While this is substantially cheaper than other expanders, mounts to a centronics form factor and doesn't require PCIe power- I'm going to spend more money on a more rock solid solution, because the data that's on the disks isn't worth the headaches I've dealt with . I simply don't trust Highpoint after attempting to get this and a Rocket HBA accessible.
Word to the wise: If one is investing in a data array, don't skimp on a controller or expander. Any SAS expander will also accommodate Sata disks.
Also, there are plenty of highly rated cards and expanders by HP and LSI if you are using a PC or on a Linux distro. Unfortunately, for use with a thunderbolt mac pro my options were limited to pretty much 3 vendors: Areca, Highpoint and ATTO. Highpoint being the least expensive by a large margin, I figured I'd given them a shot- even though I've read some reviews online blasting some of their products, I figured I'd see for myself.
So, I bought this along with a Highpoint Rocket HBA because it was thunderbolt compatible as part of a direct attached storage array for editing and it was apparently supported by OS X El Capitan. When I ran into never-ending issues with the HBA (couldn't even get the thing initialized) And spent forever with customer service being very unhelpful), I decided to can it and spring for one of the ATTO ExpressSAS cards.
However, then I had a new problem: This SATA multiplier is only compatible with the Highpoint cards. So, if you decide to switch vendors with other peripherals, who knows if this thing will continue to work? Also, who knows if it may appear to work, but silently corrupting your data? It also blocks off opportunities for daisy chaining further with 3rd party appliances. Who wants to deal with that? Spend the few extra hundred dollars and get something that will last you a while, works out of the box and has customer service reps who can speak English if anything should go wrong. No amount of savings for me is worth sweating bullets because your backups are inaccessible.
Take it from someone who didn't listen: If you are investing in an array, don't skimp.
| Marke | HighPoint |
|---|---|
| Hersteller | Highpoint |
| Modell/Serie | Rocket |
| Produktabmessungen | 10.49 x 0.15 x 8.26 cm; 204.12 Gramm |
| Modellnummer | Rocket EJ340 |
| Auslaufartikel (Produktion durch Hersteller eingestellt) | Nein |
| Festplatteninterface | Raid |
| Unterstützte Software | Ja |
| Batterien enthalten | Nein |
| Artikelgewicht | 204 g |
