warning: sil3132 + Snow Leopard
 

Sil3132 is a chipset used in most MPB eSata expresscards, and many less expesive PCI eSata boards.

According to Apple, eSata expresscards with sil3132 don't work with Snow Leopard. sil3132 is used in MOST eSata expressards by many vendors. This is discussed on Apple's support site. News if it can be fixed will likely come from the card maker.

For expresscard, the solution appears to be to buy the Sonnet Pro eSata expresscard. This is the fastest card, and I believe uses a marvel chipset. Mine was $160.

I don't have a mac pro suggestion.

The sil3132 driver is put in the "Incompatible Software" folder when Snow Leopard is installed. DO NOT try it to see if it works. It may not crash, but it may corrupt data.

I found one for $54. Except this large difference in price has me worried that maybe this too had the sil3132 chipset...

From Adam Lam's weblog at: Alan Lam Web Log: Snow Leopard still work with sil3132 driver v1.1.9

"Though during Snow Leopard upgrade will move sil3132 driver to incompatible folder, but by re-installing the driver v1.1.9, the access to my External Case CFI 4-Bay eSATA Port Multiplier RAID Enclosure still work perfectly."

An esata driver is not a printer driver. Errors could be very nasty, and not apparent immediately.

more info surfacing suggest that Dynex drivers for their Sil3132 based port multiplier boards may also be working for users with some other Sil3132 based board sets:

Re: I reinstalled Sil 3132 and...IT WORKED!!!!! : Apple Final Cut Pro
Dynex :: Products For Your Digital Life - Dynex 2-Port eSATA II PCI Express Adapter

worth a try maybe for those desperate to stay on Snow Leopard

How do I tell sil3132
 

How do I determine if my card is using the sil3132 driver?