer as a result. Enter Sonnet’s USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34 adapter(1), the bottleneck breaker! This Sonnet host controller is based on the new USB 3.0 standard that offers up to 10x the performance of the decade-old USB 2.0 interface. A single hard drive with a USB 3.0 interface is capable of transferring data at up to 125 MB/s, while SSDs (solid state drives) are capable of even faster transfers—insert Sonnet's USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34 adapter into your notebook computer's ExpressCard slot to exploit the full performance potential of these fast drives.

Sonnet’s USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34 works in ExpressCard/34 and ExpressCard/54 slots. This card supports hot-swappable storage connections. Insert Sonnet's USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34 adapter into your MacBook Pro or PC notebook to experience the super speed of USB 3.0 connectivity firsthand.

 

Key Features

Simple way to add two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports to a MacBook Pro or PC notebook computer with ExpressCard/34 slot

Transfers data up to 10x faster than over USB 2.0 connections

Supports hot-swappable device connection—plug in and disconnect peripherals without shutting off your computer

Shadow

USB 3.0 Hard Drives and SSDs

Use Sonnet’s USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34 with your MacBook Pro or PC notebook to exploit the full performance potential of the latest hard drives and SSDs with a USB 3.0 interface.

 
Part No.  
USB3-2PM-E34 Discontinued
Hardware  
Warranty 1-year
Bus Interface ExpressCard/34, PCI Express 2.0 interface
Peripherals Supported(1)(Mac OS X) USB 3.0 and 2.0 hard drives(4), SSDs, thumb drives, and media readers(2)
Peripherals Supported (Windows) Supports industry standard USB 3.0, 2.0, and 1.1 peripherals
Peripheral Power Available 2.5W maximum (500mA@5V)(3)
Cables Supported USB 3.0 with Standard-A male connector, USB 2.0 with Standard-A male connector(4)
Chipset NEC
5V Power Plug External power source not supported
USB Support  
Number of Ports 2 external
Standard Complies with OHCI (Open Host Controller Interface), EHCI (Enhanced Host Controller Interface), and xHCI (eXtensible Host Controller Interface) standards
Data Transfer Rate USB 3.0: 5 Gbps
Number of Devices Supported Up to 127
Hot Plug Supports hot-pluggable and hot swappable device connection
Package Contents
  • USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34 host controller card
  • Quick start guide

 

 

 

 

Mac Compatibility

MacBook Pro (with ExpressCard slot)

Supports only USB 3.0 and 2.0 storage devices and media readers

OS® X Version 10.6.8-10.9(6)

OS X Mavericks compatible(6)

PC Compatibility

PC notebook (with ExpressCard slot)

Windows® 8

Windows 7

Windows Vista®

Windows XP

Technical Notes

  1. The Mac OS X driver for this card does not support non-storage devices. iPods and iPhones are not supported. USB 3.0 hubs are not supported. Bus-powered 2.5" drives or SSDs are not supported.
  2. Supports USB 3.0 media readers such as:
    • Sonnet Dio Pro CompactFlash and SDXC USB 3.0 Media Reader
    • Delkin Ddreader 42 USB 3.0 Universal Memory Card Reader
    • Kingston USB 3.0 Media Reader
    • Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader
    • Sony USB 3.0 XQD Card Reader

    Not compatible with:
    • Transcend USB 3.0 Super Speed Multi-Card Reader
  3. This is insufficient power to support USB 3.0 bus-powered 2.5" hard drives or SSDs. It is generally sufficient to support flash drives.
  4. USB 3.0 devices require USB 3.0 cables to support USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed) transfer speeds (up to 5 Gb/s). Use of USB 2.0 cables between USB 3.0 devices and USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34 is supported, but data transfers are limited to USB 2.0 speeds (up to 480 Mb/s).
  5. Not compatible with USB 3.0 duplicator stations, such as the Addonics Mini HDD Duplicator Station.
  6. When upgrading to OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) you must reinstall your product's Sonnet driver software.

 

Specifications subject to change without notice.
Windows LogoUSB 3.0 Logo ExpressCard/34 Logo roHS Logo

 
  Product Part No. Description
ExpressCard/34 to 54 Stabilizer ExpressCard/34 to 54 Stabilizer E34-E54-BK Brace for stabilizing an ExpressCard/34 adapter card in an ExpressCard/54 slot