"Problems with Griffin ExpressCard34 eSATA (silicon image chip based) in my Macbook Pro unibody - stops with a kernel panic. My friend has the same system and also the same problem.
-Karel B."

What driver version are you using? (Griffin website hosted "v1.0" driver or Silicon Image v1.1.9u driver?) I also asked what external case he was using, as sometimes the bridge board in ext. cases are a source of problems (as SI also notes on their driver page - please include ext. drive/case info in reports). I searched Griffin's support section for any updated info, but found only 2 older posts - one on RAID support and another (from Feb 2008) on lockups during file transfers that they said seemed to be fixed by the OS X 10.5.2 update (another suggestion was to remove/reinstall the Silicon Image 1.1.9 driver, which hasn't been updated since 2006).
FYI: Another new MBP/Griffin eSATA card owner said his kernel panics on file copies when using the "v1.0" driver from Griffin's download page (I checked that download pkg and it's actually the SI site's RAID5 driver version) were fixed by using the (Dec. 2006 dated) v1.1.9u (non-RAID) driver from Silicon Image's drivers page. (The SI site v1.1.9 driver is the most commonly used driver for these 3132 chip based cards to date, although some 'resellers' edit installer packages for their brands, readme, etc. and may have either the non-RAID or RAID driver.)

If any late 2008 (Unibody) MacBook Pro owner is using an eSATA expresscard OK (any brand), let me know the details including info on external drive(s) used.

I'd been meaning to upgrade the ministack with one of the WD 1TB GP drives for a long time (since seeing the surprising performance in Oliver's earlier 1TB SATA drive tests that included the original WD GP 4-platter/16MB cache model), but it kept getting put off due to other priorities. However after seeing the new WD GP model a couple weeks ago, I ordered two from sponsor OWC ($107.75 ea on site specials page for the last few weeks, although as of Dec. 5th it's $5 more now). I'm saving the other one for upgrading the internal drive in this AL iMac. (I need to get some large suction cups to remove the display glass.)
Last Saturday night I cloned the 3 partitions (general backup/EyeTV recordings, TimeMachine and CCC bootable clone of internal HD) of the 7K1000 drive to the WD 1TB GP. With both drives exposed (no airflow over them, no fans) after 3+ hours of cloning/verifing the WD GP was barely warm to the touch (I was amazed) - the 7K1000 was almost uncomfortable to touch. I'm moving the 7K1000 back into the G5 tower now as I originally bought it (Oct. 2007) for that system (and don't regret it - as I've never had any issues/firmware problems, etc. with Hitachi SATA drives, unlike some other brands).
Although I've not used it yet as an internal drive (on an SATA interface), performance via FW800 is excellent. As Oliver's tests show, although a "green" drive, these perform surprisingly well. And a plus of the new model are denser platters (3 vs 4 previously) and a larger cache.
I'll be benchmarking the drive later, but real-world file copy performance has been very good (via FW800, which isn't as fast an interface as SATA). To make sure there were no issues with I/O stoppages, I also played back a 1.6GB HD QT movie (recorded from 1080i broadcast via EyeTV) and playback was flawless. No problems either with sleep/wake (done several times daily). Generally when I hear "Green", I think reduced performance, but I couldn't be happier with this drive in the Ministack case - fast, cool running and a good value for the price IMHO. (Granted it's not a Raptor - but it's exactly what I wanted for this external case and I think it will be a good choice for my AL iMac internal upgrade also.)

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