Which ExpressCard 34 for fast USB 3 on stock vanilla T420

[Danathar]

Hello everyone! I've done some searching but can't seem to find the exact answer I need.

Is there an ExpressCard 34 USB 3.0 card that is available that gives something faster than the USB 2.0 only ports on my stock vanilla T420? I'm using my USB ports to boot Windows 10 off of USB. It's a bit slow on USB 2.0, so I thought I'd look for an ExpressCard 34 USB 3.0 adapter IF it exists.

Is anybody using such a card? What brand? Can you still buy them somewhere?

thanks

[dr_st]

Welcome to the forum.

You can start here:
viewtopic.php?t=127819

I would avoid uPD720202-based cards because they have ASPM issues with Sandy Bridge laptops.

Asmedia ASM1042 seems to be good (Gmyle BC628) but they have gotten ridiculously expensive on eBay...

If you don't mind the card sticking out, then Startech adapters (like ECUSB3S22) based on the older uPD720200 chipset should also be OK.

P.S. Please edit your profile and add your location per the forum rules. Availability of such devices does vary between locales, so you may also get more accurate suggestions this way.

[Danathar]

Welcome to the forum.

You can start here:
viewtopic.php?t=127819

I would avoid uPD720202-based cards because they have ASPM issues with Sandy Bridge laptops.

Asmedia ASM1042 seems to be good (Gmyle BC628) but they have gotten ridiculously expensive on eBay...

If you don't mind the card sticking out, then Startech adapters (like ECUSB3S22) based on the older uPD720200 chipset should also be OK.

P.S. Please edit your profile and add your location per the forum rules. Availability of such devices does vary between locales, so you may also get more accurate suggestions this way.

Thank you much. I’ll check those out and fix my profile. Somebody on Reddit had also mentioned that you couldn’t usb boot off of the express card USB adapters but they didn’t go into any details.

I’m hoping somebody has real world experience with something like the star tech adapters. I’ve bought that brand before so I know it’s not a fly by night no name company.

[Bionicman]

Hello, I have tried two different expressCard to usb3 adapters.
The Startech ECUSB3S11 slides in and out nicely. I haven't tested speeds carefully.
On a X200s there was 50% speed improvement when copying one big file.
I would avoid the WBTUO USB 3.0 to Adapter Hidden Express Card ExpressCard LT402 Notebook Super Speed 5Gbps 34MM Expand Card.
It is ever so slighly taller than expected and can't enter the slot without force. Which means if you put it inside, it is never going out.
That relates to all Lenovos.
Both adapters come with cd driver, but actually the driver for the Startech one can be found:
it is a Renesas Technology Corp. uPD720202 USB 3.0 Host Controller. I installed a driver for that device from Lenovo for windows server and it worked.

[Danathar]

Hello, I have tried two different expressCard to usb3 adapters.
The Startech ECUSB3S11 slides in and out nicely. I haven't tested speeds carefully.
On a X200s there was 50% speed improvement when copying one big file.
I would avoid the WBTUO USB 3.0 to Adapter Hidden Express Card ExpressCard LT402 Notebook Super Speed 5Gbps 34MM Expand Card.
It is ever so slighly taller than expected and can't enter the slot without force. Which means if you put it inside, it is never going out.
That relates to all Lenovos.
Both adapters come with cd driver, but actually the driver for the Startech one can be found:
it is a Renesas Technology Corp. uPD720202 USB 3.0 Host Controller. I installed a driver for that device from Lenovo for windows server and it worked.

Thank you for that. Very good information. I'm gathering from the fact that you need drivers that you can't really boot off of USB attached media with the Expresscard adapters? Basically, if you plug in a bootable USB drive into the adapter pre-boot the BIOS does or doesn't see the USB drive?

[dr_st]

Somebody on Reddit had also mentioned that you couldn’t usb boot off of the express card USB adapters but they didn’t go into any details.

That's right; you cannot. Or at least I have never seen one where you could, at least on a stock Thinkpad BIOS. This is because the required boot ROM is not part of the BIOS, nor do the adapters include one. I missed that aspect of your post, sorry. I still have one of the Startech adapters, so I can double check.

[Danathar]

Somebody on Reddit had also mentioned that you couldn’t usb boot off of the express card USB adapters but they didn’t go into any details.

That's right; you cannot. Or at least I have never seen one where you could, at least on a stock Thinkpad BIOS. This is because the required boot ROM is not part of the BIOS, nor do the adapters include one. I missed that aspect of your post, sorry. I still have one of the Startech adapters, so I can double check.

In the end, I may be trying to make something work that is more effort than is needed. I DO have an esata port on that system. Maybe an NVme M.2 external eSATA enclosure that is powered by one of the USB ports would be a better fit and give me better performance than the T3 Samsung SSD via USB 2.0. eSATA is going to be far quicker. There is just the power problem.

[dr_st]

The T420 has an eSATA/USB combo port, so it is powered. You just need a correct cable that can draw power from the USB pins. It should be enough for any 2.5" SSD that can normally be powered off a single USB port.

[Bionicman]

Hello, I have tried two different expressCard to usb3 adapters.
The Startech ECUSB3S11 slides in and out nicely. I haven't tested speeds carefully.
On a X200s there was 50% speed improvement when copying one big file.
I would avoid the WBTUO USB 3.0 to Adapter Hidden Express Card ExpressCard LT402 Notebook Super Speed 5Gbps 34MM Expand Card.
It is ever so slighly taller than expected and can't enter the slot without force. Which means if you put it inside, it is never going out.
That relates to all Lenovos.
Both adapters come with cd driver, but actually the driver for the Startech one can be found:
it is a Renesas Technology Corp. uPD720202 USB 3.0 Host Controller. I installed a driver for that device from Lenovo for windows server and it worked.

Thank you for that. Very good information. I'm gathering from the fact that you need drivers that you can't really boot off of USB attached media with the Expresscard adapters? Basically, if you plug in a bootable USB drive into the adapter pre-boot the BIOS does or doesn't see the USB drive?

I could try booting some distro from an usb attached to the expressCard adapter ? I have no idea what will happen. Actually I saw there was a mention for a linux driver for that device, but haven't tested it.
By the way there is that: https://thinkmods.store/
I will soon receive one and I'm curios how it works. Basically I need to retain modularity between machines by swapping a single drive across them. Some of which do not have a second drive to begin with.

[Danathar]

Thank you for that. Very good information. I'm gathering from the fact that you need drivers that you can't really boot off of USB attached media with the Expresscard adapters? Basically, if you plug in a bootable USB drive into the adapter pre-boot the BIOS does or doesn't see the USB drive?

I could try booting some distro from an usb attached to the expressCard adapter ? I have no idea what will happen. Actually I saw there was a mention for a linux driver for that device, but haven't tested it.
By the way there is that: https://thinkmods.store/
I will soon receive one and I'm curios how it works. Basically I need to retain modularity between machines by swapping a single drive across them. Some of which do not have a second drive to begin with.

Well! I took a look at that site and low and behold you CAN boot with this https://thinkmods.store/collections/all ... me-adapter

Definitely leaning in that direction now

[dr_st]

Well! I took a look at that site and low and behold you CAN boot with this https://thinkmods.store/collections/all ... me-adapter

Nice! Clever solution:

The adapter comes with a USB flash chip embedded inside, which can be booted from any stock BIOS. It contains the Clover bootloader, which has special NVMe drivers that can then boot your SSD. If you use Coreboot, you can boot directly to the SSD without touching Clover.

So, it's basically a USB and a PCIe ExpressCard device in a single neat package, where one boots the other.