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June 22, 2007
Hardware RAID SATA Port Multiplier Enclosure
A Review of the DAT Optic Sbox-R 5-Bay SATA Hard Drive Enclosure
By Arthur Whalem
DAT Optic is shipping the Sbox-R ($549) 5-bay SATA PM hard drive enclosure. It includes hardware RAID capabilities as well as normal SATA PM functionality. The Silicon Image SiI-4726 configuration manager is used to setup the Sbox-R as a hardware RAID. Possible configurations include RAID 0 (Fast), concatenated disk set (Big), RAID 1 with a hot spare (Safe), concatenated disk set with mirror and a hot spare (Safe & Big), a RAID 10 with a hot spare (Safe & Fast) or just a bunch of disks (JBOD). Using the JBOD mode allows the Sbox-R to function as a normal SATA PM enclosure with a port multiplier compatible host adapter. If the Sbox-R is configured as a hardware RAID using any mode except JBOD, the enclosure can be used with just about any SATA connection (even those without port multiplier support).
The Sbox-R features five hot swap hard drive bays mounted in a steel frame with a three sided cover. A single eSATA data cable is used to connect the enclosure to the SATA host adapter. The Sbox-R features an internal 145 watt universal power supply. The enclosure supports both SATA I and SATA II hard drives and provides LED activity and power lights. Each hard drive tray displays hard drive temperatures, the drive tray fan speed and provides a locking mechanism which supports a key. The enclosure measures 16.75" deep, 10.7" high and 7.5" wide. The Sbox-R weighs approximately 20 pounds empty and 27 pounds with five Seagate 320GB model 7200.10 hard drives installed. The enclosure is compatible with Macintosh, Windows or Linux computers equipped with a SATA PM host adapter.
System Requirements
Works with any computer with an external SATA PM interface.
Supports Mac OS X, Windows XP and Linux.
Supports up to five external SATA 3.5" hard drives.
Utilizes an eSATA connection.
What's Included?
The DAT Optic Sbox-R includes the disk enclosure, five 3.5" DirectAir SATA hard drive trays, drive mounting screws, drive tray keys, a power cord, a one meter eSATA data cable and a users guide.
Rear ConnectionsA quiet 145 watt power supply with a 120mm fan sits in the bottom of the DAT Optic Sbox-R enclosure. A standard power cord plugs into the rear of the enclosure. The eSATA data port is mounted above the power supply on the right side. This single connection is able to transfer the data for up to five external hard drives to the computer. At the top left side of the rear panel is a 80x80x25mm exhaust fan. This exhaust fan blows warm air out of the rear of the enclosure which helps keep the hard drives cool. Three screws on the rear of the case secure the exterior aluminum cover to the sides and the top of the Sbox-R. Users will notice that there is no power switch on the rear of the enclosure as the power button is provided on the front panel for easy user access.
Interface
The DAT Optic Sbox-R enclosure utilizes a direct air technology tray system. A 2.25" hole is placed in the bottom of each aluminum drive tray with a fan mounted under the opening. The front panel LCD of each mobile rack drive tray displays the RPM speed of the fan.
The hard drive is installed in the direct air technology tray using screws on two sides of each tray. There are three available screw holes on each side of the tray. I found that using two screws on each side provides a very secure installation. Installing a screw in the small rear hole of each side of the drive tray first, helps provide for an easy installation.
Typically, drive trays that require a side mounting are a little more difficult to install hard drives into than bottom mounting trays. However, the sturdy Sbox-R hard drive trays are designed so that they can stand on their sides. This thoughtful design allows the hard drives to be easily installed.
Once the DAT Optic Sbox-R drive trays are installed in the enclosure and the unit is turned on, the mobile racks display the hard drive temperature detected by the internal sensor. The RPM speed of the fan is shown just to the right of the temperature read out. Users can easily set the temperature to read in Celsius or Fahrenheit. In addition, each tray has a temperature and a fan alarm. Using the default settings, the alarm goes off once the temperature rises above 45C/113F or if the fan speed falls below 1000 RPM. The user can temporarily customize these settings. However, the trays return to the default settings upon pushing the reset button or restarting the enclosure.
Hard drives mounted in the Sbox-R enclosure power up without requiring the drive bay to be locked. The green power LED on the right side of each tray and the bottom of the enclosure stays on while the enclosure is turned on. Red activity lights are provided on the right side of each tray and yellow activity lights are provided on the bottom of the enclosure.
