Granite Digital SATA 2 User Manual
Owner’
Owner’
s Manual
s Manual
SA
SATT
A II
A II
Aluminum
Aluminum
Hot-Sw
Hot-Sw
ap Systems
ap Systems
Macintosh,
Macintosh,
W
W
indo
indo
ws, Linux
ws, Linux
SATA (Serial ATA) Hot-Swap Drive System / Case Kit
1 BAY EXTERNAL SYSTEM
1 BAY INTERNAL 5.25” SYSTEM
2 BAY EXTERNAL SYSTEM
2 BAY RACK EXTERNAL SYSTEM
Granite Digital • 3101 Whipple Rd. • Union City, Ca. 94587 www.granitedigital.com
Table of Contents
Page
User Guide
How SATA (Serial ATA) Works 3-4
Connecting SATA Devices 5
Drive & Host Adapter Installation
Removing the Hot-Swap Tray 6
Installing the Drive 7-8
Installing the Host Adapter 9-10
Formatting & Partitioning The Drive 11
Troubleshooting 12-13
1 Bay Internal Hot-Swap Specifics 14
1 Bay External Hot-Swap Specifics 15
2 Bay External Hot-Swap Specifics 16
Specifications 17
Warranty & Service 18
Host Adapter
Hard
Drive
Hard
Drive
Granite Digital • 3101 Whipple Rd. • Union City, Ca. 94587 www.granitedigital.com
How SATA Works
SATA II (Serial ATA) is a High Performance Serial Bus designed to transfer
data at up to 300MBytes per second. This ultra-fast data transfer rate is perfect
for storage applications where speed is a critical issue. The low cost of the
SATA drives also provide affordable backup and archiving solutions.
Granite offers a variety of host adapters that support the Hot-Swap capabilities of SATA. These PCI cards and PCMCIA adapters support multiple
drives. Check the Granite website (www.granitedigital.com) for a complete
listing all our host adapters.
SATA is simple to configure because each drive operates on a separate
channel. The cable goes from the host adapter to the drive and ends there.
Installation is only a matter of plugging in the host adapter, plugging in the
cable, turning on the drive and booting up the computer.
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USER GUIDE
Granite Digital • 3101 Whipple Rd. • Union City, Ca. 94587 www.granitedigital.com
USER GUIDE
Page 4
How SATA Works
In order to get SATA to perform at its maximum speed, the following
items should be considered:
1) Pick the controller card that best suits your needs. SATA Host Adapters
come in a variety of models from 2 channel to 16 channel RAID cards. Also
it is important to note that not all SATA Host Adapters support Hot-Swap and
without that ability the drive can only be removed when the computer is
turned off.
2) The drive mechanism must go fast. Currently SATA drives are rated at
300MB/s burst rate and most drives can sustain 55MB/s data transfer rates.
In order to get SATA to go faster, a Stripped RAID (also known as RAID 0)
must be created. RAID is supported by most operating systems so having a
knowledge of the operating system is important. The other
alternative is to purchase a RAID Host Adapter. The advantage here is that
most RAID Host Adapters will perform at higher data transfer rates than their
software alternatives.
3) The computer and the speed of its PCI bus will directly affect the
performance of the SATA Bus and their drives. Earlier computer models run
at a fraction of the speed of the newer models. In order for the drives to
transfer at their highest performance levels use of a high performance computer is also a must. Again, the newer computer technologies offer the
greatest performance levels.
There are two types of SATA cables (shielded for external use and
unshielded for internal use) and two types of connectors. The original SATA
connector is known as the “L” type because it’s opening looks like an “L”. The
new eSATA connector, known as an “I” type because the connector is similar
to the letter “I”. The eSATA “I” connector is almost identical to the SATA “L”
with the exception that it is designed to be used as a Hot-Swap type of
connection with many more insertions and removals than the original “L” type.
Connecting SATA Devices
Granite cases use the “L” type connector because we Hot-Swap the
drive mechanism not the cable. Host adapters use both the “L” or “I” types
with the eSATA becoming more popular as the external connection, “I” internal.
Since SATA uses one channel per drive, each SATA drive must be
directly connected to a SATA host adapter channel. Cable length can be up
to 72” using Granite shielded external cables.
Granite manufactures a variety of cables, brackets, and adapters that
allow SATA to be used in a variety of applications. Our website
(www.granitedigital.com) lists all of these products. Our cable selection
includes internal and external shielded cables.
After installing the hardware some operating systems may require
additional drivers. The host adapter may include a CD with these necessary
drivers. Make sure the host adapter supports your operating system because
different adapters support different systems.
Installing the SATA drive mechanism in our Hot-Swap System is easy.
SATA drives do not have terminators or switch settings, so all that is usually
necessary is to plug them into the power and data cables.
Temperature is always a consideration with drive mechanisms and our
Aluminum Hot-Swap Systems are made so that the drive mechanisms stay
cool enough to run without the necessity of fans. This makes for a safer
temperature environment, less noise, less dust, and lower power
consumption. Advanced cooling design using aluminum heat dissipating
properties eliminates the complexity and possible failure associated with
fans.
Granite Digital • 3101 Whipple Rd. • Union City, Ca. 94587 www.granitedigital.com
Page 5
USER GUIDE
Removing the Hot-Swap Tray
We have designed the Hot-Swap System to be as simple as possible
when installing a hard drive mechanism. The tray is easily removed from the
frame by pulling on the handle. Removing the tray allows you to swap
drives in and out, quickly and easily.
Granite Digital • 3101 Whipple Rd. • Union City, Ca. 94587 www.granitedigital.com
Drive & Host Adapter Install
Page 6
When removing the tray
with a drive running,
gently pull out the tray
about 1” and then pause
for about 10 seconds
allowing the drive mechanism to stop spinning.
Then continue to remove
the drive.
The Aluminum Tray is easily
removed with little pressure.
The tray is made of
aluminum. Aluminum offers
great heat dissipating properties,
protects the drive circuitry, and
isolates the drive from damaging
static. The four elongated holes
in the sides are used to attach
the drive mechanism to the tray.
Four special flat headed screws
are included with each tray.
Use only these screws to
attach the drive mechanism
to the tray. SATA drives do not
need to be jumpered so installation
is very simple.
No jumper changes are necessary. When installing the drive make sure
the connectors are facing the rear of the tray.
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