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January 19, 2007
Five Bay SATA Port Multiplier Combo Pack
A Review of the Norco DS-500 Five Bay Hot Swap SATA PM Enclosure with PCI-X Host Adapter
By Arthur Whalem
Norco is shipping the DS-500, which is a 5-bay SATA PM hard drive enclosure. The $449.99 Norco DS-500 features five hot swap SATA hard drive bays enclosed in a silver aluminum case. An internal 180 watt universal power supply powers the hard drives inside the Norco DS-500 enclosure while a 92mm exhaust fan mounted on the rear of the enclosure keeps the hard drives cool. Each SATA hard drive tray includes a green drive presence LED, an activity light and its own built-in locking mechanism. A single 31" eSATA data cable connects the 5-bay enclosure to the NORCO-4618 four port PCI-X SATA PM host adapter which is included with the DS-500 package. The enclosure measures 11.5" deep, 9.5" high and 6.9" wide. The Norco DS-500 weighs 13.5 pounds empty and approximately 20 pounds with five SATA hard drives installed. The enclosure is compatible with Macintosh, Windows or Linux computers. If you order the DS-500 directly from Norco, blue or yellow hot swap hard drive trays are also available.
Images courtesy of Norco Technologies
System Requirements
Works with Macintosh, Windows or Linux.
Supports Mac OS X 10.4.x or higher, Windows and Linux.
DS-500 enclosure supports up to 5 external SATA 3.5" hard drives.
PCI slot is required to use the included SATA host adapter.
What's Included?
The Norco DS-500 includes a 5-bay SATA PM enclosure, five 3.5" hard drive trays, drive mounting screws, a small screwdriver, power cord, one 31" eSATA data cable, a 4 port eSATA host adapter and a CD with a users guide and software drivers.
Rear Connections
The Norco DS-500 has a power cord outlet on the lower left side of the rear of the enclosure. To the right is a small 40mm power supply fan. The back of the enclosure has three thumb screws that allow the back of the case to be removed for easy fan replacements. On the lower right side an eSATA data cable connection is provided. An internal SiI-3726 SATA port multiplier board allows all five hard drives to share a single fast FIS-based
eSATA data connection. The green host light glows when the enclosure is on. Reset switches are also available. The 92mm hard drive cooling fan exhausts air out of the rear of the enclosure, which pulls air into the enclosure through the slots in the front of the hard drive trays.Once the rear cover of the DS-500 is removed users can see that four standard screws mount the 92mm fan to the rear panel. The use of a standard 3-pin fan connector makes customization of the cooling capabilities of the DS-500 a simple task. I wish that all enclosure makers used standard 3-pin connectors so that users would have the ability to upgrade fans easily as new quieter models are available.
Interface
Inside the rear of the DS-500 is an interesting SiI-3726 mounting design. It is displayed on the right side of the image below. The SiI-3726 board mounts into a vertical 83 pin bus that provides all of the SATA hard drive data connections to the SiI-3726 chip. When the user plugs the eSATA data cable into the rear of the DS-500, it connects the host adapter directly to the SiI-3726 card which avoids the use of any internal SATA data cables inside the DS-500 enclosure.
This is the first time I have seen this unique interconnect bus used with a SATA PM hard drive backplane design. One advantage provided by this interface is a direct backplane mounting enclosure which supports a 1.75" deep exhaust fan cooling chamber. You can see the port multiplier board below. Click on it for a larger image.
If all of the hard drive trays are removed and the user looks inside the Norco DS-500, the SATA backplane can be seen. As each hard drive tray is inserted, the rear SATA connector on each tray connects to the backplane inside the DS-500. The backplane image below displays five SATA female backplane connectors and power connections on the bottom of the circuit board.
The Universal 180 watt ATX power supply provided with the Norco DS-500 is a Seven Team model ST-180FUB-05E. It is cooled by a 40mm Sunon cooling fan model KDE1204PKX which has a noise level rating of 27.5 dBA.
Hard Drive Trays
All of the Norco enclosures utilize their own style of hard drive trays. These trays include a SATA backplane board that the hard drive slides onto. This interface provides the circuits for the drive presence and the activity lights.
Once the hard drive is attached to the drive tray, it can be screwed to the sides of the tray for stability. When I attach a hard drive to the rear of the Norco tray, it is usually a tight enough fit that it can be used without screws provided the hard drive stays level. However, most users will want to screw the hard drive to the tray for security.
