Pci-e, pci-x, or pci Low Profile E-sata card out there?

[markm75]

Anyone know of any e-sata pci-x or pci or pcie cards out there.. (was
hoping for one with two external ports too.. now i'm really reaching
here)...

I cant seem to find any, that is.. any Low profile type.. I have a
rack mount server which only takes low profile cards.. I need a way to
externalize two harddrives (hot swapable). I have the removable bays
in my server case, but I believe the drives themself need to be hot
swap capable for me to be able to just pull those drawers out and back
in.. which at 500gb each, they arent.

Thanks

 

[Arno Wagner]

Anyone know of any e-sata pci-x or pci or pcie cards out there.. (was
hoping for one with two external ports too.. now i'm really reaching
here)...

I cant seem to find any, that is.. any Low profile type.. I have a
rack mount server which only takes low profile cards.. I need a way to
externalize two harddrives (hot swapable). I have the removable bays
in my server case, but I believe the drives themself need to be hot
swap capable for me to be able to just pull those drawers out and back
in.. which at 500gb each, they arent.

SATA is allways hot-swappable on the hardware and the disk side. Some
controller/OS combos are too, some are not. IDE is never hot-swappable,
although there are solutions ou there that are low-risk enough to
be a decent approximation insofar that they usually do not damage
the hardware.

At to xcontrollers, there is the Exsys EX-3500, which seems
to be low-profile pci-e, but has only one eSATA port and
the Promise SATA300 TX4302 PCI (and hence should fit PCI-X),
which has two eSATA ports and definitely is low profile. There may
be others.

Arno

 

[markm75]

SATA is allways hot-swappable on the hardware and the disk side. Some
controller/OS combos are too, some are not. IDE is never hot-swappable,
although there are solutions ou there that are low-risk enough to
be a decent approximation insofar that they usually do not damage
the hardware.

At to xcontrollers, there is the Exsys EX-3500, which seems
to be low-profile pci-e, but has only one eSATA port and
the Promise SATA300 TX4302 PCI (and hence should fit PCI-X),
which has two eSATA ports and definitely is low profile. There may
be others.

Arno

In my case.. to natively be able to hotswap.. the harddrive must be of
the hotswap variety .. ie: without my hotswap enclosure, it simply
wont work, even with the hotswap 3ware (in my case.. i have a standard
500gb harddrive, which to do hotswap you need the hotswap version
which runs $800 instead of $300).

Those are the first two cards i've seen with low profile and esata...

The second one may be the best option, as the first you mentioned
(Exsys Ex-3500 pcie), only seems to be available via foreign sellers
(.de).

I definitely need the sata 300, so i'm probably going to go with the
Promise Tx4302, though being as its PCI based, i would think the true
throughput wont be near the 3gb/s (whereas if it were pci-x or pci-e
it would have much higher bus speeds available?).. This will do
though.. $79 for two ports.

Thanks again for the help

 

[Arno Wagner]

In my case.. to natively be able to hotswap.. the harddrive must be of
the hotswap variety .. ie: without my hotswap enclosure, it simply
wont work, even with the hotswap 3ware (in my case.. i have a standard
500gb harddrive, which to do hotswap you need the hotswap version
which runs $800 instead of $300).

Those are the first two cards i've seen with low profile and esata...

The second one may be the best option, as the first you mentioned
(Exsys Ex-3500 pcie), only seems to be available via foreign sellers
(.de).

Yes, seems Exsys is a german company specialising in PCIE interface
cards.

I definitely need the sata 300,

Hehe. No, you do not, since even the fastest disks use SATA 150
only by 50%. Or do you plan on using port-multipliers?

so i'm probably going to go with the
Promise Tx4302, though being as its PCI based, i would think the true
throughput wont be near the 3gb/s (whereas if it were pci-x or pci-e
it would have much higher bus speeds available?)..

I believe this is actually a PCI-X card with 32bit/66MHz and hence
can reach about 200MB/s, if you have a 66MHz PCI bus. Given
that the disks reach mabye 150MB/s combined under optimal
conditions, I don;t believe there will be any slowdown.

