
Almost a year ago, we received storage-related hardware that vendors sent to our lab without our staff asking for it. Most of the products weren't exciting like a new GeForce or Radeon card to justify stand-alone reviews. Instead, we decided to publish loose roundups, where all of these products would find their place. After publishing reviews of solutions that organize hard drive handling and or storage accessories for geeks and administrators, we will now discuss four new products that are intended to offer interface and handling flexibility. (Compare Prices on 1 TB Hard Drives)
The storage industry is not quite as well positioned in the mainstream and low-end market as it is in the SMB and enterprise space. Solutions exist that cater to almost all the requirements of large enterprises and there is an increasing selection of flexible storage and backup solutions and related appliances for small- and medium-sized businesses. The reasons for this development are simple: The amount of data businesses have to handle keeps increasing at an incredible rate. And while storage device vendors try to keep up by increasing the capacity of the media they offer (take 1 TB hard drives as a good example), it is equally important to store data redundantly and to create backups that are reliable to protect data when worst-case scenarios become a reality.
As I said, there are sufficient options for large-scale scenarios, but the end user often fails or at least gets frustrated trying to solve rather simple issues: Isn't there a truly simple way of attaching several eSATA drives to a host PC? What if the favorite external storage device doesn't spot the favorite interface? How should you handle data synchronization between your desktop PC and your mobile hard drive? And could anyone please stop the annoying noise coming from the high-performance hard drive? Addonics, Silverstone, Sunplus and Titan have attempted to offer remedies for these end-user challenges.

eSATA (external Serial ATA) has been around for a few years, and although the protocol doesn't differ from SATA used inside the PC, there are a few differences. First of all, the transmission voltages were adjusted from 400-600 mV to 500-600 mV for the sender and from 240-600 to 325-600 mV for the receiver. This was necessary to support external operations and cable lengths of up to 2 m. At the same time, cables and connectors for eSATA are shielded and were designed to be more robust. But eSATA still has one major disadvantage when compared to Ethernet or Firewire: it only supports one drive per port.
Since users don't always want to install more eSATA ports to attach more external drives to a PC and there isn't even the option to add many eSATA ports to notebooks or laptops, Addonics may have a solution. The eSATA Port Multiplier requires an eSATA port with a controller that is AHCI compliant (Advanced Host Controller Interface). This requirement disqualifies all integrated controllers that are two or three years old (ICH7 and older) as well as our reference storage controller, the Promise FastTrak TX4310. However, current chipsets and controllers from AMD/ATI, Intel and Nvidia work well, so we used a Gigabyte X38-DQ6, which has a JMicron JMB373 controller for eSATA.
The real issue is port multiplier compatibility, which AHCI supports. It is first necessary to make sure AHCI is enabled in your motherboard or controller BIOS, because most controllers still support legacy modes. Once we set the JMicron controller to AHCI, we could get started with the Addonics eSATA Port Multiplier.
The device works as simple as the product name sounds: It utilizes one physical Serial ATA connection to run as many as five drives through it. The operation is entirely transparent to the operating system. While 300 MB/s Serial ATA speeds have not really been necessary for single hard drives (the highest transfer rate off the physical discs have been 120 MB/s), it does make a lot of sense if you want to run two or more SATA drives through one physical connection.
If you seek maximum performance at any time, we recommend looking at the throughput of your eSATA drives first and making sure the total bandwidth requirements do not exceed 300 MB/s. Typically, two to three external eSATA hard drives can be operated without running into bottlenecks. Should you use a Silicon Image SIL3124 or 3132 for eSATA, then you also have the option of creating RAID arrays using the Addonics Port Multiplier, as all drives attached to the Addonics eSATA Port Multiplier can be integrated into RAID arrays.
Although the total throughput was lower with the Addonics device compared to the throughput of our test hard drive, a Western Digital Raptor with an internal SATA controller, the overall performance was exactly the same. The device is not bus powered, as a SATA connection does not provide sufficient power to operate the Port Multiplier's core logic. We found the Addonics eSATA Port Multiplier in retail channels for $99, which is quite a lot of money considering that you can get an external 500 GB hard drive for less than $130.






