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How to make use of both PCMCIA and ExpressCard slots?

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:56 pm
by NIXin
Hi!
I'm having trouble with the firewire (1394) port on my T61. When I close or open the lid, the sound on my firewire audio interface breaks (the interface hangs on XP, on Vista, I'm getting BSODs every time I close or open the lid :evil:). Same thing happens when I insert an SD card to the reader. That's really strange, but I think T61 is cutting the firewire connection for a fraction of second when closing/opening the lid (probably I think it's because of the intel gma graphics driver - interface stops exactly when the LCD flicks) and that's causing my Alesis IO|14 (the audio interface) to hang.

Long story short, I'm on a hunt for an external 1394 adapter. But there's a 'but'. My ExpressCard is already in use - I need 2 eSATA ports for connecting my hard drives. There is the other PC Card slot, but every FireWire adapter I saw won't fit under the ExpressCard (they have a big "butt").

So, how does one make use of both - PCMCIA and ExpressCard slots on a setup like the one in T61 15.4"?

I don't want to buy an USB->FireWire, simply because USB is inferior when it comes to sustained throughput, and I can't afford that.

Disconnecting the eSATA and connecting the drives thru USB isn't an option, because I need maximum performance on my external HDDs - this is required for live playing or high quality audio recording - that's why I bought it in the first place.

Do I have any other options?

Thanks in advance.
And have a great day!

PS
I searched the board for an anwser, but all I could find was this:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=40312
And it's not really helpful :lol:

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:59 pm
by gator

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:09 pm
by NIXin
First of all, thanks for a quick anwser! I was just about to turn my T61 off (it's 3 am here), but decided to refresh the topic once again :D

I think that's a great option.
I acctually saw one of these the other day: http://www.cooldrives.com/smdofi13pcad.html

It's basically the same, but the one in the link you (gator) posted is 10 bucks cheaper.

It's a shame neather of these companies ship oversea :cry:.
Is there anybody here from Europe that could help me? :D
If not, then... well... I'll just have to ask my friends to ship it to me via "them".