The screws that come with the Norco trays have a large head on them and they may need to be screwed in fairly tight to make them flush with the side of the tray. If they are not flush, the tray can be difficult to insert into the enclosure. I have used these screws to fasten hard drives to the Norco trays in the past without any problems. However, during these tests a screw was too tight and the head broke off leaving a screw shaft stuck in a Seagate hard drive. To avoid this issue, do not over tighten these large screws. I purchased drive screws with a smaller head for use with the Norco trays that make it easier to provide the proper clearance on the side of the trays. I only use the screws in the front screw holes of the tray as the rear data connection holds the hard drive in place. This method allows me to secure the hard drives without being concerned about whether the screws are too tight.
I prefer hard drive trays that utilize screws on the bottom of the trays, like the FirmTek and the Sonnet hot swap trays. They are much easier for loading hard drives into. Hard drive tray systems that utilize screws in the sides of the tray are usually a little more difficult to install. The Norco tray system is no exception.
Once the hard drives are mounted in the Norco DS-500 drive trays, the trays can be inserted into the five available hot swap bays. To insert a Norco tray into the enclosure, simply push it all the way in and then push the tray tab in. The drive tray will lock into place with a gentle push on the tab.
To eject a drive tray from the Norco DS-500, simply insert a small Phillips screwdriver into the hole that is located below the locking tab of the drive tray. A slight clicking noise will be heard as the drive tray unlocks. You can then pull the tab open and eject the drive tray. The screwdriver that is supplied
with the Norco DS-500 works well, but I also found that the WiebeTech SilverSATA white keys work great too. If you already own a SilverSATA product the key comes with it. WiebeTech does not sell the keys separately. The WiebeTech white plastic key is a lot smaller and looks good sitting next to the DS-500. There is nothing wrong with using the supplied screwdriver for ejecting hard drives in the Norco DS-500. I just find the SilverSATA key is a nicer interface. You can also improvise and use a paper clip or any thin object that is about an inch long.
DesignThe exterior design of the Norco DS-500 provides the capability to mount the unit on top or beside an Apple Mac Pro or a PowerMac G5. The enclosures silver aluminum finish looks great with both Apple desktop computers. The hard drive activity lights provide good feedback, which allows users to view which hard drives are busy accessing data. I usually like to place my hard drive enclosure on top of the PowerMac G5 and the DS-500 works well in this position. The power button can easily be accessed on the front panel and all five hard drive trays can be inserted or removed.
While the Norco DS-500 has a boxy look to it, the design of the power button, alarms and the green glowing hard drive trays add a quality high tech flair to the style of DS-500 enclosure. Having hot swap drive trays that can be inserted as needed provides easy access for external SATA hard drive mounting. The Norco DS-500 is also small enough that it can be moved from one computer to another even when loaded full of hard drives. In addition, five bay SATA port multiplier enclosures like the DS-500 only require a single data cable which allows the host adapter connections to be less cluttered and easy to setup.
Norco-4618 Host Adapter
The Norco-4618 SATA host adapter is bundled with the DS-500. It is a PCI-X host adapter that utilizes the Silicon Image SiI 3124-2CB364 controller chip. PowerMac G4 or G5 computers running Mac OS X 10.4.x can utilize the four external eSATA ports provided by 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. Once the Norco-4618 SATA host adapter is installed in an available PCI-X slot, the DS-500 hot swap 5-bay SATA PM enclosure can be connected to it using the SATA data cable. Macintosh users will utilize Disk Utility to setup hard drives to work with the Norco-4618/DS-500 combination.
The Norco-4618 works with SATA I and SATA II hard drives 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 also supports hot swapping SATA devices. In addition, the Norco-4618 supports spread spectrum clocking to reduce EMI.
When using the Norco-4618 SATA host adapter with the SiI-3124 Mac driver it can support up to twenty hard drives using four 5-bay SATA PM enclosures. If the SiI-3124 version 2.0.3 Mac driver is installed, the Norco-4618 can support both SATA PM and individual (direct connect) hard drive connections. However, it's SATA PM striped RAID set performance is about 12% slower than when using the older Sil-3124 version 0.42.4 Mac driver.
Energy Usage
According to the Kill-a-Watt electricity usage monitor, the Norco DS-500 enclosure uses approximately one watt when plugged in but turned off. When the Norco DS-500 enclosure is turned on but no hard drives are inserted the enclosure uses 16 watts. Mounting a single Seagate 320GB SATA hard drive inside the Norco DS-500 increases the energy usage to 27-28 watts while idle. Once five Seagate 320GB SATA hard drives are mounted inside the enclosure the power usage increases to 62 watts while idle. When a five drive striped RAID set begins copying lots of data the power usage rises to between 69-71 watts.