Looking at the circuit board inside the drive tray users can see the temperature probe on the top left side. The end of the probe is enclosed in a clear yellow film. The probe extends from the board so that it can interface with the hard drive. Users can attach the sensor to the hard drive or just let it sit in the front of the hard drive bay. A well placed probe can provide accurate hard drive temperature readings.
Inserting drive trays into the DAT Optic Sbox-R requires that users push the trays past the front cover door and into the backplane. The handle closes down as the SATA hard drive is attached to the mobile rack backplane. Once the SATA hard drive is mounted, the LCD panel displays temperature and RPM data and the fan in the bottom of the tray turns on. The Sbox-R interface allows the user to easily hot swap SATA hard drives. In addition, the power button on the front right bottom side of the enclosure provides easy access.
DesignThe exterior enclosure design provided by the DAT Optic Sbox-R is basic. It has a silver aluminum finish that is very close to the color of the Apple Mac Pro. The enclosure provides a mounting bay for five 3.5" SATA hard drives using mobile racks. The three sided cover can be removed from the enclosure to make internal modifications or repairs. The Sbox-R includes a Silicon Image SiI-4726 port multiplier, a power supply and five mobile racks with SATA backplanes mounted inside an enclosure. These items work together to create the Sbox-R. The LCD drive tray displays and the bottom HD activity lights add a nice look to the Sbox-R. The drive trays also provide an alarm should the tray fan stop working or if the hard drive temperature exceeds 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Sbox-R enclosure has a foot print of 16.75" deep, 10.7" high and 7.5" wide. It is too large to place on top of a PowerMac G5 or an Apple Mac Pro. The Sbox-R is almost as long as the Mac Pro and a little more than half as tall. The Sbox-R enclosure has the same dimensions as the DAT Optic Sbox-P.
Looking Inside
Up to five individual SATA hard drives share a single cable using FIS (Frame Information Structure) based switching via the internal port multiplier.
The SATA port multiplier installed inside the Sbox-R is a SiI-4726 based RAID_PM. The SiI-4726 is a 1-to-5 Serial ATA port multiplier that also features hardware RAID capabilities. The Silicon Image 4726 Configuration Manager allows users to setup a hardware RAID configuration or utilize the Sbox-R as just a bunch of disks (JBOD). In this review, firmware 1.2061 was installed on the Silicon Image Sil-4726 Port Multiplier and version 4.0.0.9 of the configuration manager was used. Users may want to become familiar with the Silicon Image web site as firmware updates are posted as they become available.Each drive bay of the DAT Optic Sbox-P uses a mobile rack for mounting a SATA 3.5" hard drive. If you remove the hard drive tray and look inside the mobile rack you will see the backplane board in the image below. The mobile rack LCD tray communicates with the backplane using the bottom left 6-pin connector. The green mobile rack LCD wire provides a circuit to turn on the LED power light on the front of the hard drive tray.
Exposed Backplane View
The DAT Optic Sbox-R mobile rack trays are easy to remove and install. The base of each mobile rack has a plastic door cover that automatically closes when the drive tray is removed.
Internal SATA data cables connect to the SATA PM board mounted in the rear of the Sbox-R enclosure. In addition, the hard drive activity lights are connected to the right side of the SATA PM circuit board. You can view the Sbox-R SATA PM board in the image below.
If you take the cover off of the DAT Optic Sbox-R and look down inside the enclosure you will see that the hard drive bays actually take up less than half of the space inside the enclosure.
Energy Usage
According to the Kill-a-Watt electricity usage monitor, the DAT Optic Sbox-R enclosure uses 19 watts when the enclosure is turned on but empty. Adding a single Seagate 320GB model 7200.10 SATA hard drive increases the energy usage to 29 watts while idle. Once five Seagate 32GB SATA hard drives are mounted inside the enclosure the power usage increases to 66 watts while idle. When a five drive Seagate 320GB 1.45TB striped RAID set begins copying lots of data the power usage rises to between 75-77 watts. Users can install any size 3.5" SATA hard drive inside the Sbox-R enclosure but energy usage will be slightly different.
Host Adapter
The DAT Optic Sbox-R enclosure requires a SATA PM compatible host adapter to work properly with a computer when setup to mount individual hard drives using the JBOD mode. In addition, a host adapter that uses a Silicon Image port multiplier compatible driver is required to setup a Sbox-R hardware RAID.
