The 1542 is based on the HPT374 controller chip used in the RocketRAID 404, 454 (RAID 5) and 1540. It supports four hard drives running individually, in an interconnected array (JBOD - "just a bunch of drives") or the popular 0, 1, 1+0 and 0+1 RAID modes. A few months ago, HighPoint also began offering a firmware update allows the creation of RAID 5 arrays.

There are two SATA ports available inside the housing, while two more can be linked externally to the controller. This means that two RocketMate housings can be run as external drives.

As usual with controllers of this type, the hard drives can be configured via a clearly designed configuration menu in the system BIOS

Two SATA cables, drivers and a brief manual are included with the 1542.