Qio for Mac
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Driver (6)
Firmware (2)
Manual (4)
FAQ (31)
IDArticle TitlePost Date
491 Are Sonnet Tempo SATA cards compatible with the Drobo S?Feb-02-11
495 My P2 card is unexpectedly unmounting from my Qio after I wake a Mac Pro or MacBook Pro from sleep.Aug-01-13
Install Qio software version 1.2.3 or later to resolve the issue.
 
499 I get a blue screen on my Mac Pro/MacBook Pro instead of booting when I connect QioMar-24-10
The first time you boot with the Qio connected, the screen will stay blue for up to 6 minutes while the Mac is configuring the Qio slot space. Please be patient. Subsequent boots should be normal. Note that you must install the Qio software before connecting the Qio.
 
501 Are all C600X CF Cards more or less equal performance in a Qio?Mar-22-10
Sonnet measured read performance for three manufacturers' 600X (90MB/sec) CF cards in the Qio, connected to a MacBook Pro:
Lexar Professional 600X...86MB/sec
Transcend 600X...............71MB/sec
SanDisk Extreme Pro........61MB/sec
 
503 Can I power the Qio from a FireWire port on a MacBook Pro?Mar-23-10
This powering method is not officially supported because the Qio can require more power than one FireWire port's power specification. However, the single FireWire port on the unibody MacBook Pro seems to be capable of providing more power (up to 20W in our test) than its specification. In Sonnet tests under the following conditions:
1) If Qio is used with only memory cards (SxS's or SDHC, but not ExpressCard/34 controller cards; P2 cards but not CardBus controller cards; and/or CF Cards);
2) Qio has not more than one Fusion F2 powered from the Qio; and
3) MacBook Pro is unibody model;
then the Qio plus one Fusion F2 seems to be able to be bus powered from the unibody MacBook Pro FireWire port. You would need to use the FireWire power cable provided with the Fusion F2. Sonnet does not guarantee or support this configuration.

This does not seem to work in MacBook Pro models previous to the unibody.
 
509 Is the Qio driver compatible with a 64-bit kernel boot of OS X 10.6 or 10.7?Aug-01-13
510 Can I use the AJA IO Express with the Sonnet Qio in a MacBook Pro?Mar-23-10
Yes. Just plug the AJA ExpressCard/34 adapter into one of the Qio's two ExpressCard/34 slots.
 
512 My Qio was working fine with my ExpressCard/34 bus interface card, but the Qio does not work with my PCIe Express bus interface card in an early 2009 MacPro.Mar-31-10
Check the serial number on the bottom of the Qio. If it starts with A, contact Sonnet support for more information.
 
514 My unibody MacBook Pro will spontaneously restart after shutdown with Qio attached.Mar-31-10
516 What kind of battery can I use with the Qio?Apr-08-10
527 Why does my Maci take so long to boot when the Qio is attached? Jul-31-13
528 Why can't a Mac Pro acknowledge the Qio if it is plugged in after the Mac is booted? Sep-13-13
536 With a Qio connected, my Mac Pro kernel panics when I shut down after using Avid Media Composer.Jul-31-13
Avid Media Composer 4.05 is not compatible with the Sony SxS driver. Please seek support from Avid and/or Sony.
 
547 I'm getting a OS X kernel panic when I remove an SxS card from the Qio connected to a tower Mac Pro that also has a video capture card installed.Oct-31-14
If you have a Mac Pro model 1,1, put the video capture card (such as AJA Kona or Black Magic DeckLink card) in Mac Pro PCIe slot 3 and the Qio bus interface card in PCIe slot 2 to fix this issue. If you have a different model of Mac Pro, the problem occurs only in one of Qio's SxS slots, so use only the other SxS slot. Sonnet and Sony are working to address this issue.
 
563 I'm getting a long blue screen when I boot a Mac with Qio installed.Sep-13-13
566 I upgraded to 10.6.8 and my system no longer boots.Sep-26-11
If you have Qio 1.0.5 software installed and you upgrade to 10.6.8 you will no longer be able to boot. Sonnet strongly recommends that you install Qio 1.1 software before upgrading to 10.6.8 or 10.7. If you have installed 10.6.8 prior to installing Qio 1.0.6 or 1.1 software and are not able to boot, you can recover with the following steps:

1) Boot Mac OS X from an external drive or DVD.
2) In the Finder, remove the spaces from the name of your system disk that won't boot. For example, rename Macintosh HD to MacintoshHD. (If your system disk has another name use that name in place of MacintoshHD in the next two steps.)
2) Launch Terminal and type:
sudo rm -r /Volumes/MacintoshHD/System/Library/Extensions/STPCIFamily.kext
3) Type:
sudo cp -r "/Volumes/MacintoshHD/Library/Application Support/QIO/IOPCIFamily.kext" /Volumes/MacintoshHD/System/Library/Extensions (typed all on one line)
4) Type:
sudo touch /Volumes/MacintoshHD/System/Library/Extensions
5) Restart
6) Install Qio 1.1 or greater
7) Restart
 