Silverstone's MS05 is also named the 2.5" External Storage with a 3.5" Docking Bay, which describes pretty well what this device was designed to do: Basically it is an external enclosure that holds a 2.5" Serial ATA hard drive. Although it connects to a host PC via USB 2.0 or eSATA, it can be inserted into the included docking bay, which must be installed in a 5.25" drive bay. Once you slide the device into the docking bay, the drive connects to a Serial ATA interface, which you should have connected to a SATA port on your motherboard. Clearly, the purpose is to avoid copying data to and from a mobile hard drive every time you have to go on a trip.
While the limitation of this concept can only be found in the maximum capacity of 2.5" hard drives (320 GB is the maximum capacity available today), the MS05 is amazingly easy to handle. The drive enclosure is made of aluminum with a plastic front part. Although the aluminum is of nice quality, the plastic part doesn't fit entirely, as you clearly feel a curb when you pass over the gap with your finger. Usability and flexibility are, however, excellent. USB 2.0 performance is limited to 32 MB/s (reads) and 27 MB/s (writes) and the average access time is somewhat longer as well, but by using SATA you'll get the maximum performance delivered by the 2.5" hard drive you choose.
There is no mechanism to eject the drive from the docking bay, which is why the drive always sticks out of the bay. Still, we liked this approach, as it is easy to remove and insert the drive. Internally, the docking bay has a SATA port and a power port, which is connected to a standard Molex power connector, delivering 5 V to the MS05 device. When you want to use the drive on the road, many users typically opt for USB 2.0, which is how Silverstone intended it to be used. The USB cable that comes with the product has two host-side USB ports to make sure the drive gets sufficient power. However, there is a way to operate the device via eSATA even though you don't get an external power supply: Just connect the eSATA cable and the USB cable, but make sure you only connect the auxiliary power port of the USB cable!
Since this solution is meant to combine a fast, permanent solution with mobility, it would have been nice to get a protective bag for the enclosure. Mobility, however, is slightly hampered by the substantial weight of the product: After installation of a Seagate Momentus 7200.2, it weighed 326 g. Other external 2.5" hard drive solutions weigh in at 200-250 g. Cables are excluded from these numbers.







This little bunny is a device we found by accident. The SPIF215a is a USB 2.0 to eSATA dongle, which allows users to attach eSATA devices using a USB 2.0 port. While this sounds ridiculous from a bandwidth standpoint (USB 2.0 is maxed out at less than 35 MB/s, while eSATA can reach more than 200 MB/s), this product is an extremely valuable tool if you have to handle various external drives on different host systems - or if you want to purchase a high-end external storage product with eSATA without yet having an eSATA port to operate it. If you remember our last external storage roundups, you'll recall that moving up to 1 TB of data via USB 2.0 is an extremely long process. eSATA clearly is the future for external storage that has to offer either high performance or high capacity - which also requires serious bandwidth if you frequently handle a lot of data.
You don't need drivers if you run Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista, but you will need drivers for Windows 98. Luckily, Sunplus includes drivers for most of the common USB controllers. The SPIF215a maxes out the possible bandwidth by delivering up to 32 MB/s and an 8.2-ms average access time for the Western Digital WD740 Raptor 10,000 RPM hard drive, which we used for our tests. While the drive is capable of delivering up to 87 MB/s via SATA, the access time we measured on the SPIF215a isn't really much slower than with SATA.




This is the content of the driver CD. Sunplus provides USB controller drivers for Windows 98. You don't need any drivers for Windows 2000, XP or Vista.

