FirmTek Ships Apple-Compatible 4-Port eSATA HBA ($200)

FirmTek, LLC announced the SeriTek/2ME4-E 4-Port eSATA host adapter is shipping.

Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard 64-bit and 32-bit modes are supported with direct connect enclosures like the SeriTek/2eEN4 and port multiplier enclosures like the SeriTek/5PM.

The SeriTek/2ME4-E is also backward compatible with Mac OS X 10.4.6 or higher. This new 4x PCI-Express eSATA controller is designed to provide extreme data storage performance options with all Apple Mac Pro models and the late 2005 PowerMac G5 (11,2).

"The SeriTek/2ME4-E engineering effort has produced a superior quality 4-port eSATA host adapter that meets the needs of our Professional customers", said Chi Kim Stanford, Vice President of Business Development. The SeriTek/2ME4-E is ideal for audio/video editing, photography, large media content libraries, storage expansion, backup, and any application where external, hot swap, high performance data storage is desirable. The new FirmTek 64-bit SeriTek/2ME4-E driver is built from the ground up to take advantage of Snow Leopard while providing a low power, ultra high performance native PCIe to Serial ATA interface.

High Performance
Professional Macintosh users with uncompromising data storage requirements will appreciate the high-bandwidth storage transfer rates available once the SeriTek/2ME4-E is installed. Four direct connect hard disks attached to the SeriTek/2ME4-E provided RAID 0 performance as high as 540MB/sec during FirmTek performance trials. As more advanced storage technologies are introduced, the SeriTek/2ME4-E is ready to deploy up to 250+MB/sec per channel. When multiple 5-bay SeriTek/5PM port-multiplication enclosures are utilized, up to twenty hard disks can be supported with a single SeriTek/2ME4-E controller. Hard disks installed in the SeriTek/5PM can be formatted as individual disks, multiple RAID sets or as one large RAID. Twenty hard disks configured in RAID 0 can provide throughput reaching beyond 700MB/sec, enabling up to four simultaneous HD video feeds to be streamed directly to disk.

Configuration Options
Users looking for raw storage capacity can utilize the expansive hard disk configuration options provided by multiple SeriTek/5PM enclosures with the SeriTek/2ME4-E. Up to 40TB of data storage is available when twenty 2TB hard disks are installed. Meanwhile, Macintosh performance-minded users looking for the ultimate in four drive RAID 0 performance can configure the 4-bay direct-attached SeriTek/2eEN4 SATA enclosure with the SeriTek/2ME4-E. This option offers unprecedented bandwidth that maximizes hard disk performance. Professional users will appreciate the significant number of different configuration options available with the SeriTek/2ME4-E.

Think SMART
The new FirmTek SeriTek/2ME4-E driver includes S.M.A.R.T application support. This feature allows the FirmTek driver to deliver SMART data to Macintosh 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 provides users with an excellent tool for keeping an eye on the condition of hard disks attached to the SeriTek/2ME4-E.

FirmTek SeriTek/2ME4-E Key Features and Benefits

• Supports Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard 64-bit and 32-bit modes
• Backward compatible with Mac OS X 10.4.6 or later
• Compatible with all Apple Mac Pro models and the late 2005 PowerMac G5 (11,2)
• PCI-Express 4x bandwidth (Compatible with 4x, 8x and 16x PCIe slots)
• Four independent data channels with external Serial ATA (eSATA) connectors
• Supports Apple Disk Utility RAID and JBOD hard disk configurations
• SATA II 3Gb/sec backward compatible with SATA I 1.5Gb/sec hard disks
• S.M.A.R.T application support for third party Macintosh utilities
• Self-contained PowerMac G5 boot functionality
• Not bootable with the Apple Mac Pro (provides additional storage)
• Bus Mastering off-loads data I/O handling from CPU
• Complete CRC error checking for all bits transmitted, offers enhanced data protection
• SATA II Native Command Queuing and Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC)
• Low Power Consumption Environmentally Sensitive Design
• Onboard Flash ROM for easy firmware updates
• Port multiplier support: Connect up to 20 drives using SeriTek/5PM enclosures
• Direct connect support: Connect up to 4 drives with a SeriTek/2eEN4 enclosure
• Simple to install, easy to use, built solely for Mac OS X

Pricing and Availability
The FirmTek SeriTek/2ME4-E 4-port eSATA controller for Apple Mac Pro and the late 2005 PowerMac G5 (11,2) is available now with an estimated retail price of $199.95 USD. The SeriTek/2ME4-E (SATA-2ME4) can be purchased from FirmTek distributors, resellers, or directly from FirmTek. The SeriTek/2ME4-E is also available bundled with the SeriTek/5PM (SATA-5PM-2ME4).