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October 27, 2006
NORCO-4618 PCI-X SATA PM Host Adapter
A Review of the NORCO 4-Port External SATA II PCI-X Controller (NORCO-4618)
By Arthur Whalem
NORCO is shipping the model 4618 PCI-X four port eSATA host adapter ($75) for PowerMac users with an available PCI slot. PowerMac G4 or G5 computers running Mac OS X 10.4.x can utilize the four external eSATA ports on the 4618 to connect with external direct connect or SATA PM enclosures. There are a variety of SATA enclosures that will work with the NORCO-4618 SATA PM host adapter. NORCO also sells the DS-500 which is a hot swap 5-bay SATA PM enclosure and the DS-1220 which is a 12-bay SATA enclosure. Both enclosures include a free NORCO-4618 SATA host adapter bundled with them.
During this review, an original Apple PowerMac G5 2.0GHz Dual with a NORCO-4618 SATA host adapter was used to evaluate how this four port external eSATA host adapter would perform with a Macintosh.
System Requirements
Mac OS X 10.4.x, Windows NT, 2000,XP, 2003 Server.
Compatible with PowerMac G4 & G5 with PCI or PCI-X.
PCI-X and PCI BUS compatible.
Compliant with PCI-X bus version 1.0a.
Supports 133 MHz PCI-X with 64-bit data.
SATA I and II compliant.
Requires external SATA hard drive(s).
Requires eSATA data cables.
What is SATA PM?
The NORCO-4618 SATA PM host adapter can be used with individual external SATA hard drives and SATA PM enclosures. A port multiplier also known as "SATA PM" is a device that allows several SATA hard drives to use a single port on a host adapter. Port multipliers are typically located inside an enclosure and are transparent to the hard drives. Port multipliers support all standard SATA hard drives. This allows SATA PM hard drive systems to accommodate many more hard drives than the direct connect method, which utilizes a single SATA port for each hard drive connected.
As you can see in the image above, up to five SATA hard drives can connect to a 5X1 port multiplier board located inside a SATA PM enclosure. A single eSATA data cable attaches the SATA PM enclosure to the NORCO-4618 SATA PM host adapter. For this system to work, the host adapter has to be SATA PM compatible.
The NORCO-4618 works well with SATA PM enclosures with SiI-3726 firmware 1.0115 or 1.0114. Version 1.0115 that comes with the Sonnet Fusion 500P and many other enclosures provides faster hot swap capability. Using a SATA PM enclosure with old firmware or a different chip can provide unpredictable results.
Install
The NORCO-4618 SATA host adapter can be installed in any available PCI or PCI-X slot within a PowerMac G4 or G5. There are four external eSATA ports on the card that are used for connecting up to four SATA external devices. If you are installing the NORCO-4618 host adapter in a PowerMac G5 with PCI-X, installing the card in slot #4 (the top slot) which supports 64-bit, 133 MHz will provide the best performance. The image below shows the card being installed in slot #4.
If you will be using the NORCO-4618 host adapter in a PowerMac G5, you may want to read the Apple Tech Q&A 1307 concerning the Power Mac G5 PCI and PCI-X slots. It states," Slots 2 & 3 share a common bus. Slot 4 is on a separate bus. All cards on a common bus can only run as fast as the slowest card". If I only planned to use one NORCO-4618 host adapter I would install it in slot four. It will run a little faster than if it is installed in slot 2 or 3. I have used up to three 64-bit host adapters in a PowerMac G5 with PCI-X and they all work well together. I installed the NORCO-4618, along with a FirmTek SeriTek/1eVE4 and a Sonnet Tempo X4P in a PowerMac G5.
When installing the NORCO-4618, do not slide it against the PCI-X mounting screw. Instead leave about an 1/8" opening, so that the middle of the screw is just to the left of the PCB board. You can also judge this by looking at the SATA ports on the rear of the PowerMac and make sure that they line up before securing the PCI-X mounting screw. I found that when the screw was placed tight against the face plate the SATA1 port was unable to be accessed. This occurs because the slot in the NORCO-4618 is a little deeper than a standard PCI face plate. You can see the NORCO-4618 screw slot in the image above. I have been informed by Bin Lin of NORCO Technologies that the factory has corrected the PCI bracket issue mentioned here and that future shipments will not have this problem.
