FirmTek miniSwap/ES User Manual

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miniSwap/ES

™

Dual Bay, Hot-Swap, 2.5” External Serial ATA Enclosure

User Manual

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FirmTek, LLC
www.firmtek.com

Copyright

Copyright © 1999-2013 FirmTek, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be
reproduced, translated by any means, photocopied, or transmitted in any form without the prior
written permission of FirmTek.

Trademarks

FirmTek, UltraTek, AV-Tek, SeriTek names and logotypes are trademarks of FirmTek, LLC. Apple,
Macintosh, Power Macintosh, Mac OS 9.XX, OS X, and the Mac logo are registered trademarks of
Apple Computer, Incorporated. The "Built for OS X" graphic is a registered trademark of Apple
Computer, Incorporated, and used under license. Windows, Windows 98/98SE, Windows 2000,
Windows XP, and Windows 7 are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United
States and other countries. All other manufacturer product names mentioned in this manual are for
identification purposes only and are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
owners.

Changes

FirmTek reserves the right to make any changes to product design, specifications, or details
without notice. Actual product photos or screenshots may look different from those provided.

Notice

The material content of this manual is for informational purposes only. It is possible the content of
this manual may contain technical inaccuracies, typographical, or other errors. FirmTek assumes
no liability for any errors, omissions, or from the use of this manual that may result from such
errors, including, but not limited to loss of data or profits.

Before installing the miniSwap/ES or any other hardware or software, you are responsible for
backing up data contained on any storage devices. After the hardware or software installation, you
are responsible for backing up data on any storage devices at frequent intervals. FirmTek, LLC is
not liable for any loss of data or damage to equipment resulting from the use of FirmTek products.

External Shielded Serial ATA Cables

SeriTek/e6G, SeriTek/2ME4-E, SeriTek/6G and SeriTek/2SM2-E host adapters use specially
shielded external Serial ATA cables to ensure integrity during data transfers. Use caution and
handle the cables with care. When inserting and removing the cable, hold the connector at the
ends (not the cable) when inserting and removing the cable from the eSATA controller port and the
external Serial ATA enclosure.

Note: The SeriTek/e6G, SeriTek/2ME4-E, SeriTek/6G and SeriTek/2SM2-E utilize “Type I”
Serial ATA cables and connectors: This external SATA cable/connector is specifically
design to provide secure connections with external eSATA ports.

If you will be using the miniSwap/ES with a Macintosh computer, please note that Macintosh
computers require unique external shielded Serial ATA cables for maximum reliability. FirmTek
Serial ATA cables are specially designed to be compatible with both PC and Macintosh computers.
Please only use FirmTek external shielded Serial ATA cables with the miniSwap/ES.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 4

II. Preparing the miniSwap/ES ........................................................................... 9

Drive Installation............................................................................................. 10

Power Operation ............................................................................................12

III. Hot-Swapping Hard Drives........................................................................... 13

General Hot-Swap Guidelines..................................................................... 13

IV. Sleeping & Wake-Up Procedures: .............................................................. 14

V. Troubleshooting ............................................................................................. 15

VI. Product Support ............................................................................................. 15

VII. Product Warranty and Disclaimers ............................................................. 16

VIII. Regulatory Compliance Statements ........................................................... 17

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I. Introduction

Welcome

Congratulations and thank you for purchasing the miniSwap/ES Trayless, Dual Bay, Hot-Swap,

2.5” External Serial ATA Enclosure. This product is yet another innovative solution from FirmTek.

About This User Manual

The user manual will introduce you to the miniSwap/ES enclosure. Please read it carefully to
familiarize yourself with the proper operation of the miniSwap/ES.

About Serial ATA Technology

An evolutionary replacement for the Parallel ATA storage interface, Serial ATA (Advanced
Technology Architecture) provides greater speed, simpler upgrades and easier configuration.
Serial ATA is fully compliant with the ATA protocol and offers up to 600MB/sec performance
compared to a maximum of 133MB/sec for Parallel ATA. Serial ATA devices can be hot-swapped
(with most operating systems), something that is not normally possible with Parallel ATA devices.
Serial ATA uses insulated cables that are thinner and longer with smaller 7-pin connectors.

