Model: Promise FASTTRAK S150 SX4-M
Features
- Four-port Serial ATA RAID controller with 1.5Gbps per channel
- 32-Bit/66MHz PCI 2.2 interface
- Support for RAID level 0, 1, 10, 5 and JBOD
- Online array expansion and RAID level migration to add capacity on the fly
- Supports hot swap of failed drives
- Automatic/manual rebuild of hot spare drive
- PerfectRAID technology for robust error handling and recovery of fatal, media and disk errors
- Variable stripe block size support enables optimization for diverse application requirements
- Supports up to 256MB of SDRAM memory
- Seamless upgrade to Promise's external storage solutions
Controller Specifications
Four SATA ports: at 1.5Gpbs (150 MB/sec)
Storage capacity: up to 1 terabyte (with four 250 GB drives)
Controller cache: 168-pin DIMM slot supports up to 256MB of ECC or non-ECC SDRAM memory (min. 64MB required). Memory not included.
Promise RAID Processor: with XOR engine for RAID parity calculations and memory controller for local cache memory
Attributes: Built-in GPIO ports for enclosure management
RAID Levels Supported
RAID 5: Striped parity on 3-4 drives, ultimate data protection, capacity and performance balance
RAID 10: Data mirrored then striped across four drives, for double drive failure protection
RAID 1: Mirrored pairs of drives for data protection with increased read performance
RAID 0: Data striped across 2-4 drives for increased performance but no data protection
JBOD: Just a Bunch Of Drives
RAID Fault Tolerance and Robustness Features
Attributes: Synchronization can be scheduled periodically for RAID array data consistency
Advanced Performance Features
Multiple caching policy support: Write-back and write-through
Attributes: E-mail notification of disk, array, controller or enclosure events (e.g. error or degrade conditions)
Operating Systems
Windows: Windows 2000/XP/2003
Linux: Red Hat 8.0/9.0 and SuSE Linux
Other: Free BSD 4.8 (coming soon)
FastBuild BIOS: Array configuration utility at the BIOS level | BIOS Boot Specification support
The FastTrak S150 SX4 Overview
The FastTrak S150 SX4 Serial ATA RAID PCI adapter delivers industry-leading RAID 5 performance at an unprecedented performance-to-price ratio. For companies running popular applications like web services, file/email servers, audio/video streaming and nearline
storage, the FastTrak S150 SX4 opens the world of professional RAID 5 performance and data protection and combines it with cost-effective Serial ATA (SATA) drives for the ultimate internal storage solution. Based on OEM-proven RAID 5 technology, the FastTrak S150 SX4 competes with SCSI RAID 5 controllers-at one-half to one-third of the price. RAID 5 storage protection is no longer the privilege of budget-rich IT departments.
Maximize RAID Performance with Serial ATA Drives
The FastTrak S150 SX4 is designed for RAID-perfect Serial ATA. Serial ATA is an evolutionary replacement for the Parallel ATA physical storage interface.The Serial ATA standard incorporates highly anticipated features that are ideally suited for ATA RAID use such as thinner Serial ATA cables up to one meter long to provide flexible routing and better airflow, Simpler drive configuration, jumper setting is no longer required during installation, Point-to-point configuration to support one drive per cable and achieve performance scalability, Higher availability with hot pluggable drive support and enhanced reliability with CRC error checking on all protocol phases.
Promise Hardware-Assisted RAID 5 Architecture
RAID 5 implementation involves striping data and parity information (XOR) across the storage array. Since those parity calculations are so processor-intensive, RAID 5 controllers traditionally require a dedicated CPU to perform the XOR calculations and manage the array. Instead of adding a costly CPU to the controller, Promise's FastTrak S150 SX4 controller uses an integrated XOR engine for parity calculations, delivering extraordinary performance at a dramatically lower price.This approach takes advantage of today's ultrapowerful PC CPUs to manage the array and outperform traditional RAID 5 solutions.The FastTrak S150 SX4 sets a new standard for RAID 5 controllers.