The image above displays how the NORCO-4618 looks in System Profiler when installed in slot-4. It is labeled as a "pci1095,3124" card with a type of "Other Mass Storage Controller". Slot 3 in the image above is the four port FirmTek PCI-X card and slot 2 has the Sonnet Tempo SATA X4P installed in it. To get the NORCO-4618 to show up in the Mac OS X System Profiler PCI cards list, you will need to install the Silicon Image SiI-3124 Mac driver version 2.0.1. You can download this driver on-line at the Silicon Image web site. All host adapters that utilize the SiI-3124 chip set will work with the SiI-3124 Mac driver and will display the same information in Mac OS X System Profiler.
Features
The NORCO-4618 provides four external SATA PM ports. Each port can be connected to a SATA PM enclosure or to an external individual SATA hard drive. Using a single NORCO-4618 with four SATA PM enclosures allows up to twenty SATA hard drives to be connected to a PowerMac G4 or G5. The host adapter supports deep sleep, hot swap and works with Disk Utility to erase hard drives or create RAID sets. This four port 64-bit SATA PM compatible host adapter sells for $74.98 at Newegg.com and works with both Macintosh and PC computers. Our NORCO-4618 test unit had the SiI-3124 version 1.4.1 driver included with it. Users can easily upgrade to version 2.0.1 by downloading it and using it instead. I found 2.0.1 tested slightly faster.
The NORCO-4618 does not support booting and it does not pass SMART data to Mac OS X for use with Hardware Monitor or Disk Utility. The NORCO-4618 provides SATA hard drive performance that is very similar to the Addonics ADS3GX4R5-EM. They both use the same SiI-3124 chip and the same SiI-3124 Mac driver with a PowerMac G4 or G5.
Controller & Hard DrivesThe NORCO-4618 SATA host adapter utilizes the Silicon Image SiI 3124-2CB364 Controller chip. It provides Serial ATA 3.0 Gbps and 1.5 Gbps support and is compliant with SATA 1.0, and ATA, SATA II Extensions to SATA 1.0. The SiI 3124 chip provides port multiplier compatibility with FIS-based switching, Native Command Queuing and four independent DMA channels with 2KB FIFO per channel. It supports up to 4MB of external flash and supports hot swapping SATA devices. In addition, the SiI 3124 chip supports spread spectrum clocking to reduce EMI. Having spread spectrum clocking (SSC) support built-in means that users will not need to be concerned whether SATA hard drives have SSC turned on or off to be compatible with this SATA PM host adapter. I have used this host adapter with several different models of SATA I and SATA II hard drives. In each case, the hard drive was able to mount and operate correctly.
As the NORCO-4618 host adapter is an external SATA solution you will need a SATA enclosure. AMUG has tested several external SATA PM hard drive enclosures that work well with the NORCO-4618 host adapter. When using two SATA PM enclosures, a single NORCO-4618 host adapter can support up to ten SATA hard drives and still have two ports available. While the NORCO-4618 will work with individual SATA hard drive enclosures too, SATA PM enclosures provide access to many more hard drives.Norco Technology is selling its own 5-bay SATA PM enclosure called the DS-500 that is bundled with a NORCO-4618 host adapter for $499. A table of several third party SATA port multiplier enclosure solutions is also provided below.
