Home > Products >Host Controller>4-Port External SATA II PCI-X controller

The 4 drives attached to this controller can be configured as RAID 1, RAID 0, RAID 1+0, RAID 1+S or as 4 individual drives. Throughput up to 200 Mbytes/sec sustained data transfer can be achieved using standard 7,000 RPM SATA hard drive by setting up 4 drives in a RAID 0 configuration (see benchmark test result below). Together with the Addonics optional Disk Array 4SA system, Saturn Hard Drive kit or the external SATA drive enclosure, you can add external high performance storage system rivaling the traditional SCSI storage at less than half of the cost.

For more information on Serial ATA, please visit our tutorial page.

Product Features

• SATA II compliant
• PCI-X and PCI BUS compatible
• Up to 300 Mbytes/sec (3 Gbits/sec) per port
• 4 External SATA (eSATA) ports with the new SATA External connector
• Work with any Serial ATA drive
• Use as a non-RAID or RAID controller
• Built-in RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 1+0, RAID 1+ S support
• Support large hard drives of 137 GB or greater
• Silicon Image chip set SiI 3124
• Upgradable firmware
• Fits standard height Desktop case
• Hot swap - device can be removed and added without system shut down or restart
• simple plug and play
• compatible with Windows 95, NT, 98SE, Me, 2000 and XP

Model and Pricing

Since the eSATA connector on this adapter is new to the market, connecting cable with this new connector may not be readily available. Addonics offers a complete cabling solution for External SATA applications. All Addonics external SATA cables are constructed with metal clips on the connectors for reliable repetitive insertion and tighter connection needed for external application. These cables are also heavily shield and wired to increase EMI protection and ensure SATA signal integrity in external application over a 2 meter distance.

Option 1: External SATA (eSATA) - SATA converter cable (model AASA2SAP15C, 15 cm.) plus External SATA data cable (model AASAEDC3F, 100 cm.)

The 15 cm. cable (AASA2SAP15C) converts the new eSATA connector back to standard SATA External connector plug. Together with the standard 100 cm. External SATA cable (AASAEDC3F), SATA storage device can then be connected to this controller. This combination gives the flexibility of connecting any external SATA device to this 4 -Port External SATA controller, or *PVR and Set Top Box to the standard SATA ports that are commonly found in most of today's SATA equipped systems.

Option 2: eSATA - SATA cable (AASA2SA100C, 100 cm.)

One end of this this cable has the new eSATA connector for connecting to this 4-Port External SATA controller, *PVR or Set Top Box. The opposite end has the the current standard SATA connector for connecting to SATA hard drive or other Addonics external SATA storage devices.

*At the present time, some PVRs (a few models from TiVo) and Set Top Boxes are equipped with this new eSATA connector.

Optional cables

Model	Description and Package Content (All external SATA cables are constructed with extra cable shielding to reduce EMI and improved signal integrity over 2 meter distance. Connector shell is constructed with metal clip for tighter connection and durability in external application. )	Click shopping cart to check price and order online
AASA2SAP15C	eSATA2 - SATA converter cable, 15cm (convert eSATA port to standard standard SATA port)
AASAEDC3F	External SATA data cable - 100 cm (standard female SATA connector on both ends)
AASA2SA100C	eSATA - SATA cable, 100 cm (connect storage device with standard SATA port to controllers with eSATA port)
AAESATA100C	eSATA - eSATA cable, 100 cm (eSATA ports on both ends of cables)
AAESATA200C	eSATA - eSATA cable, 200 cm (eSATA ports on both ends of cables)

Specifications

PCI-X

• Compliant with PCI-X Specification, revision 1.0a
• Supports 133 MHz PCI-X with 64-bit data
• Internal application interface multiplexed to 4 ports
• All registers appear in unified memory space
• Full-chip command completion status accessible with single PCI-X burst access
• I/O port access to register space

High Speed SATA II

• Fully compliant with Serial ATA 1.0a and Serial ATA II Extensions to Serial ATA 1.0a Specifications revision 1.1
• Upgradable firmware
• Supports Spread Spectrum in receiver
• Output Swing Control
• Supports four independent Serial ATA channels
• Independent Link, Transport, data FIFO, command fetch, scatter/gather, and command execution
• 31 Commands and Scatter/Gather Tables per Port
• Four Pin header on board for LED connection
• Shielded SATA Connectors
• Protocol Override per Command
• Staggered Spin-up Control
• Plesiochronous, Single PLL architecture, 1 PLL for 4 ports
• Supports First-party DMA commands for Native Command Queuing
• 4 ports can be configured as RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1 or independent port
• RAID 0+1 (Mirrored-Stripping) combine both Striping and Mirroring technologies to provide both the performance enhancements that come from Striping and the data availability and integrity that comes from Mirroring
• RAID 1+S (Mirrored-sparing) can automatically replace the failed drive and rebuild the system when booting HDD is failed
• Work under Windows 98SE, Me, 2000, XP and 2003
• Dimension (W x D x H) - 165 mm x 19 mm x 64 mm.
• 1 year warranty

Winbench 99 test result comparison between one drive and 4 drives striped over 4 ports

SATA data transfer rate is calculated at 10 bits=1 byte

System Requirement

• PC/AT or Compatible System
• One free PCI slot
• Pentium or greater
• Minimum 32 MB RAM
• 10 MB minimum free hard disk space
• One of the following operating systems: DOS, Windows 3.1, 95, NT 4.0, 98SE, Me, 2000, XP