USB3 in a Z? With a mod?

I'm starting to think I have a bad expresscard - I'm goingt o try with anothere USB3 drive if I can find one off a friend. But like I said it all works well - just USB2 !!

 

An experienced modder could probably make something like this work in the Z Mini PCI Express USB 3.0 Card - 2-port | StarTech.com
Especially if you had the newmodeus caddy, it would be easy to cut out a spot for the jacks to go. You'd have to have a WWAN model or buy the WWAN daughter board and cable: A1769452A COMPL PWB IFX546(WAN_GY,SY)(S)
183747811 FLAT CABLE W/CONN

 

True, but you'd need to abandon your WLAN card, the MS/SD reader or the EC socket. WWAN has nothing to do with PCIe. That means, USB3 through a flush fit ExpressCard is the most flexible and best solution for Z owners.

 

you are saying that the WWAN slot is not a PCIe slot?
I have heard this sort of thing before but no definitive answer. One thing that I do find interesting is that Gobi seems to be recognized as a USB device. Are you saying that the Gobi daughter boards are NOT capable of taking anything but a Gobi card?

 

That's what I'm saying. The WWAN daughterboard does only provide USB 2.0, see service manual block diagram and signal lines on the daughterboard/ribbon cable. For WWAN connection, you don't need 2.5GT/s connection since most networks only support 7.2/14.4 Mb/s max. USB 2.0 is sufficient for that. You can use whatever device on that WWAN slot which uses USB2.0 connectivity only (card readers, WWAN modules etc.).

 

Ok guys - my Shentek USB 3 expresscard problems are now resolved! Wahaaay

I just went out and bought a new WD MyPassport 1TB USB3 2.5" drive from DickSmith in Sydney for $129 (not bad - cheaper than ebay) and - they said I could return it if need be.

I plugged it in to the Shentek USB 3 expresscard in my Sony and voila - it works at USB 3 posting speeds of 94MB/s in CrystalMark.

The supplied USB 3 cable is the same as my Samsung which wouldn't connect at USB 3 (just USB 2) so just out of interest I connected my Samsung S2 USB 3 drive using the WD cable. And whaddya know - the bloody thing connects and works at USB 3 - posting 93 MB/s.

Also - just out of interest - you DO NOT need the extra power cable in either of these drives. Both drives work with the supplied single micro USB to USB A cable.

So it looks like those USB 3 cables are a little flakey.

So all up - I would throughly recommend the Shentek due to the ease of driver installation (supplied CD is actually up to date) and the fact that you can hot swap no problems.

 

Which chip does your Shentek card have? NEC Renesas or Fresco Logic?

 

NEC Renesas


and here's a quick CrystalDiskMark run with the Samsung S2 1TB USB 3 connected to the Shentek USB 3 Expresscard in my Sony Z.

 

By the way - here's the Shentek card I bought - took a week to get from Taiwan to Sydney - but not bad. And the guy in Taiwan was pretty keen to help. Am very happy with it now. I use the drive for my Virtual Machines.

1 port USB3.0 ExpressCard NEC UPD720200 USB 3.0 Recesse | eBay

 

Good news if all works perfectly now!
There is so many people having problem with USB 3.0 cable that it's the first thing to verify in case of problem.

 

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I've just managed to find a lovely referb'ed Z13, thankfully, and looking in Device Manager, the Richoh Memory Stick Host Controller (& SD) is listed as PCIe... So, could we steal this PCIe interface? With a bit of soldering of wires?
I'm never gonna use a Memory Stick in this ever, so losing it and gaining USB3 is a no-brainer.

 

that is super interesting. I don't know where to go from there, but a PCIe beats a card reader.