Stability
A five drive RAID mounting stability test was completed with the Norco DS-500 enclosure using the Norco-4618 SATA host adapter with the Silicon Image 2.0.3 Mac driver and a PowerMac G5 2.0GHz Dual. Five Seagate 320GB SATA hard drives were used in a striped RAID set configuration. The striped RAID set was dismounted from the desktop and all five SATA hard drives were ejected and placed back in the enclosure in a different order. This test was done ten times. In this hot swap stability test, the five drive RAID set mounted each time without turning off the PowerMac G5 or the Norco DS-500 enclosure. The five drive RAID set usually mounted within 7 seconds after the last hard drive was inserted into the Norco DS-500 enclosure. The Silicon Image SiI-3124 Mac driver version 2.0.3 is able to hot swap faster and more reliably than any other SATA PM host adapter setup I have tested so far.Individual Drives
When testing the ability of individual SATA hard drives to hot swap inside the Norco DS-500, the Silicon Image Mac driver SiI-3124 version 2.0.3 was utilized with the Norco-4618 SATA host adapter. During twenty individual hard drive hot swap tests, the hard drives mounted 20 out of 20 times. Usually, individual hard drives mounted within 7 seconds
after inserting the drive tray. No restart of the enclosure or of the PowerMac G5 was required.Cooling
The Norco DS-500 cooling system includes a 40mm power supply fan and a ProTechnic Electric 92mm rear exhaust fan model MGA9212LR-A25. As a test, five Seagate 320GB model 7200.10 hard drives were mounted in the Norco DS-500 for determining its cooling capability. The FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 was utilized for this cooling test as it passes SMART temperature data to Mac OS X so that Hardware Monitor 4.1 can display the internal temperature of each hard drive. Unfortunately, the Silicon Image drivers do not provide SMART support so the Norco 4618 could not be used with this test. All five hard drives were worked very hard duplicating a 4.2GB folder of video files up to twenty times simultaneously for 90 minutes. At the end of 90 minutes the five 320GB hard drives reported temperatures of 104 to 105.8 degrees Fahrenheit. The ambient room temperature during these tests was 74 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 Norco DS-500 enclosure. After resting for an hour, the five hard drives reported temperatures of 98.6 to 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit.
Custom Cooling?
In order to see if the temperatures might change if a quieter hard drive fan was used, a Nexus 92mm Real Silent Case Fan model DF1209SL-3 was installed by replacing the stock 92mm fan. The Nexus 92mm Real Silent case fan only produces 19.2 dBA. It has a 1500 RPM and moves 27 cubic feet per minute. It is so quiet, I could not tell if it was running except by placing my ear next to it. When the Nexus DF1209SL-3 is installed the only fan I can hear is the 40mm power supply fan. The temperatures produced by this setup after the 90 minute copy test are shown in the table below under the Nexus DF1209SL-3 column.
Hard Drive Temperatures in Fahrenheit
| Stock | Fans | Nexus | DF1209SL-3 | |
| Location | After 90 min. | Hour idle | After 90 min. | Hour idle |
| Top Bay | 105.8 | 100.4 | 116.6 | 107.6 |
| Bay 2 | 105.8 | 100.4 | 116.6 | 107.6 |
| Bay 3 | 104 | 98.6 | 114.8 | 105.8 |
| Bay 4 | 105.8 | 102.2 | 114.8 | 109.4 |
| Bay 5 | 105.8 | 100.4 | 114.8 | 107.6 |
As you can see, the temperatures recorded while using the Nexus 92mm fan were significantly higher. In addition, using the Nexus fan did not reduce the noise level of the DS-500 significantly because most of the fan noise is generated by the Sunon 40mm power supply fan. The Sunon power supply fan would need to be replaced to realize the acoustical difference. As replacing the power supply fan is more work than most users will be willing to perform, Ieaving the stock 92mm fan in place and enjoying the cooler hard drive temperatures provided by the stock DS-500 configuration is what I would suggest.
Acoustics
The Norco DS-500 enclosure uses two exhaust fans. The 92mm fan is reasonably quiet. The 40mm power supply fan is semi-quiet. When the PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz is in sleep mode, I can hear the DS-500 fans as a semi-quiet steady hum from a distance of four feet. Once the PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0GHz is awake, I can still hear the fans of the DS-500. However, the DS-500 fans are not much louder than the PowerMac G5.