Port Multiplier Enclosures
| SilverSATA V | Dual 3SA + 5x1 | Sbox-P | Fusion 500P |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 5 Bay eSATA | 6 Bay eSATA | 5 Bay eSATA | 5 Bay eSATA |
| The WiebeTech SilverSATA V port multiplier enclosure is a five bay SATA PM enclosure with a single eSATA connection on the rear. | Includes an Addonics ST5X1PM ($199) and two 3SA cages ($180) to create a 5 bay SATA PM enclosure plus an extra SATA Bay. Two 80mm fans added ($20). | The DAT Optic Sbox-P is a five bay SATA PM enclosure with a single eSATA connection on the rear. | The Sonnet Fusion 500P is a five bay SATA PM enclosure with a single eSATA connection on the rear. |
| Hot Swap Supported | Hot Swap Supported | Hot Swap Supported | Hot Swap Supported |
| SATA PM is built into the backplane design. Uses a single 5" SATA cable to connect the backplane to the rear eSATA port. | Backplane mounting. Uses 11" SATA cables to connect each drive to port multiplier. | Backplane mounting. Uses 11" SATA cable to connect each drive to port multiplier. | Backplane mounting. Uses 8" SATA cable to connect each drive to port multiplier. |
| One PM eSATA port | PM eSATA port plus 1 | One PM eSATA port | One PM eSATA port |
| 96-100 degrees | 114-118 degrees | 111-116 degrees | 114.8 - 120.2 degrees |
| Supports Sleep Mode | Supports Sleep Mode | Supports Sleep Mode | Supports Sleep Mode |
| Louder than PowerMac | Quieter than PowerMac | Little louder than PowerMac | Quieter than PowerMac |
| Advantage: 5 bays in a single enclosure. Temperature alarm. Keeps hard drives very cool. Drive activity and power lights. Small foot print. Sturdy design. No assembly required other than installing hard drives. | Advantage: 6 bays in a single enclosure. Can add a quiet fan upgrade. Drive trays protect hard drives and are easy to mount drives in. Temperature alarm. Can be used in a single cable per drive configuration by using a different rear panel cover. | Advantage: This is a quiet five bay PM enclosure. Provides DirectAir SATA hard drive trays. Temp. alarm. Temperature and RPM LCD on each tray. Sturdy design. No assembly required other than installing hard drives. | Advantage: This is a quiet five bay PM enclosure. Provides drive activity lights and user configurable fan. Small foot print. Sturdy design. No assembly required other than installing hard drives. |
| Cons: Is not quiet. No easy way to modify power supply fan noise. Expensive. | Cons: Is not quiet with the standard fan configuration. Requires assembly. No hard drive activity lights. | Cons: No drive activity lights. Full size foot print. | Cons: Inserting trays into the enclosure may seem stiff in some bays. |
| $999.95 | $399 = ST5X1PM and two 3SA, fans & eSATA cable. | $485 | $499.95 |
Stability
During this review a Sonnet Fusion 500P was used to test how the NORCO-4618 host adapter performed when hot swapping hard drives in and out of a SATA PM enclosure. The SiI-3124 version 2.0.1 driver was used for these tests. When individual hard drives were mounted they were able to be hot swapped in and out of the enclosure without turning off the computer or the enclosure. Twenty-five SATA hard drives were hot swapped in and out of the enclosure. All of them mounted within 9 seconds without any issues.
Next, a RAID mounting stability test was completed with five Maxtor Maxline III 7V300F0 hard drives configured in a striped RAID set. The hard drives were ejected and placed back in the enclosure in a different order. Twenty out of twenty times the five drive striped RAID set was able to hot swap and mount within 9 seconds of the last hard drive being inserted.
Uninstall
The SiI-3124 Mac driver does not come with an uninstall script. However, some users have requested one so that they could remove old versions before upgrades or to simply remove the driver. Upon examining the SiI-3124 Mac driver, it seems to install three items. They include a startup item, an extension and a receipt. The path of these three install files for the SiI-3124 v2.0.1 Mac driver are provided below:
Library/StartupItems/SiCoreService
System/Library/Extensions/SiliconImage3124u.kext
Library/Receipts/SiI3124_2.0.1_SiI_Pkg.pkg
You can use EasyFind to help you locate these files. The various versions of the Silicon Image Mac driver may install slightly different names but you should be able to find these files in the locations provided above. This list should help those users wanting to uninstall the driver without rebuilding the Mac OS X System.
SleepSleep mode was tested with the NORCO-4618 host adapter using a Sonnet Fusion 500P SATA PM enclosure. A PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0Ghz using Mac OS X 10.4.8 was able to sleep with the NORCO-4618 host adapter installed along with the Mac driver. The hard drives attached to the NORCO-4618 host adapter were left mounted and the computer was placed in sleep mode. Once the PowerMac G5 was awake the hard drives were able for use within 5-10 seconds.