Macintosh RAID users that purchase the Sbox-R will also want to purchase the DAT Optic eSATA_PCIe8 SATA host adapter at the same time for an additional $130. The DAT Optic eSATA_PCIe8 SATA host adapter is a four port card that can mount up to twenty hard drives using four Sbox-R enclosures. All of the 2-port SATA host adapters available for the Macintosh provide approximately 40% slower RAID performance than the 4-port DAT Optic eSATA_PCIe8. When users realize that the eSATA_PCIe8 provides twice the number of ports and significantly faster striped RAID set performance they will want this card instead of a two port card. Most 4 port SATA host adapters are $200-300 for the Mac Pro. The $130 bundle price of the eSATA_PCIe8 when purchased with the Sbox-R is an excellent value.Another reason that Sbox-R users will want a Silicon Image based card like the DAT Optic eSATA_PCIe8 is that the hardware RAID configuration manager requires a driver that supports the SiI-4726 hardware RAID API. Using a host adapter with a driver that does not support the configuration manager will leave the Sbox-R user wondering why they cannot setup a hardware RAID. The hard drives will not show up in the software driven configuration manager and unless the SiI-4726 was pre-configured in JBOD mode, the user may not be able to get the Sbox-R to mount any hard drives. Once the Sbox-R is configured in JBOD mode, the enclosure can be used with any SATA PM compatible host adapter. Sbox-R users are going to want to have a DAT Optic eSATA_PCIe8 host adapter installed so that they can utilize all of the features of the enclosure.
Sbox-R (SiI-4726) Mac Pro SATA Controller Interface Compatibility List
| Device |
JBOD Support
|
Configuration Manager Support
|
Hardware RAID Support
|
Ports
|
Type
|
MSRP
|
Driver
|
| eSATA Pcie8 |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes -2
|
4
|
PCIe
|
$130
|
|
| NORCO-4629 |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes -2
|
4
|
PCIe
|
$189
|
|
| FASTA-4e |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes -2
|
4
|
PCIe
|
$299
|
|
| Tempo E4P |
Yes - 1
|
Yes
|
Yes -2
|
4
|
PCIe
|
||
| eSATA Extender |
No
|
No
|
Yes -2
|
2
|
Mac Pro
|
||
| eSATA_PCIe21 |
Yes -3
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
2
|
PCIe
|
$45
|
|
| ADSA3GPX1-2EM |
Yes -3
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
2
|
PCIe
|
||
| SeriTek/2SE2-E |
Yes -3
|
No -4
|
No
|
2
|
PCIe
|
The Sbox-R provides the highest striped RAID set performance when paired with an eight lane PCIe card like the DAT Optic eSATA PCIe8, NORCO-4629 or the FASTA-4e four port SATA host adapters. While the SiI-4726 hardware RAID feature works, it provides approximately 30% slower striped RAID set performance than when using Disk Utility with these 4-port cards.
Hardware RAID
There are some situations where the Sbox-R hardware RAID features may come in handy. For instance, if the user has several Mac Pro computers that require external storage solutions the Sbox-R SiI-4726 hardware RAID may be an interesting option. The user could install the Newer Technology eSATA Extender ($24.95) on the Mac Pro computer without a host adapter and create the Sbox-R hardware RAID on a Mac Pro with a host adapter using the SiI-4726 configuration manager. Once the hardware RAID is configured, the Sbox-R can be moved to the Mac Pro with the eSATA Extender. Another use for the Sbox-R hardware RAID might be for adding storage to a DVR or any other SATA capable device. Once the hardware RAID is setup, the multi-bay Sbox-R can be connected to a SATA port that does not normally support port multiplier enclosures. The Sbox-R can also be attached to a USB port when using an Addonics USB 2.0 to eSATA Adapter (AAU2ESA).
25 Hard Drives per Data PortA third less obvious use for the Sbox-R hardware RAID allows users to expand the number of hard drives that a single SATA host adapter can support. As a five drive Sbox-R hardware striped RAID set appears as a single volume in Disk Utility, up to five enclosures can be connected to a DAT Optic SATA2_HUB ($129.95) which uses a single data port on the SATA host adapter. This setup can support up to twenty-five hard drives per SATA port. Testing demonstrated that as long as the user did not attempt to RAID the enclosures using Disk Utility this configuration worked well. This setup allows the user to mount a large number of hard drives on a single SATA PM port. However, the performance is less than when using the Sbox-R in JBOD mode with a striped RAID set created by Disk Utility.
Configuration
Once the Sbox-R is connected to a host adapter that supports the Silicon Image Configuration Manager like the DAT Optic eSATA_PCIe8, the user installs the Silicon Image 4726 Configuration Manager. Launching the application and clicking on the configuration box allows the user to specify a Storage Policy. A password of admin is used as the default password to access the Storage Policy menu.
For most users with a host adapter, selecting the JBOD option and using Disk Utility to setup the hard drives will provide optimal performance. All of the other settings listed above create a hardware RAID with lower performance characteristics.
