Promise introduces 4-port eSATA adapter

Promise announced its first external Serial ATA (eSATA) adapter. With 2 external plus 2 internal SATA 3Giga bit per second (3Gb/s) ports, the SATA300 TX4302 adapter offers users a cost-effective solution for upgrading their existing desktop or server systems, to accommodate additional SATA drives creating more storage space external to the system.

By utilizing the new technology of eSATA, users can now employ shielded cables of up to 2 meters outside the PC; thus extending the advantage of using SATA drives to expand their storage needs. The flexibility of the eSATA technology makes it an ideal solution for external storage; however, it is not an onboard option for most PC motherboards today. The Promise SATA300 TX4302 adapter allows users to readily enable eSATA connectivity; and the 2 external ports feature eSATA connectors providing hot-plug capabilities and better performance than existing solutions such as USB or 1394 firewire.

"Meeting the needs and demands of our customers is what we do best at Promise Technology Inc. This new eSATA product continues this trend and provides the user with a very cost-effective way to expand the storage needs of the application environment, while using commonly available, high capacity SATA 3Gb/s drives available today" said Suresh Panikar, vice president of worldwide channel sales and marketing for Promise Technology, Inc. "Our efforts to develop such easy-to-use storage adapters are supported by leading hard drive vendors, with whom we have established good strong Strategic Alliance relationships. This makes it possible for Promise to continue to be a leader in this SATA market segment by providing cost-effective, highly dependable storage for servers and external solutions."

Key Features of SATA300 TX4302

* 2 eSATA 3Gb/s ports + 2 internal SATA 3Gb/s ports for support of up to 2TB of total storage
* Includes 2 eSATA cables (59 in) and 2 internal SATA cables (25 in)
* 66MHz PCI host bus interface for up to 266MB/s bandwidth (backwards compatible with 33MHz PCI slot)
* Low profile l-bracket included for easy installation
* Hot-plug for easy drive access
* Windows safe device removal for data protection
* NCQ and TCQ support
* Large LBA support for drives above 137GB
* Serial ATAPI device support
* Disk activity LED headers
* Dual controller support for maximum storage

SATA 3Gb/s Support
The SATA300 TX4302 adapter supports both SATA 3Gb/s and SATA 1.5Gb/s drives. While storage system performance is affected by components throughout the computer system, SATA drives with 3Gb/s transfer rates can deliver significantly faster burst data throughput. Like a faster data cache, the faster burst rate when using the latest 3Gb/s drives should provide a snappier feel when opening small files and conducting the day-to-day tasks that many desktop and workstation PCs are required to perform.

The SATA300 TX4302 also conforms to CabCon Volume 2 Specification, Serial ATA II Revision 2.5 specification - including Native Command Queuing (NCQ) and Disk Activity LED headers support. In addition to NCQ, the adapter also supports Tagged Command Queuing (TCQ) with drives that can take advantage of this capability. Command Queuing increases I/O performance by intelligently reordering data requests so that the data can be more quickly accessed than if the commands weren't ordered.

Advanced HBA Features
The low-profile form factor SATA300 TX4302 PCI adapter incorporates many of Promise Technology's advanced host bus controller features. The 66MHz PCI bus supports up to 266MB/sec burst data transfer rate. The SATA300 TX4302 also includes large LBA support for drives above 137GB and its onboard BIOS automatically identifies and configures drive type (Serial ATA, Ultra DMA mode). Up to two SATA300 TX4302 PCI adapters can be used in the same system supporting up to a maximum of eight SATA 3Gb/s HDDs (maximum four SATA 3Gb/s HDDs per adapter).

Price and Availability
The SATA300 TX4302 will be available in April through the worldwide Promise distribution network with MSRP of USD $99.