Apple Snow Leopard Driver From FirmTek

FirmTek, LLC announced that the SeriTek/2SE2-E and the SeriTek/2SM2 are fully Apple Mac OS X 10.6.x ‘Snow Leopard’ compatible. This is an industry first for SiI-3132 based Macintosh controllers and perfect timing for FirmTek customers who desire to upgrade to the latest Apple Snow Leopard operating system.

32-bit or 64-bit – FirmTek is Compatible
FirmTek, LLC was the first company to provide Apple Macintosh drivers for Silicon Image SiI-3132 based products. This engineering achievement paved the way for the introduction of the popular FirmTek SeriTek/2SM2-E ExpressCard, which allows performance minded MacBook Pro owners to interface directly with external, high performance, eSATA hard disk enclosures. The FirmTek SeriTek/2SM2-E ExpressCard provides up to twice the performance of FireWire 800, while also supporting hot swap FirmTek enclosures for virtually unlimited hard disk storage capacity.

FirmTek also sells the SeriTek/2SE2-E PCI-Express eSATA host adapter, which is compatible with all Apple Mac Pro models and the late 2005 PowerMac G5 (11,2). This 2-port SATA II controller enables Macintosh PCI-Express equipped desktop owners to add external, native, eSATA ports to their computer. With the release of the new FirmTek 5.4.x driver the SeriTek/2SE2-E is fully Snow Leopard compatible with the Apple Mac Pro.

Instant Delivery
The release of the new 5.4.x series FirmTek driver enables both the SeriTek/2SM2-E ExpressCard and the SeriTek/2SE2-E PCI-Express eSATA host adapter to be fully compliant with Mac OS X Snow Leopard. “FirmTek is happy to provide the 5.4.x driver upgrade to existing FirmTek customers”, said Chi Kim Stanford Vice President of Business Development. The driver is available on-line.

The new FirmTek 5.4.x driver also includes S.M.A.R.T application support. This feature allows the FirmTek driver to deliver SMART data to third party utilities like Hardware Monitor. Users can conveniently monitor hard disk temperatures and the health of hard disks attached to the FirmTek controller while using their favorite Macintosh SMART reporting application. In addition, Disk Utility can be used to verify the SMART status of hard disks. SMART application support can be a very useful tool for keeping an eye on the condition of your hard disks and determining if they are obtaining sufficient cooling.

FirmTek 5.4.x Driver Features and Benefits

• Supports Mac OS X 10.6.x ‘Snow Leopard’ 64-bit and 32-bit modes with direct connect eSATA enclosures like the SeriTek/2EN2 and port multiplier enclosures like the SeriTek/5PM
• Advanced Hot Swap Support
• Supports 3rd party Macintosh S.M.A.R.T Application Utilities
• Default HD icon displays an image of the FirmTek SeriTek/5PM
• Unique single source driver design supports both the FirmTek ExpressCard and PCI-Express controller
• Backward compatible with 10.5.x for easy updates
• Simply install and restart for instant Snow Leopard Compatibility

A FirmTek Controller is Required
The new series 5.4.x FirmTek driver is built from the ground up to take advantage of Apple’s Snow Leopard. It adds SMART application support and full 32-bit or 64-bit ‘Snow Leopard” compatibility. However, it will only recognize FirmTek controllers. Users that want to experience the exciting new Snow Leopard features provided by the FirmTek 5.4.x series driver must have a FirmTek controller installed.