Home > Products > Host Controller > 2X1 eSATA / USB 2.0 Hardware Port Multiplier (2X1 HPM)

This new 2X1 HPM is the perfect solution for creating an external RAID storage using just 2 hard drives. Designed to fit perfectly into the Addonics family of Storage Tower and many standard 2 bay or larger SCSI enclosures, this HPM is equipped with both the high speed eSATA and the ubiquitous USB connection. Configuring the pair of hard drives connecting to this HPM is simple. The only configuration needed is to turn the dial on the back of the HPM to select the RAID configuration and push on a small recessed switch to finalize the setting. There is no software to install. The entire set of hard drives and the HPM can be easily moved and connected to any computer via either the eSATA or USB connection.

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

Supported RAID Levels

FAST (RAID 0 Striping)

Increased throughput with the addition of every drive. The capacity of a RAID 0 volume is the storage space of the smallest drive in the RAID set multiplied by the number of drives in the RAID set. Best for high bandwidth requirements such as high definition video editing/encoding, OS boot drive for improved standard operation performance, high resolution image editing.
No fault tolerance. The failure of a single drive will cause the entire RAID set to drop out of the array and unable to rebuild the array. Recommended only for high transfer and operation speeds, with no value as a backup solution.

SAFE (RAID 1 Mirroring)

Provides fault tolerance ability by mirroring the capacity of the smallest of two or more drives. A common backup solution for lower capacity backup requirements. Any drive in the RAID 1 set can be used independently from the other drives. Redundant data can be rebuilt with only a single drive not failed in the RAID set. RAID 1 is suitable for backup solutions with less storage requirements and lower bandwidth requirements for important data.
Requires two or more drives without any increase in storage space. The capacity will still be the capacity of the smallest drive no matter how many drives are in the RAID 1 set. Because of this, RAID 1 is only suitable for lower storage requirements due to the limited size of the latest physical disks (currently 750GB-1TB). RAID 1 implementation will neither increase nor decrease the performance of the drives in the RAID set.

BIG (Concatenation)

Concatenation combines the capacity of a virtually of the drives for increased single volume storage. Unlike RAID 0, the drives are joined "back to back", so the full capacity of each drive is combined together rather than only the capacity of the smallest drive. The failure of a drive in a concatenation usually ends up with the loss of only the failed drive, but special tools would be required to recover data from the other drives.
Large possible logical drive capacity, yet no fault tolerance, and no increase in throughput.

JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks)

JBOD allows the drives to be detected by the system as individual physical volumes. Drives are not combined, so there is no redundancy.

SAFE50

Creates two volumes across two drives, with half of each physical drive being allocated to each volume. One volume is in SAFE mode (RAID 1) and the other is in BIG ( Concatenated) mode.

SAFE33

Creates two volumes, with 1/3 of physical space being dedicated to SAFE mode and 2/3 to BIG mode.

GUI

The GUI setting allows configuration of RAID setting to be performed using the included software rather than the rotary switch. 2x1 eSATA / USB 2.0 Hardware Port Multiplier must be connected onto a PM-aware host controller (such as controllers using SiI3132 or SiI3124 chip) or through USB 2.0 to use this option. GUI allows more flexibility than the rotary switch, such as allowing creation of RAID volumes with different drive capacities on different RAID sets. When the rotary switch is configured as GUI, a new option "Configure Box" will appear in the SteelVine Manager to manage RAID through the software.

Product Features

• Connect up to 2 SATA hard drives to computer via 1 eSATA or USB 2.0 port
• RAID configuration is programmed by a rotary switch and a setting button for simple deployment
• Once configured, it can be connected to any SATA controller* (RAID or non RAID with or without PM support) or USB 2.0 port.
• SteelVine Manager GUI to create RAID (using the "GUI" selection on the rotary switch), and monitor the status and activities of RAID volumes
• Compatible with Compact Flash™ or Micro Drive™ using Addonics SATA CF adapters (ADSAHDCF or ADSACF)
• Compatible with any SATA controller (RAID or non RAID)
• USB Type A-B for external connection
• Designed to fit Addonics Storage Tower, Mini Storage Tower, the standard 2-bay or 5-bay enclosure with SCSI-1 (Centronic 50-pin) back panel
• Supports FAST (RAID0 Striping), SAFE (RAID1 Mirroring), JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks), BIG (Concatenation), SAFE50, or SAFE33 using built-in hardware RAID or as independent drives*.
• Supports hot swap
• LED Pin Headers for Power, Device A/B (Power and Drive Activity), SATA Host, USB Host, System Ready, Alarm.
• Compliant with SATA II external specification
• OS Support: Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Mac OS X and above, Linux kernel 2.6 and above

* Independent drive configuration is only supported with controllers with Silicon Image Sil3124 or Sil3132 chip set or through USB connection.

Model and Pricing

Optional accessories

Specifications

• 2 internal SATA ports for SATA / SATAII storage devices
• Shielded and durable eSATA connector for host connection
• USB Type A-B for external connection
• LED Pin Headers for Power, Device A/B (Power and Drive Activity), SATA Host, USB Host, System Ready, Alarm. LED pin layout
• Auto-negotiation support for 1.5Gbps and 3.0Gbps SATA
• Compliant with SATA II external specification
• Compliant with USB 2.0 specification with 480Mb/s
• Compliant with OHCI / UHCI/ EHCI hosts
• Supports up to four LUNs
• Chipset : SiI5744
• Mandatory SMART commands available
• Supports Hot-swapping
• Supports NCQ (Native Command Queuing)
• OS support: Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Mac OS X and above, Linux kernel 2.4 and above, Mac OS X 10.4.x
• Dimensions: (W x D x H) - 3.4 x 2.2 x .9 in. (85mm x 55mm x 23mm)
• Weight: 78g
• Operating temperature range: 0 °C to +70 °C
• Operating humidity range: 5% to 90%
• Storage temperature range: -40 °C to +85 °C
• Storage humidity range: 5% - 95% (non condensing)
• 1 year warranty

Note: specification subject to change without notice