576 What version of OS X do I need to use Qio with MacBook Pro?Aug-20-14
581 Is Qio Compatible with 17" Thunderbolt MacBook Pro?Sep-13-13
Yes, but you must hot plug the Qio's interface card into the ExpressCard/34 slot of the 17" Thunderbolt MacBook Pro. The Qio will not be recognized in the 17" Thunderbolt MacBook Pro if you boot or restart with the Qio plugged into the ExpressCard/34 slot. See FAQ 632 for more infomation about compatibility connecting Qio via Thunderbolt.
 
632 Is Qio compatible with Echo ExpressCard/34 Thunderbolt Adapter?Jul-31-13
Yes, but it requires the Sonnet PCIe Bus Extender ExpressCard/34 Revision B (serial number beginning with B), which began shipping December 2011; or the Sonnet PCIe 2.0 Bus Extender ExpressCard/34.
 
633 Is Qio compatible with the Matrox T/ADP Thunderbolt Port Adapter?Feb-28-12
No, the Qio software is not yet compatible with a Thunderbolt connection. When Qio is compatible, it should work with the Matrox T/ADP Thunderbolt Port Adapter.
 
639 Is the Qio PCIe 2.0 Bus Extender card compatible in all slots of the Mac Pro 5,1?May-06-13
646 How can I read UDF Formatted SxS cards?Aug-11-17
648 Why is the Panasonic OS X P2 driver not compatible with 64-bit mode, while the Sony SxS driver, CF driver and SATA drivers are compatible with 64-bit mode?Oct-31-14
This issue is now resolved. The Panasonic P2 driver included with Qio software version 1.2.3 and later is 64-bit compatible. Installing Qio 1.3.2 or later adds P2 support to systems running OS X in 64-bit mode, including Mavericks (10.9) and Yosemite (10.10)
 
651 Do Qio and Qio CF4 support UDMA 7 CompactFlash cards?May-06-13
Yes, Qio and Qio CF4 support UDMA 7 CompactFlash cards in UDMA 6 mode.

Background: CompactFlash Revision 6.0 (November 2010) added UltraDMA Mode 7 (167 MB/s), which is up to 20% faster than UDMA 6 (133MB/sec). All UDMA 7 CompactFlash cards are compatible with UDMA 6 cameras and readers.

The Qio's CompactFlash slots can be read concurrently. The Qio can read the fastest CF cards at up to 133MB/s each and a total aggregate of 200MB/s (two cards).

The Qio CF4 can read all four CompactFlash slots concurrently. When connected to a desktop machine, the maximum aggregate read speed is 133MB/sec (one card), 266MB/sec (two cards), 400MB/sec (three or four cards).
 
653 I connected a Red Station media reader to the eSATA ports, but the media would not mount. How do I mount the media?May-06-13
678 Is the Qio compatible with OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) and OS X 10.9.5 (Mavericks)?Oct-31-14
693 My computer kernel panics after updating OS X to 10.8.2. What can I do to fix it? (Qio/Qio CF4/Qio E3 issue)Nov-06-12
713 My Qio Does Not Recognize My SD-to-SxS AdapterMay-07-13
730 I have a Retina MacBook Pro (or other Mac introduced in 2012), and my machine won't boot after installing Qio software.Dec-06-12
Boot in safe mode. In Terminal, type: sudo nvram boot-args="dart=0x0" and restart. You can undo this later with the command sudo nvram -d boot-args .
 
757 My Stardom RAIDSonic ST3620-2S-S2 is not reliable with 6Gb drives and and a 6Gb controller.Jul-08-13
The Stardom RAIDSONIC ST3620-2S-S2 is not reliable when connected at 6Gb. It was designed for 3Gb SATA. If you connected previously using a 3Gb controller, even with 6Gb drives, the connection was 3Gb. With the 6Gb controllers and 6Gb drives, the connection is negotiated at 6Gb, but the connection is not reliable because of the older design of the Stardom chassis does not support 6Gb. The drives may not be recognized or if recognized, transfers will fail at some point.
 
1135 Can I format an SxS card in UDF format in macOS?Jan-20-21
Yes, but you must use Terminal.
1) Open Terminal

2) Run
diskutil list
to get the name of the disk. It will be something like "disk4". Ejectable media are typically the last in the list.

3) Run
newfs_udf -v "My Volume Name" disk4
if disk4 was the correct one. The volume name is anything you want of course.

4) Unplug and replug the SxS card
(Due to somebody's bug, the disk will only mount after being ejected.)

5) You can run
newfs_udf
without any parameters to see other parameters that can be set.

The process can be automated somewhat by writing a bash script, which can be looked up on the internet.