If the hard drives were dismounted before placing the PoweMac G5 in sleep mode, they were able to be mounted using Disk Utility once the Mac was awake.
One tip that applies to most host adapters is to be sure to uncheck the "Put the hard disks to sleep when possible" box found in System Preferences:Energy Saver of Mac OS X. Leaving that preference checked can cause sleep related errors. This is the most common user error that I have found with SATA host adapters.
The only sleep issue discovered with the NORCO-4618 host adapter was when the SATA PM enclosure was turned off while the PowerMac was in sleep mode. In this situation, the hard drive icon was still mounted on the desktop when the Macintosh was awake. I could turn the enclosure back on and the drives would dismount improperly and then remount again. If the hard drive enclosure was left off a restart was required.
If you want the SATA PM enclosure to be turned off while the PowerMac is in sleep mode, dismount the drive(s) and turn the enclosure off before putting the Mac to sleep. Or leave the enclosure on while the Mac is in sleep mode. Just don't turn off the enclosure (connected to the card) while in sleep mode. This confuses the host adapter. Turning the enclosure off during sleep is really a user error. The computer does not know what you did (as it was asleep) and has to rely on additional programming to check whether the enclosure is still there. Good drivers can handle this situation, but it is best not to turn off the SATA PM enclosure while in sleep mode.
SATA PM PerformanceIn this test, a PowerMac G5 2.0GHz Dual running Mac OS X 10.4.8 was used with the NORCO-4618 host adapter installed in slot 4. A Sonnet Fusion 500P SATA PM enclosure was attached to the host adapter with five Maxtor 300GB SATA hard drives model 7V300F0 configured in a striped RAID set using Disk Utility. DiskTester 10GB read and write tests were performed using a run area test. DiskTester was used to measure the combined performance of the striped RAID set and the Mac OS X operating system. It is a Terminal application which requires using a command line executable. Using the command: ./disktester run-area-test --chunk-size 128M --test-size 10G --delta-percent 10 DriveName, puts DiskTester 2.0 to work testing how the RAID will perform when empty, 10% full, 20% full and so on. This same test was also run using the PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz with the Sonnet Tempo SATA X4P host adapter installed for comparison.
Maxtor 7V300F0 5 Drive 1.36TB Striped RAID - DiskTester 10GB Test
| SATA PM | PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | NORCO-4618 2.01 Mac driver |
PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | Tempo X4P |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 192 | 213 | 214 | 248 |
| 10% | 193 | 213 | 216 | 248 |
| 20% | 193 | 213 | 216 | 248 |
| 30% | 193 | 213 | 216 | 248 |
| 40% | 193 | 213 | 216 | 247 |
| 50% | 192 | 213 | 216 | 248 |
| 60% | 193 | 213 | 216 | 244 |
| 70% | 193 | 213 | 216 | 245 |
| 80% | 193 | 213 | 217 | 247 |
| 90% | 193 | 213 | 217 | 223 |
| Average | 192.8 | 213 | 216 | 244.6 |
| MSRP | $75 | $299.95 |
used in a Sonnet Fusion 500P SATA PM enclosure. The NORCO-4618 SATA host adapter
was mounted in slot 4.
As you can see in the table above, when using five Maxtor Maxline III 300GB model 7V300F0 hard drives with a SATA PM enclosure, the Sonnet Tempo X4P was approximately 11% faster writing data on average and approximately 14% faster when reading data. Based on this information, it appears that the Sonnet Tempo X4P is faster than the NORCO-4618 when the SiI-3124 version 2.0.1 Mac driver is installed and a striped RAID set is being used with a SATA PM enclosure.