Titan's TTC-HD90 is a hard drive cooling device, which has a dual purpose: Besides dissipating heat from the hard drive surface, it can also dampen the noise level of the hard drive. The device is made of aluminum, but uses noise dampening contact pads that conduct heat efficiently.
You need to remove the protective covers from the contact pads before you put your hard drive into the TTC-HD90. Pay attention to the orientation of the top and bottom part of the device. It can only be closed properly one way, and the process can be difficult. The top and bottom covers have a small curb along the side. This curb fits into a trench on the counterpart. There are four screws that firmly attach the two components. Since this device is supposed to be installed into a 5.25" drive bay, there is a small front panel, which you can now install as well. The back side remains open.
We used a WD740ADFD hard drive to look at the efficiency of this product. Since the drive runs at 10,000 RPM and easily reaches 50°C when operated without cooling, we were skeptical at first. But the TTC-HD90 actually managed to reach a drive surface temperature of 36°C when the drive ran idle for over two hours. We used a laser-assisted IR thermometer to find hot spots - but there really were none. Clearly, the Titan HDD cooler device does its job.
The noise dampening effect is a byproduct of the structure, since an aluminum enclosure, which is almost fully sealed, is suitable to insulate noise by itself. The materials used inside also contribute to the result: We only heard the WD Raptor drive when we got close to the TTC-HD90, or when there was heavy I/O activity.





| System Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processor(s) | 2x Intel Xeon Processor (Nocona core)
3.6 GHz, FSB800, 1 MB L2 Cache |
| Platform | Asus NCL-DS (Socket 604)
Intel E7520 Chipset, BIOS 1005 |
| RAM | Corsair CM72DD512AR-400 (DDR2-400 ECC, reg.)
2x 512 MB, CL3-3-3-10 Timings |
| System Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar WD1200JB
120 GB, 7,200 U/Min, 8 MB Cache, UltraATA/100 |
| Test Hard Drive 2.5" | Seagate Momentus 7200.2
160 GB, 7,200 rpm, 8 MB Cache, SATA/150 |
| Test Hard Drive 3.5" | Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD
74 GB, 10,000 rpm, 16 MB Cache, SATA/150 |
| Mass Storage Controller(s) | Intel 82801EB UltraATA/100 Controller (ICH5)
Promise SATA 300TX4 Promise FastTrak TX4310 Driver 2.06.1.310 |
| Networking | Broadcom BCM5721 On-Board Gigabit Ethernet NIC |
| Graphics Subsystem | On-Board Graphics
ATI RageXL, 8 MB |
| System Software & Drivers | |
| OS | Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, Service Pack 1 |
| Platform Driver | Intel Chipset Installation Utility 7.0.0.1025 |
| Graphics Driver | Default Windows Graphics Driver |
Benchmark Results
Access Time

Read Transfer Rates

Write Transfer Rates

It's really interesting to have a look from time to time at the curious, useful or even some of the useless devices that are sent to our test labs. Some of them arrived here without us specifically asking for them, while others we requested for our in-depth tests. You certainly remember the questions I asked in the introduction of this article. Indeed, the four products were more than just capable of meeting the application challenges associated with storage and convenience.
The Addonics port multiplier helps to turn one eSATA port into as many as five eSATA ports - but you need to be sure that your controller that operates the eSATA port supports the AHCI mode (Advanced Host Controller Interface). Typically, this is not the case for all first-generation eSATA solutions, but for virtually every modern system. However, it is questionable whether it makes sense to purchase the $99 Addonics Port Multiplier or to go for an eSATA controller for half the price instead. (Compare Prices on eSATA Solutions)
Silverstone's MS05 portable hard drive, which comes with an eSATA-powered 5.25" drive bay, is one of the prettiest solutions when it comes to conveniently using a mobile hard drive both at home and while you're on the road. The device runs at maximum performance using eSATA when it's inserted into the drive bay, and it can also be used with a USB 2.0 connection when you travel. With a little trick you can also utilize eSATA. Unfortunately, the finishing of the drive is not as pretty, although the base material (aluminum) works well in our opinion.
Sunplus' USB-2.0-to-eSATA adapter is a piece of hardware that no enthusiast will want to miss, as it allows every eSATA device to be attached to a USB port. USB 1.1 works as well, but you will want USB 2.0 to get decent performance. It was nice to see that this product translates the eSATA protocol into USB 2.0 at a throughput similar to what native USB 2.0 devices offer.
Finally, Titan offers the TTC-HD90, which actually works as promised. It is supposed to both dampen hard drive noise and passively cool high performance 3.5" hard drives. We tried a Western Digital Raptor WD740 drive and were surprised to see the results. The mixture of contact pads and aluminum acting as a heat spreader works well.