The DAT Optic Sbox-P and the Sonnet Fusion 500-P SATA PM enclosures provide a quieter operating environment than the Norco DS-500. However, the Norco DS-500 was able to provide a cooler environment for the hard drives. If Norco was able to replace the DS-500 power supply fan with a fan that had a noise rating of 22 dBA or less the DS-500 would be much quieter.
SleepThe Norco DS-500 was tested for Macintosh sleep capability with the Norco-4618 host adapter using the SiI-3124 version 2.0.3 driver. While this is a function of the SATA host adapter, its nice to know how the Norco-4618, PowerMac G5 Dual and the Norco DS-500 work together in sleep mode. The Norco-4618 allows the PowerMac G5 to go to sleep provided the Silicon Image driver is installed. You can put the Macintosh to sleep while the hard drives are mounted and they are active within 5-10 seconds after waking from sleep. If you have five Seagate 320GB hard drives in the enclosure while in sleep mode, the Norco DS-500 energy usage drops from 62 watts while idle to 26 watts. However, the DS-500 enclosure fans continue to spin. If you dismount the hard drives in the Norco DS-500 and then place the PowerMac in sleep mode, the drives can be mounted again using Disk Utility once the computer is awake.
PerformanceA Norco DS-500 enclosure was tested with different Macintosh SATA host adapters and several versions of the SiI-3124 Mac driver. A PowerMac G5 2.0GHz Dual, running Mac OS X 10.4.8 was used. A Norco DS-500 with five Seagate 320GB model 7200.10 SATA hard drives installed, was configured as a striped RAID set during 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 with each host adapter. 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 the results.
DS-500 Five Drive SATA PM Striped RAID Performance
 Norco-4618 2.03 Driver |
Norco-4618 0.42.4 Driver |
 SeriTek/2SE4 Firmware 5.2.0 |
 Sonnet X4P Firmware 2.0.3 |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 193 | 211 | 217 | 242 | 224 | 246 | 219 | 243 |
| 10% | 195 | 211 | 219 | 242 | 224 | 247 | 219 | 245 |
| 20% | 194 | 211 | 220 | 242 | 224 | 247 | 222 | 244 |
| 30% | 194 | 211 | 220 | 242 | 224 | 247 | 222 | 244 |
| 40% | 195 | 210 | 219 | 242 | 224 | 247 | 222 | 245 |
| 50% | 194 | 211 | 220 | 242 | 224 | 246 | 222 | 244 |
| 60% | 194 | 210 | 219 | 242 | 225 | 247 | 222 | 241 |
| 70% | 195 | 210 | 219 | 241 | 225 | 245 | 223 | 240 |
| 80% | 194 | 210 | 219 | 240 | 225 | 244 | 223 | 238 |
| 90% | 194 | 210 | 219 | 226 | 220 | 222 | 223 | 220 |
| 100% | 181 | 185 | 183 | 184 | 181 | 182 | 182 | 183 |
| Average | 193 | 208 | 216 | 235 | 220 | 238 | 218 | 235 |
| MSRP | Included | Included | $199.95 | $299.95 | ||||
| Type | PCI-X | PCI-X | PCI-X | PCI-X |
As you can see in the table above, the latest Silicon Image SiI-3124 Mac driver version 2.0.3 is not optimized for use with a SATA PM striped RAID set. The older 0.42.4 Mac driver performs better in that configuration. The problem with using the 0.42.4 Mac driver is that it does not support direct connect setups and it is not currently supported by Silicon Image. It may work for your setup, but it may not depending on the hard drives selected and the amount of memory installed in the PowerMac. It is interesting that FirmTek can provide a faster performing Mac driver for the Silicon Image SiI-3124 chip than Silicon Image. You would think that the makers of the chip would have more insight into creating a Mac driver with fast striped RAID set performance than a 3rd party just trying to figure out how it works. However, that was not the case in these test results.
Users that have a FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 or a Sonnet Tempo X4P will find that the Norco DS-500 works well with these cards and they both provide SMART support and fast SATA PM striped RAID set performance. If I was going to use the Norco-4618 with a striped RAID set inside the DS-500, I would probably install the 0.42.4 Mac driver. If striped RAID sets were not going to be used with the Norco-4618, I would install the SiI-3124 version 2.0.3 Mac driver.