About the miniSwap/ES

The miniSwap/ES is a Trayless, high quality, Aluminum, External, Dual-Bay, Hot-Swap,
Serial ATA (SATA) drive enclosure. It supports 2.5” SATA and Solid State Drives (SSD). The
silver aluminum case is crafted for maximum durability and heat dissipation. For maximum
performance each hard disk is provided its own “direct connect” eSATA connector. The
unique Trayless design, allows customers to easily hot-swap bare drives in and out of the
enclosure within seconds. This feature provides virtually unlimited storage possibilities in
an ultra-small form-factor. Built from the ground-up as a true 6G Serial ATA solution, the
miniSwap/ES is designed to provide the ultimate in performance with external SSD and 2.5”
SATA hard disks.

Allowing for true end-to-end Serial ATA capabilities, the miniSwap/ES is compatible with
external PCI/PCI-X and PCIe to Serial ATA host adapters such as the SeriTek/2SE4,
SeriTek/e6G, SeriTek/2ME4-E, SeriTek/2SE2-E, SeriTek/6G and SeriTek/2SM2-E (using
eSATA to eSATA data cables). The miniSwap/ES enclosure is custom designed with
shielded Serial ATA ports meeting regulatory requirements for electrostatic discharge
(ESD), electromagnetic interference (EMI) emissions, and susceptibility. This ensures a
good ground path exists between the cables and the connectors to prevent any ESD
discharge during cable insertion or removal.

In contrast to competing solutions, the miniSwap/ES is designed with an innovative internal Serial
ATA direct backplane (no data cable inside the enclosure). This makes the installation and removal
of drives easy and provides maximum data signal strength.

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Package Contents

Part number SATA-miniSwap/ES includes:

One Dual-Bay external

Serial ATA chassis

Two external shielded

Serial ATA data cables

eSATA, 1-meter each

Four rubber feet

Universal power adapter

One CD-ROM containing

the miniSwap/ES

User’s Manual

Part number ES-e6G also includes:

One SeriTek/e6G

2-port PCI-Express external

SATA PM host adapter

Part number ES-2SE2 also includes:

One SeriTek/2SE2-E

2-port PCI-Express external

SATA PM host adapter

Part number ES-6G also includes:

One SeriTek/6G
2-port SATA PM
ExpressCard/34

MacBook Pro & PC Notebooks

Part number ES-2SM2 also includes:

One SeriTek/2SM2-E

2-port SATA PM
ExpressCard/34

MacBook Pro & PC Notebooks

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Part number ES-2ME4 also includes:

One SeriTek/2ME4-E

4-port PCI-Express external

SATA PM host adapter

Part number ES-2SE4 also includes:

One SeriTek/2SE4

4-port PCI-X external

SATA PM host adapter

miniSwap/ES Highlights

♦ Attractive, durable, portable Trayless enclosure supports dual 2.5” SATA SSD or HDD
♦ Easy to set up: No screws, no drive tray required, simply swap drives in seconds
♦ Easy to operate: Simply open the door to insert or remove storage devices for virtually unlimited storage
♦ Supports 7mm, 9.5mm, 12.5mm and 14.9mm drive heights
♦ Smart Power Management: User selectable power settings for Auto-on or Manual-turn-on
♦ High performance design – Integrated Direct Connect eSATA backplane; no internal cabling
♦ High bandwidth design – SATA 6.0Gbps up to 600MB/sec per drive
♦ Supports SATA 1.5G, 3G or 6G HDD or SSD 2.5” form factor with any capacity
♦ Fully RAID capable: Compatible with Operating System and host adapter based RAID solutions
♦ Can be configured as JBOD or RAID and used with multiple miniSwap/ES enclosures
♦ Power and Activity LEDs for each hard drive
♦ Aluminum case for maximum durability and heat dissipation
♦ Ultra quiet, fan free, aluminum heat dissipation cooling system
♦ High performance to handle multiple projects simultaneously
♦ Perfect for both storage-hungry and speed-sensitive applications
♦ Cross-platform, PC and Macintosh compatible, operating system independent
♦ Expand storage without overloading the computer’s power supply or increasing heat within its chassis
♦ Works with Macintosh or PC with shielded Serial ATA ports running Mac OS X, Windows or Linux
♦ Kensington Security Slot

miniSwap/ES Applications

♦ Graphic arts
♦ Digital photography
♦ Computer animation
♦ Offsite backup
♦ Bulk data transport
♦ High-performance workstations
♦ File sharing over high-speed networks
♦ Digital audio/music composition, recording, editing, storage and playback
♦ Personal and professional high-definition digital video creation and editing
♦ Supported Video Formats: 10-bit uncompressed HD; 1080/60i, 8-bit; uncompressed SD; DVCPro 25/50;

HDV, DV, DVCA