The SiI-4726 port multiplier found inside the Sbox-R provides several RAID configuration options. The settings that utilize RAID configurations are listed as RAID 1, RAID 0, and RAID 10. The Big and Safe and Big options use concatenation to form the disk array, which does not improve performance like a striped RAID set does. The Silicon Image Configuration Manager provides options for email notification (status of the RAID), rebuild settings, an advanced configuration mode, an event log and the ability to update the SiI-4726 firmware.
When using Disk Utility with the Sbox-R, users will see a 320.0 KB "Config Media Disk" listed. This disk stores the settings of the Silicon Image SiI-4726 port multiplier. Users must not erase or alter the "Config Disk Media" data while using Disk Utility. If hard drives configured in a hardware RAID are moved to another Sbox-R enclosure they will not work properly unless the new enclosure has been configured with the same SiI-4726 Configuration Manager settings.
CoolingIn the cooling tests, the DAT Optic Sbox-R enclosure was tested with a 1.45TB striped RAID set using five Seagate 320GB SATA hard drives with an Apple Mac Pro 2.66 GHz. The five drives were worked very hard duplicating a 4.2GB folder of video files up to twenty times simultaneously for 90 minutes. Hardware Monitor 4.2 was used to display the SATA hard drive temperatures while using a Sonnet Tempo E4P host adapter. At the end of 90 minutes the Seagate hard drives reported temperatures of 109.4 to 116.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The ambient air temperature of the room during the test was 83 degrees Fahrenheit.
The next process of the cooling test was to leave the enclosure turned on with the hard drives mounted for an hour, but with no usage other than temperature monitoring. I wanted to see how well the hard drives might cool down inside the Sbox-R enclosure. After resting for an hour, the Seagate hard drives reported temperatures of 105.8 to 111.2 degrees Fahrenheit. The Sbox-R cools the hard drives using the DirectAir cooling method built into each mobile rack drive tray.
The SMART temperature data that the hard drives provide to Hardware Monitor is different than the temperatures that the Sbox-R displays on the mobile rack LCDs. This difference will vary based on how close the sensors are to the hard drives.
Seagate 7200.10 320GB Hard Drive Temperatures in Fahrenheit
| Location | After 90 min. | LCD Readings | After 60 min. | LCD Readings |
| Top Bay | 109.4 | 97.7 | 105.8 | 95.7 |
| Bay #2 | 113 | 98.36 | 107.6 | 96.6 |
| Bay #3 | 113 | 95.7 | 107.6 | 94.2 |
| Bay #4 | 116.6 | 100.7 | 111.2 | 98.9 |
| Bay #5 | 111.2 | 93.3 | 109.4 | 92.4 |
Acoustics
The DAT Optic Sbox-R enclosure uses seven quiet fans. The main 80x80x25mm rear case fan is a Dynaeon model DF128025SL. It utilizes 1.68 watts, runs at 2200 RPM, and moves 23 cubic feet per minute. Another 120mm fan is located in the power supply and each drive tray has a small fan. The fans in the mobile racks run whenever the tray is inserted, whether a drive is in the tray or not. When the Sbox-R is running it produces a quiet wind noise. The Sbox-R enclosure quiets hard drive activity noise better than most enclosures AMUG has tested. This appears to be a result of using heavier trays and no ventilation ports are provided in the front of the enclosure.
If the Sbox-R enclosure is five feet away behind the Mac Pro 2.66GHz, I can hear a steady quiet fan noise while the Mac Pro is in sleep mode. Once the computer is turned on, I can still hear the quiet fan noise of the Sbox-R over the Mac Pro. I would classify the DAT Optic Sbox-R as quiet but not silent.
RAID PerformanceThe DAT Optic eSATA_PCIe8 SATA host adapter using firmware version 2.03 was installed in slot 4 of a Mac Pro 2.66GHz, running Mac OS X 10.4.9. The DAT Optic Sbox-R five bay enclosure with five Seagate 320GB SATA hard drives installed as a striped RAID set was used in this test. DiskTester 2.0 10GB read and write tests were performed using a run area test so that this article could display how the RAID performs. DiskTester is a Terminal application that measures the combined performance of a volume and the Mac OS X operating system. Using the command: ./disktester run-area-test --chunk-size 128M --test-size 10G --delta-percent 10 DriveName, puts DiskTester to work testing how the RAID will perform when empty, 10% full, 20% full and so on. The table below displays how the Sbox-R performed using several different configurations.