Single Seagate 7200.10 320GB in Norco DS-500
Norco-4618 2.03 Driver |
Norco-4618 0.42.4 Driver |
SeriTek/2SE4 Firmware 5.2.0 |
Sonnet X4P Firmware 2.0.3 |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 74.1 | 74.5 | 73.9 | 74.5 | 74.3 | 74.6 | 74 | 74.5 |
| 10% | 73.7 | 73.9 | 73.6 | 73.9 | 73.8 | 73.9 | 73.6 | 73.9 |
| 20% | 72.6 | 72.8 | 72.5 | 72.8 | 72.7 | 72.8 | 72.5 | 72.7 |
| 30% | 69.9 | 70.1 | 69.9 | 70.1 | 70 | 70.1 | 69.9 | 70.1 |
| 40% | 67.7 | 67.9 | 67.8 | 67.9 | 67.8 | 68 | 67.8 | 67.9 |
| 50% | 63.9 | 64 | 63.9 | 64 | 64 | 64.1 | 63.9 | 64.1 |
| 60% | 60.5 | 60.7 | 60.4 | 60.7 | 60.6 | 60.7 | 60.5 | 60.7 |
| 70% | 56.8 | 57 | 56.8 | 57 | 56.9 | 57 | 56.38 | 57 |
| 80% | 51.7 | 51.9 | 51.6 | 51.9 | 51.8 | 51.9 | 51.7 | 51.9 |
| 90% | 45.2 | 45.4 | 45.3 | 45.4 | 45.3 | 45.4 | 45.2 | 45.4 |
| 100% | 39.2 | 39.4 | 39.2 | 39.4 | 39.3 | 39.4 | 39.3 | 39.5 |
| Average | 61.4 | 61.8 | 61.4 | 61.6 | 61.5 | 61.6 | 61.4 | 61.6 |
| MSRP | Included | Included | $199.95 | $299.95 | ||||
| Type | PCI-X | PCI-X | PCI-X | PCI-X |
In the test above, the Norco 4618, FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 and the Sonnet Tempo X4P SATA host adapters were tested using a single Seagate 320GB model 7200.10 hard drive mounted in the DS-500 enclosure. I wanted to see if using a single hard drive inside the SATA PM enclosure would provide different performance results. As you can see, the Norco-4618 SATA host adapter with the SiI-3124 controller chip does very well when mounting individual hard drives. In fact, all four host adapter setups provided amazingly similar performance in the single hard drive performance test.
Mac Pro PCIe Users
For Mac Pro users that only have PCIe expansion slots, a version of the DS-500 called the Norco DS-500e is available which includes a 2-port PCI Express card. The Norco DS-500e provides the same exact SATA PM enclosure, but includes the Norco-4627 2-port PCI-e SATA host adapter instead of the PCI-X Norco-4618 card.
The Norco-4627 2-port PCI-e SATA host adapter is a 1x PCIe card that utilizes the Silicon Image SiI-3132 chip. The Mac driver for this card can be found at the Silicon Image web site. The current version is 1.1.9u. The SiI-3132 works well with individual hard drives in a SATA PM enclosure. However, it provides a bandwidth limit on write speeds of less than 125MB/sec when used with a striped RAID set.
As a test, an Apple Mac Pro 2.66GHz was used to test the Norco-4627 two port PCI-e SATA host adapter. The DS-500e was connected to the Norco-4627 and the Silicon Image 1.1.9u Mac driver was installed on the Mac Pro. The results were compared against using the Sonnet Tempo E4P SATA host adapter instead. Both individual hard drives and a five drive SATA PM striped RAID set were performance tested. The results are provided in the table below.