This will do though.. $79 for two ports.

Thanks again for the help

You are welcome.

Arno

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Those are the first two cards i've seen with low profile and esata...

The second one may be the best option, as the first you mentioned
(Exsys Ex-3500 pcie), only seems to be available via foreign sellers
(.de).

I definitely need the sata 300, so i'm probably going to go with the
Promise Tx4302, though being as its PCI based, i would think the true
throughput wont be near the 3gb/s (whereas if it were pci-x or pci-e
it would have much higher bus speeds available?).. This will do
though.. $79 for two ports.

Here's one for the PCIe bus:
http://siig.com/product.asp?catid=14&pid=1018

*TimDaniels*

 

[markm75]

Here's one for the PCIe bus:
http://siig.com/product.asp?catid=14&pid=1018

*TimDaniels*

Thanks, but that one wasn't low profile.. so in my application it
wouldnt work.

I think my bus speeds may be higher than 66.. ie: I have nothing but
PCI-X (133?) slots (and a few pcie) in the new motherboard.

Mark

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Yes, seems Exsys is a german company specialising in PCIE interface
cards.


Hehe. No, you do not, since even the fastest disks use SATA 150
only by 50%. Or do you plan on using port-multipliers?

I believe

Believe all you want, babblebot.

this is actually a PCI-X card with 32bit/66MHz

Clueless, as always. It's 66MHz PCI, just like Promise says.

and hence can reach about 200MB/s, if you have a 66MHz PCI bus.

A number that you obviously pulled from your arse.

Given that the disks reach mabye 150MB/s combined under optimal
conditions, I don;t believe there will be any slowdown.

There are 4 ports on it, babblebot.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

No, really. You even bothered to look? How brave of you.

Of course they aren't, they are 500GB each. Duh, speaks for itself.

In my case.. to natively be able to hotswap.. the harddrive must be of
the hotswap variety .. ie: without my hotswap enclosure, it simply
wont work, even with the hotswap 3ware (in my case.. i have a standard
500gb harddrive, which to do hotswap you need the hotswap version
which runs $800 instead of $300).

Ah, and the external port will make them automagically hot swappable.
Pure genious.

Those are the first two cards i've seen with low profile and esata...

Bloody Google, always offline when you need them.

The second one may be the best option, as the first you mentioned
(Exsys Ex-3500 pcie), only seems to be available via foreign sellers
(.de).

I definitely need the sata 300,

Of course you do, sinsyeranidjut.

so i'm probably going to go with the Promise Tx4302, though being
as its PCI based,

i would think the true throughput wont be near the 3gb/s

At 266MB/s bus speed, yes it is.
As if that particular figure is important with 4 ports, yamoron.

 

[markm75]

No, really. You even bothered to look? How brave of you.


Of course they aren't, they are 500GB each. Duh, speaks for itself.

Wotamoron.





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You sir are an Azz.

Having an outboard port addon to the back of a server connected to
your internal sata device DOES not allow for automatic hotswapping,
have you ever even tried this? It will only work on drives which are
hotswap capable, by themselves, without an enclosure around them which
is hot swap capable. I've tested this and proven this to be the
case. This is why they sell, for instance, $800 500gb "Hot swappable"
drives.. and then there are the $260 version, which aren't plain and
simple.

There are very few low profile, esata cards out there, maybe a
handful.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Thanks, but that one wasn't low profile.. so in my application it
wouldnt work.

I think my bus speeds may be higher than 66.. ie: I have nothing but
PCI-X (133?) slots (and a few pcie) in the new motherboard.

Quite possible on the board. But I think this controller
only supports up to 66MHz (you can use slower PCI cards
in faster PCI-X busses). Still not an issue.

Arno

 

[markm75]

Quite possible on the board. But I think this controller
only supports up to 66MHz (you can use slower PCI cards
in faster PCI-X busses). Still not an issue.

Arno- Hide quoted text -

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Agreed, should be fine n dandy.

Thx again