In the table below, the same DiskTester 2.0 test was completed with five Seagate 320GB 7200.10 SATA II hard drives. In this setup, the NORCO-4618 is also slower than the Sonnet Tempo X4P. The Sonnet Tempo X4P was approximately 17% faster when reading data and 14% faster when writing data on average. You can see the results in the table below.Seagate 320GB 5 Drive 1.45TB Striped RAID - DiskTester 10GB Test
| SATA PM | PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | NORCO-4618 2.01 Mac driver |
PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | Tempo X4P |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 192 | 204 | 219 | 243 |
| 10% | 193 | 204 | 221 | 243 |
| 20% | 193 | 203 | 221 | 243 |
| 30% | 194 | 203 | 220 | 243 |
| 40% | 193 | 203 | 221 | 243 |
| 50% | 193 | 203 | 221 | 242 |
| 60% | 193 | 203 | 221 | 237 |
| 70% | 193 | 203 | 221 | 237 |
| 80% | 194 | 203 | 221 | 234 |
| 90% | 193 | 203 | 221 | 220 |
| Average | 193.1 | 203.2 | 220.7 | 238.5 |
| MSRP | $75 | $299.95 |
As I performed additional tests with different hard drive combinations it was clear that the NORCO-4618 host adapter was up to 17% slower than the Sonnet X4P when using the Silicon Image SiI-3124 version 2.0.1 Mac driver with SATA PM striped RAID sets. In the table below, eight Seagate 320GB 7200.10 hard drives were mounted on two ports of the NORCO-4618 host adapter using two SATA PM enclosures. An eight drive SATA PM striped RAID set was created and tested.Seagate 8 Drive 2.3TB Striped RAID - DiskTester 10GB Test
| SATA PM | PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | NORCO-4618 2.01 Mac driver |
PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | Tempo X4P |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 376 | 406 | 428 | 492 |
| 10% | 377 | 405 | 429 | 492 |
| 20% | 378 | 405 | 428 | 486 |
| 30% | 375 | 403 | 429 | 489 |
| 40% | 378 | 404 | 428 | 480 |
| 50% | 378 | 405 | 429 | 480 |
| 60% | 379 | 406 | 428 | 461 |
| 70% | 376 | 406 | 424 | 436 |
| 80% | 375 | 404 | 383 | 401 |
| 90% | 349 | 362 | 353 | 356 |
| Average | 374.1 | 400.6 | 415.9 | 457.3 |
| MSRP | $75 | $299.95 |
used with four in a DAT Optic Sbox-P SATA PM enclosure and four in a Sonnet Fusion 500P.
Two ports on the NORCO-4618 host adapter were used.
In the eight drive striped RAID set test above using two SATA PM enclosures, the NORCO-4618 host adapter was 11% slower writing data and 14% slower reading data on average.
I was a little disappointed with the SATA PM performance of the Silicon Image 2.01 Mac driver. I remembered that previous AMUG reviews using the SiI-3124 version 0.42.4.pkg Mac driver provided faster SATA PM performance. I installed the older SiI-3124 0.42.4.pkg Mac driver on a fresh hard drive and ran the same exact eight drive Seagate 320GB 7200.10 test. The results are provided in the table below.
Seagate 8 Drive 2.3TB Striped RAID - Sil3124 0.42.4 Driver
| SATA PM | PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | NORCO-4618 0.42.4 Mac driver |
PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | Tempo X4P |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 429 | 464 | 428 | 492 |
| 10% | 441 | 465 | 429 | 492 |
| 20% | 442 | 465 | 428 | 486 |
| 30% | 441 | 465 | 429 | 489 |
| 40% | 442 | 467 | 428 | 480 |
| 50% | 441 | 466 | 429 | 480 |
| 60% | 441 | 466 | 428 | 461 |
| 70% | 421 | 444 | 424 | 436 |
| 80% | 376 | 405 | 383 | 401 |
| 90% | 348 | 361 | 353 | 356 |
| Average | 422.2 | 446.8 | 415.9 | 457.3 |
| MSRP | $75 | $299.95 |
used with four in a DAT Optic Sbox-P SATA PM enclosure and four in a Sonnet Fusion 500P.
The NORCO-4618 host adapter was used with the old SiI3124 0.42.4.pkg driver.
As you can see the old SiI-3124 Mac driver version 0.42.4 outperforms the new 2.0.1 version when used with SATA PM striped RAID sets by 12% on average. It is clear that the NORCO-4618 hardware can perform very similar to the Tempo X4P but the Silicon Image 2.0.1 Mac driver is holding it back. If the new SiI-3124 2.01.Mac driver was optimized for SATA PM striped RAID sets it could perform much better.