Five Drive Sbox-R SATA PM Enclosure Performance
 Sbox-R Seagate 320GB (5) JBOD - RAID 0 |
Sbox-R Seagate 320GB (5) Hardware RAID 0 |
Sbox-R Seagate 320GB (5) Hardware RAID 10 |
Sbox-R Seagate 320GB (5) Hardware "BIG" |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 213 | 236 | 140 | 114 | 114.3 | 101.2 | 75.6 | 76.1 |
| 10% | 214 | 236 | 140 | 114 | 116.3 | 101.3 | 65.7 | 66.1 |
| 20% | 214 | 237 | 140 | 115 | 114.8 | 101.6 | 76.8 | 65.4 |
| 30% | 214 | 237 | 142 | 115 | 115.4 | 101.8 | 66.5 | 65.6 |
| 40% | 214 | 237 | 149 | 143 | 117.8 | 102.1 | 76.4 | 65.3 |
| 50% | 214 | 237 | 149 | 143 | 117.4 | 102.3 | 65.8 | 65.1 |
| 60% | 214 | 236 | 148 | 138 | 116.4 | 103.3 | 75.7 | 65.5 |
| 70% | 213 | 235 | 149 | 138 | 114.7 | 103.2 | 65.9 | 65.2 |
| 80% | 214 | 234 | 146 | 115 | 103.8 | 99 | 73 | 73.3 |
| 90% | 213 | 227 | 146 | 114 | 91 | 91.9 | 64.7 | 64.8 |
| 100% | 182 | 185 | 147 | 114 | 76.7 | 77.9 | 39.9 | 40 |
| Average | 211 | 231 | 145 | 124 | 109 | 98.7 | 67.8 | 64.8 |
| Size | 1.45TB | 1.45TB | 595GB | 1.45TB |
As you can see in the table above the four configurations provide significantly different performance results. While using the Sbox-R hardware RAID adds compatibility with SATA connections that do not support port multiplication there is a performance penalty. Performance minded striped RAID set users will want to utilize the Sbox-R in JBOD mode.
Users that are looking for redundancy may want to consider using the Sbox-R RAID 10 configuration. It provides faster performance than a single hard drive while providing mirror support. In addition, it includes support for a hot spare that automatically rebuilds in the case of a hard drive failure. The Sbox-R RAID 10 configuration rebuild capability was tested by pulling a working hard drive. In each case, the Sbox-R was able to rebuild the RAID 10 using the hot spare.
DiscussionThe DAT Optic Sbox-R five bay enclosure features nice performance and great flexibility. The SiI-4726 port multiplier provides the ability to configure hardware RAID sets for special situations or it can be used as a traditional SATA PM enclosure once the port multiplier is configured to JBOD mode. While in JBOD mode, the Sbox-R can be used to create fast SATA PM striped RAID sets using Disk Utility. The Sbox-R hardware stays in JBOD mode even if different hard drives are loaded into the enclosure.
The Sbox-R is quiet, provides lots of hard drive activity lights, supports up to five SATA hard drives and is easy to use. The blue LCD on the mobile racks look nice and display interesting user feedback. The Sbox-R keeps the hard drive access noise quieter than many other enclosures while maintaining good hard drive cooling. All of these features add up to a very nice SATA PM enclosure with lots of options.
Pros
Works with any OS with SATA PM capability.
Supports traditional SATA PM and hardware RAID sets.
Hardware RAID 10 support with hot swap.
Mounts up to five external SATA hard drives.
FIS-based Port Multiplier-aware hardware.
Single data cable for mounting up to five drives.
DirectAir SATA hard drive trays.
Provides hard drive activity lights.
Mobile rack LCD temperature display.
Quiet operation.
Power switch on the front.
Looks good with a Mac Pro.
User-upgradeable firmware.
Easy access enclosure for modifications.
Mounts single drives or a RAID configuration.
Easy to use and install.
Cons
Too large to place on top of Mac Pro.
Port multiplier may be slower than single cable per drive method.
Hardware RAID performance is slower than Disk Utility RAID setup.
DAT Optic Sbox-R gets 4 AMUGs out of 5!
The full size DAT Optic Sbox-R enclosure is quiet and provides a secure environment for mounting up to five SATA hard drives. Users that are looking for hardware RAID 0, 1 or 10 features in addition to traditional SATA port multiplier support may find the Sbox-R is an interesting option. The ability to utilize the Sbox-R with SATA connections that do not support port multiplication is a nice feature.
Contact Information:
DAT Optic Inc.1815 E. Wilshire Ave # 906
Santa Ana, CA. 92705 USA
Phone: (714) 558 1808
Info@DATOptic.com
Copyright 2007
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