The Port Multiplier (PM) Ultra is one of the most advanced external PMs in the market to connect as many as 5 eSATA storage devices to any computer via a single eSATA or USB 3.0 port. Built on the same ASIC deployed in our field proven 5-Port HPM-XU, the five hard drives attached to this PM Ultra can be set up to appear as five individual drives, just like connecting through a USB hub, or to appear as a single RAID volume. With this PM Ultra, you can also connect five SATA optical drives such as DVD-RRW or Blu-Ray drives to your system via eSATA connection and do simultaneous recording  By attaching multiple Addonics RAID Tower to this PM Ultra, you can easily build yourself a large storage farm in excess of 100 TB. The storage device that are attached to the PM Ultra are easily shareable on any LAN by attaching to the Addonics latest NAS 4.0 adapter.

RAID configuration is set via a set of dip switches on the back of the unit or the included software utility. The drive and PM status are visually monitored by the LEDs on the front and back of the unit respectively or via the bundled monitoring software. Any drive failure or RAID error can be notified via audible alert from the on board buzzer and via email to an SMTP account. The hot swap capability of the PM Ultra also allows external hard drives to be conveniently attached or removed from the system on the fly without restarting the system. The PM Ultra is constructed in a heavy gauge metal housing with ventilation on the side for efficient heat dissipation and can be powered directly from USB port or an external power adapter. Comes with convenient mounting hole on the bottom and a small power adapter, the PM Ultra can be installed easily in various computing environment

For more detail information on Port Multiplier technology, please review the following URL link: http://www.sata-io.org/

Port Multiplier Ultra connection diagram

Attaching multiple units of Port Multiplier Ultra to system

News

2012-08-16 Port Multiplier Ultra

How to Connect Five eSATA Storage Devices To Any PC

Here's a convenient way to multiply direct-attached storage capacity on a laptop or desktop PC or a server.

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• Connect up to five eSATA storage device (hard drive or RAID volume) to any system via a single eSATA port or USB 3.0 / 2.0 port
• Connect up to five SATA optical drives to any system via eSATA connection to PM compatible eSATA port. Support simultaneous DVD writing*
• Support SATA I / II / III storage device
• Integrated hardware RAID controller to maximize performance
• Compatible with various flash media CF, CFast, mSATA media using Addonics family of flash adapters
• RAID volume can be used as a boot drive or as additional storage
• Multiple units can be daisy chained
• Supports RAID0 (Striping), RAID1 (Mirroring), RAID3, RAID5 (Parity), RAID10 (Mirrored Striped), JBOD (Concatenation), Clone Mode (N-Way Mirror) using built-in hardware RAID
• Supports individual drive mode via PM compatible eSATA port or USB connection
• RAID configuration via Software (avilable for Windows, Linux and Mac) or onboard dip switches
• Power directly via USB port or external power adapter
  • Using USB connection, no power adapter is needed
  • Using eSATA connection, the included USB power cable or power adapter is required
• Software utility for Windows, Linux and Mac to monitor RAID status and setting up email notification
• Supports hot swap
• Drive activity LED and Error LED for Host and 5 SATA devices
• OS independent

• Device port: five eSATA connectors for connecting five eSATA storage devices
• Host port: eSATA connector, USB 3.0 type A female connector for connecting to USB 3.0/2.0 port
• Drive activity LED and Error LED for Host port and 5 SATA devices
• Auto-negotiation support for 1.5Gbps and 3.0Gbps SATA
• Compliant with SATA I/II specification
• Compatible with SATA I, II or III storage devices
• Support SATA optical devices
• Power consumption: ~ 250 mA at 5V
• PM Chipset : JMicron JMB393
• Support 48-bit LBA addressing
• Supports Hot-swapping
• Supports NCQ (Native Command Queuing)
• OS independent
• Dimensions (W x D x H): 5.32 x 2.56 x .98 in. (135mm x 65mm x 25mm)
• Weight: ~189g (6.7 oz.)
• Operating temperature and humidity: 0 °C to +70 °C, 5% to 90% RH
• Storage temperature and humidity: -40 °C to +85 °C, 5% - 95%  RH (non condensing)
• 1 year warranty