The SiI-3124 Mac driver version 0.42.4 was released over a year ago and is no longer supported by Silicon Image. It will only work with SATA PM enclosures and has more bugs than the new version. However, it performs better with SATA PM striped RAID sets. If you only plan to use the NORCO-4618 with SATA PM enclosures, you may want to consider installing the 0.42.4 driver instead of 2.0.1. However, most users will want the capability to use SATA PM and direct connect enclosures with the NORCO-4618. As such, the 2.0.1 driver while 12% slower with SATA PM striped RAID sets will be more compatible for most users.
Direct Connect PerformanceThe next set of tests demonstrates how the NORCO-4618 performs when used with one hard drive per SATA port, also known as the "Direct Connect" method. Two NORCO-4618 SATA host adapters were installed in a PowerMac G5 2.0 Dual and the SiI-3124 Mac driver 2.0.1 was utilized. The same eight Seagate 320GB 7200.10 hard drives that were used in the SATA PM tests above, were setup in a direct connect configuration with each hard drive on its own port. Two cards provide eight ports. The results were compared to using two FirmTek SeriTek/1eVE4 four port PCI-X host adapters.
Seagate 8 Drive Direct Connect Striped RAID - DiskTester 10GB Test
| PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | NORCO-4618 Two cards | PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | SeriTek/1eVE4 Two cards |
|
| Area Full | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 532 | 583 | 534 | 576 |
| 10% | 556 | 583 | 548 | 577 |
| 20% | 551 | 567 | 541 | 564 |
| 30% | 518 | 552 | 533 | 552 |
| 40% | 513 | 532 | 510 | 531 |
| 50% | 496 | 509 | 473 | 507 |
| 60% | 441 | 476 | 447 | 474 |
| 70% | 427 | 443 | 426 | 442 |
| 80% | 366 | 409 | 377 | 405 |
| 90% | 340 | 363 | 351 | 360 |
| Average | 474 | 501.7 | 474 | 498.8 |
| MSRP | $75 | $139.95 |
The FirmTek SeriTek/1eVE4 provides boot capability and passes SMART data to Mac OS X while the Silicon Image 2.0.1 drivers do not. The SeriTek/1eVE PCI-X is the fastest direct connect SATA host adapter that AMUG has tested. As you can see the NORCO-4618 host adapters were able to keep up with the two SeriTek/1eVE cards based on the averages. It appears that the SiI-3124 Mac driver version 2.0.1 has been optimized
for direct connect setups. It performs very well with individual SATA hard drives on each port.In order to see how the NORCO-4618 host adapter would perform with a fast four drive striped RAID set, four Seagate 250GB 7200.10 hard drives were mounted in the WiebeTech SilverSATA IV SJ four bay SATA enclosure. The same DiskTester tests were performed with a single NORCO-4618 and then with a SeriTek/1eVE host adapter. Each host adapter was installed in slot 4. The results are provided below.
Four Drive Direct Connect Striped RAID - Seagate 250GB 7200.10
| PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | NORCO-4618 2.01 Mac driver | PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz | SeriTek/1eVE4 Single card |
|
| Area Full | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 300 | 308 | 299 | 308 |
| 10% | 305 | 305 | 305 | 305 |
| 20% | 300 | 302 | 303 | 301 |
| 30% | 291 | 292 | 291 | 291 |
| 40% | 280 | 281 | 280 | 281 |
| 50% | 267 | 270 | 268 | 269 |
| 60% | 251 | 251 | 252 | 252 |
| 70% | 233 | 234 | 234 | 234 |
| 80% | 215 | 215 | 215 | 215 |
| 90% | 189 | 189 | 189 | 189 |
| Average | 263.1 | 264.7 | 263.6 | 264.5 |
| MSRP | $75 | $139.95 |
When you examine the average data, it is apparent that the NORCO-4618 with four hard drives connected provides performance very similar to the FirmTek SeriTek/1eVE4. It does not have boot capability or SMART support but it is also $54.95 less expensive and provides SATA PM capability.