Norco DS-500e Mac Pro DiskTester Performance Tests
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 108 | 127 | 213 | 240 | 74 | 74.5 | 74.1 | 74.5 |
| 10% | 108 | 126 | 216 | 240 | 73.7 | 73.9 | 73.6 | 73.9 |
| 20% | 109 | 127 | 216 | 240 | 72.6 | 72.8 | 72.5 | 72.8 |
| 30% | 108 | 126 | 217 | 240 | 70 | 70.1 | 69.9 | 70.1 |
| 40% | 109 | 127 | 217 | 240 | 67.7 | 67.9 | 67.7 | 67.9 |
| 50% | 108 | 126 | 217 | 241 | 63.9 | 64.1 | 63.8 | 64 |
| 60% | 109 | 127 | 217 | 240 | 60.5 | 60.7 | 60.4 | 60.7 |
| 70% | 108 | 126 | 217 | 242 | 56.9 | 57 | 56.8 | 57 |
| 80% | 109 | 127 | 217 | 241 | 51.7 | 51.9 | 51.6 | 51.9 |
| 90% | 108 | 126 | 217 | 222 | 45.2 | 45.4 | 45.2 | 45.4 |
| 100% | 109 | 126 | 183 | 184 | 38.9 | 39.4 | 39.2 | 39.4 |
| Average | 108 | 126 | 213 | 234 | 61.4 | 61.6 | 61.3 | 61.6 |
| MSRP | Included | $299.95 | Included | $299.95 | ||||
| Type | PCIe | PCIe | PCIe | PCIe |
Looking at the performance data above, it is clear that the Norco-4627 PCIe card provides great performance with individual hard drives in the DS-500e SATA PM enclosure. However, users that want to create a striped RAID set inside the DS-500e will discover that the SiI-3132 chip on the Norco-4627 card substantially limits performance. This limitation applies to all 2-port SATA host adapters that utilize the SiI-3132 chip. Using a Sonnet Tempo E4P SATA host adapter instead with the DS-500 enclosure provides substantially higher SATA PM striped RAID set performance.
Hard drive enclosures usually provide minimal performance differences between models. The factors that are important when selecting an enclosure include cooling capability, noise produced by the enclosure, style, hot swap trays, activity lights, ease of use, size and value.The Norco DS-500 ($449.99) SATA port multiplier enclosure provides a great cooling environment for up to five external SATA hard drives. During the AMUG cooling stress test the Norco DS-500 was able to keep the Seagate 320GB hard drives below 106 degrees Fahrenheit. The only other 5-bay SATA PM enclosure that AMUG has tested that provided better cooling is the WiebeTech SilverSATA V. However, the SilverSATA V produces more fan noise than the Norco DS-500.
The Norco DS-500 produces more fan noise than the Sonnet Fusion 500P and the DAT Optic Sbox-P. However, it is able to keep the hard drives 5-10 degrees cooler. The DS-500 provides nice styling, hot swap trays, activity lights and it is easy to use. The Norco DS-500 is a great value if you also need a PCI-X SATA host adapter. Buying the Norco-4618 PCI-X card separately costs approximately $70. If you consider the value of the free PCI-X card, the cost of the DS-500 alone is about $380 which is an excellent value for a 5-bay SATA PM enclosure of this quality. However, if a user does not need the PCI-X card the DS-500 is priced competitively with the Sonnet Fusion 500P and the DAT Optic S-boxP.
Mac Pro users that want a two port PCIe card can purchase the DS-500e for $449.99. However, these SiI-3132 based cards provide limited SATA PM striped RAID set performance. Personally, I would rather use the Sonnet Tempo E4P with the Mac Pro. However, if you do not have a SATA PM host adapter for the Mac Pro and do not need fast SATA PM striped RAID set performance the Norco-4627 PCI-X card that is bundled with the DS-500e will work well with the Apple Mac Pro.
Pros
5-bay hot swap SATA enclosure with PCI-X card under $450.
Includes SATA PCI-X host adapter.
Norco DS-500e with 2-port PCI Express card is also available.
Works with any OS with SATA PM capability.
Single data cable mounts up to five drives.
FIS-based Port Multiplier-aware hardware.
User-upgradeable firmware.
Fan and temperature alarms.
Great hard drive cooling capability.
Hard drive fan can be modified.
Easy access enclosure for modifications.
LED activity lights.
Easily mounts single drives or a RAID configuration.
Looks good with Apple Mac Pro or PowerMac G5.
Cons
Included Silicon Image drivers do not pass SMART drive data.
Not as quiet as the Fusion 500P or the Sbox-P.
Norco DS-500 gets 4 AMUGs out of 5!
The Norco DS-500 provides a nice looking, silver aluminum 5-bay enclosure that is compact enough to be placed on top of a PowerMac G5 or an Apple Mac Pro. The Norco DS-500 provides excellent cooling capability, activity lights, hot swap drive trays, a power switch in front, and easy access to the rear of the enclosure using thumb screws. The PCI-X SATA host adapter that is included with the Norco DS-500 provides additional value and good performance. PowerMac G5 users with an available PCI-X slot can utilize the DS-500 and the included Norco-4618 SATA host adapter to setup a large striped RAID set or use it with individual hard drives. Apple Mac Pro users can utilize a Sonnet Tempo E4P with the Norco DS-500 or purchase the Norco DS-500e that includes a 2-
port PCIe SATA host adapter. The DS-500 provides a great hard drive station for use as a server or with multimedia audio/video applications.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 2007
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