FirmTek SeriTek/2ME4-E

Snow Leopard Compatible, 4-Port, eSATA Host Adapter with Port Multiplier Compatibility for PCI-Express Equipped Apple Macintosh Computers

The SeriTek/2ME4-E is compatible with all Apple Mac Pro computers and the late 2005 PowerMac G5 (11,2) model with an available PCI-Express slot. Mac OS X 10.6.x (Snow Leopard) 32-bit and 64-bit modes are supported with direct connect enclosures like the SeriTek/2eEN4 and port multiplier enclosures like the SeriTek/5PM. In addition, the FirmTek driver is backward compatible with Mac OS X 10.4.6 and higher. The new FirmTek 64-bit SeriTek/2ME4-E driver is built from the ground up to support the latest Snow Leopard features while also providing backward compatibility for earlier versions of Mac OS X.

SMART Application Support: The FirmTek SeriTek/2ME4-E driver features S.M.A.R.T application support which enables it 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 SeriTek/2ME4-E while using their favorite Macintosh SMART reporting application. In addition, Disk Utility can also be used to verify the SMART status of hard disks connected to the SeriTek/2ME4-E. SMART application support can be very useful for keeping an eye on the condition of your hard disks and determining if they are obtaining sufficient cooling.

Ultra High Performance: The SeriTek/2ME4-E features a high performance, energy efficient, four channel, hot swap, native eSATA interface with PCIe 4x bandwidth designed to maximize hard disk performance. The controller is compliant with both SATA 1.0 and SATA II hard disks, Native Command Queuing (NCQ) and Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC). Both direct connect and port multiplier configurations are supported.

Port Multiplier: The FirmTek SeriTek/2ME4-E includes FIS-based port multiplier aware hardware which allows up to twenty hard disks to be connected to the controller when four 5-bay SeriTek/5PM enclosures are available. A port multiplier configuration can provide massive storage volumes and excellent performance. The SeriTek/2ME4-E optimizes performance for up to 5 hard disks per data port by utilizing the advanced bandwidth characteristics of the PCI-Express architecture. When 20 high performance hard disks are configured in a RAID 0 array, throughput can reach beyond 700Mb/sec, enabling up to four simultaneous HD video feeds to be streamed directly to disk. In addition, port multiplication also delivers significantly less cable clutter. A single eSATA data cable can attach up to five hard disks to the computer. The SeriTek/2ME4-E can dramatically increase on-hand high-performance data storage capabilities. With up to 20 RAID configured hard disks connected simultaneously, accessible storage limits can be effectively eliminated for all but the most demanding applications.

Direct Connect: Using a direct connect hard disk enclosure like the FirmTek SeriTek/2eEN4 allows up to four external SATA hard disks to be attached to the SeriTek/2ME4-E. This configuration offers optimal bandwidth for ultra high performance RAID installations with a limited number of hard disks. The SeriTek/2ME4-E allows the user to decide which hard disk configuration option best suits their needs.

SeriTek/2eEN4 - RAID 0
The AJA Kona System Test results displayed on the right provide an example of SeriTek/2ME4-E performance when configured with a 4-bay SeriTek/2eEN4 using RAID 0. A 2009 Apple Mac Pro 2.26 GHz running Mac OS X 10.6.1 with 12GB of memory was used along with four Samsung F3 1TB hard disks model (HD103SJ).

DiskTester 2.0 10GB results indicate the array is able to provide over 500MB/sec. when 10% full and over 330MB/sec. when 90% full.