Another SiI-3124 Option
The availability of Silicon Image Mac drivers allows low cost SATA host adapters which utilize the Silicon Image SiI-3124 chip to work with PowerMac PCI and PCI-X models. While the SiI-3124 version 2.0.1 Mac driver does not provide boot support and does not pass SMART data to Mac OS X, it does allow individual external SATA hard drives or SATA PM enclosures to work with a PowerMac G4 or G5 with an available PCI or PCI-X slot.The tests in this review are identical to those performed in the AMUG Addonics ADS3GX4R5-EM SATA host adapter review. This was done so that users could compare both of these articles side by side and determine which SiI-3124 SATA host adapter solution best fits their needs. As both cards utilize the same controller chip their performance is similar. The NORCO-4618 seems to compare well against the Addonics ADS3GX4R5-EM, when SATA hard drives are connected using the direct connect method. However, the NORCO-4618 seems a little slower with SATA PM striped RAID sets in some situations. This may be an issue with the SiI-3124 Mac driver version 2.0.1 as both cards perform very similar with SATA PM when the older 0.42.4 Mac driver was installed.
The Sonnet Tempo X4P is a great SATA PM host adapter. However, at $299 it is expensive. In comparison, the $75 NORCO-4618 provides SATA PM and direct connect support at a very reasonable price. The SiI-3124 Mac drivers are not as nice as the Sonnet Tempo X4P drivers which provide SMART support, but they work.
The FirmTek SeriTek/1eVE4 provides four ports with boot support and passes SMART data to Mac OS X. It is a great SATA host adapter and costs $139.95. However, it does NOT support SATA PM enclosures. By installing the NORCO-4618 host adapter inside a PowerMac you can enjoy both direct connect and SATA PM compatibility at an affordable price.
The SATA PM striped RAID set performance of the SiI-3124 version 2.0.1 Mac driver should be able to be optimized in a future update to provide performance similar to the SiI 0.42.4 Mac driver. If that is accomplished the SATA PM striped RAID set performance of the NORCO-4618 should be much closer to that of the Sonnet Tempo X4P. If Silicon Image could add SMART support for Mac OS X to the SiI-3124 Mac driver that would be even better.
Pros
Works with PowerMac G4 400 through PowerMac G5 PCI-X models.
Provides four external SATA PM or direct connect ports.
A single port can mount up to five drives with a SATA PM enclosure.
Works with SATA I and SATA II hard drives.
Works with SATA PM enclosures.
Supports hot swap and sleep.
Utilizes FIS-based port multiplier switching.
Works with individually formatted hard drives.
Works with RAID1 or RAID0 created RAID sets.
SiI-3124 Mac driver version 2.0.1 included.
Provides nice striped RAID performance with direct connect setups.
Supports the WiebeTech SilverSATA II.
Low cost, value SATA PM/direct connect solution.
Cons
Requires installing additional drivers for Mac OS X.
Does not support booting.
Does not pass SMART data to Mac OS X.
Sonnet Tempo X4P may be faster with some hard drive setups.
No uninstall program for SiI-3124 Mac driver.
Drivers are not as refined as FirmTek and Sonnet drivers.
NORCO-4618 gets 4 AMUGs out of 5!
The NORCO-4618 provides an inexpensive option for adding SATA PM capabilities to a PowerMac G4 or G5. This new card also comes bundled free with the Norco DS-1220 12-Bay SATA hard drive enclosure. Norco Technology brings cost effective solutions to the computer market and the NORCO-4618 is no exception. While this host adapter works very well for supporting SATA PM enclosures on a PowerMac, it may not be as fast as the four port Sonnet Tempo X4P ($299.95) in some situations. However, if you are looking for an inexpensive solution for adding SATA PM connections to your PCI PowerMac, this is an option worth considering. Having the ability to utilize SATA PM enclosures with a PowerMac can open the door to large storage capability.
Contact Information:NORCO Technologies Inc.
9950 Bell Ranch Drive, Unit 101
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670
Phone: (562) 906-5900
Fax: (562) 906-5200
http://www.norcotek.com
Copyright 2006
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