T E C H N O L O G I E S
User Guide
External Port Multiplier Ultra
(AD5EHPMEU3)
www.addonics.com
Technical Support
If you need any assistance to get your unit functioning properly, please have your
product information ready and contact Addonics Technical Support at:
Hours: 8:30 am - 6:00 pm PST
Phone: 408-453-6212
Email: http://www.addonics.com/support/query/
v8.1.11
Unpacking and Overview
D1 – D5:
eSATA Device Port
Refers t o Device 1 - 5
SET
Button
Dipswitch (SW1)
Power
input
USB 3.0
Power
on/off
to host
Power LED
Host
LED
eSATA
Host
Drive Activity LED:
LED will light up. If the drive is being accessed, the green LED will blink.
eSATA Ports:
This is where you connect your eSATA devices (like your eSATA
drive enclosure)
Power input: Connects to 5V Power supply or USB power cable.
Power on/off: This turns the port multiplier ON or OFF. When the power switch
is in the OFF position, the port multiplier will be powered by a USB host, if
connected. When the power switch is in the ON position, the port multiplier will
be powered by the power input.
eSATA Host: Connects to eSATA controller card on a computer.
USB 3.0 Host: Connects to USB 2.0 or 3.0 port on a computer.
NOTE: Do not connect USB and eSATA at the same time.
Host LED: Glows to indicate an active connection from USB or eSATA to a host
adapter, blinks to indicate activity.
Dipswitch and SET Button: Used to control the Port Multiplier RAID Mode
setting.
Power Supply
USB Power Cable Driver Disk
www.addonics.com Technical Support (M-F 8:30am - 6:00pm PST) Phone: 408-453-6212 Email: www.addonics.com/support/query/
Port Multiplier Compatibility
When configured as a set of individual drives and connected to a SATA or an
eSATA host adapter, the Port Multiplier will only work with a Port Multiplier aware
host. This includes setting up the unit with more than one array. Identify your host
controller and check with its hardware manufacturer if you are unsure. Addonics
offers several Port Multiplier aware host adapters.
Using identical drives for all settings other than JBOD or LARGE is strongly
recommended. Creating a LARGE array using drives that have different properties will use all space on all members, and performance will match that of the
member in use during any particular I/O operation. Creating a RAID using drives
that are not all the same size will result in all members using only as much space
as the smallest member. Creating a RAID using drives that have different performance will degrade the overall performance of the array.
Port Multiplier Modes
JBOD Mode (Individual Drives)
Number of drives: at least 1
Unit capacity: N/A (100% of each individual drive)
Spares: no
Fault tolerance: none
JBOD mode offers all connected units to the host adapter, no RAID is defined at
all.
NOTE: JBOD mode requires a SATA controller featuring Port Multiplier support for
eSATA connections.
NOTE: Optical drives can only be configured as JBOD using an eSATA connection.
RAID 0 (Stripe set)
Number of drives: at least 2
Unit capacity: size of each member times number of members.
Spares: no
Fault tolerance: none - if any member is lost all data is lost.
RAID 0 “stripes” the file system across the array by placing “chunks” of data
sequentially between drives in a specific order.
RAID 1 or 10 (Mirror set, Stripe of mirror sets)
Number of drives: 2 (RAID 1) or 4 (RAID 10).
Unit capacity: size of one member (RAID 1) or size of two members (RAID 10).
Spares: yes – if EZ mode is not disabled and 3 (RAID 1) or 5 (RAID 10) drives are
present, the array will be initialized with a spare.
Fault tolerance: RAID 1 can withstand the loss of one drive without losing data.
RAID 10 can withstand the loss of one drive from each mirror set without losing
data.
RAID 1 works by duplicating the exact same data on two drives.
RAID 10 works by using two RAID 1 sets configured as members of a RAID 0.
Disks 1 and 2 are mirrored, disks 3 and 4 are mirrored, and the two mirror sets
are striped together.
www.addonics.com Technical Support (M-F 8:30am - 6:00pm PST) Phone: 408-453-6212 Email: www.addonics.com/support/query/