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Part 1: Introduction
MAXPower RAID mini-SAS 6G Controller Card
Utilizing the latest SAS/SATA 6Gb/s technology, the MAXPower RAID mini-SAS 6G card is the ideal choice for high-
speed, efficient, low-cost, RAID capable connectivity for the Mac and PC.
MAXPower RAID mini-SAS 6G Features:
• PCIe 2.0 x8 (up to 4GB/s)
PCIe 1.0 (up to 2GB/s)
• Two mini-SAS ports
• 2e Model: Two external mini-SAS (SFF-8088)
• 1e1i Model: One external mini-SAS (SFF-8088) &
one internal mini-SAS (SFF-8087)
• SAS Expander support up to 128 SAS/SATA devices
• RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 10, 50, and JBOD (SPAN and
individual drive modes) supported
What is Mini-SAS?
SAS, which stands for Serial Attached SCSI, is a data transport protocol/bus that can connect storage devices
at speeds up to 6Gb/sec on a single channel. Mini-SAS is a connection type of SAS that carries four SAS data
channels through one cable.
What is RAID?
RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Drives. Put simply, this means taking multiple matching drives
and arranging them together to achieve large storage space, speed, data protection, or any combination of the
three. The MAXPower RAID mini-SAS 6G Controller Card supports the following RAID types:
RAID 0 "Stripe"
Speed & Large Storage
Speed: Data is alternated across two or more drives to gain
speed by essentially distributing the workload.
Protection: No built-in protection.
Capacity: Usable space is the combined capacity of all the drives.
RAID 5 "Stripe & Protection"
Optimized Speed, Capacity, & Protection
Speed: Data is striped like in a RAID 0, so significant speed gains
are seen.
Protection: Utilizes mathematical parity to achieve data
protection while taking up a minimum of space. One drive can
fail and all data will still be accessible.
Capacity: All but one drive worth of capacity is usable. In a four
drive RAID 5 array, there is three drives worth of usable space.
Combined RAIDs: RAID 10 & RAID 50
Fast, Large, & Protected Storage
Speed: Combines multiple RAID 1 or RAID 5 sets by using RAID 0 "Striping" to gain speed.
Protection: There are two RAID 1 "Mirrored" sets used in order to tolerate 1-2 drives failing depending on which drives they are.
Capacity: Usable space is half of the combined capacity of all the drives used.
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NewerTech MAXPower RAID mini-SAS 6G
• Device hot plug & hot swap support
• Automatic device passthrough to OS
• Convenient browser-based management
• SHI (Storage Health Inspector) for the monitoring
and reporting of drive health
• Compatible with SATA based hard disk drives and
solid state drives
• 3 year warranty
RAID 1 "Mirror"
Protected Storage
Speed: No speed benefits gained.
Protection: One drive can fail and all data will still be accessible.
Capacity: One drive worth of usable space out of the two total
drives used.
JBOD (SPAN & Independent Drive Modes)
Capacity & Flexibility
Speed: No significant speed gains.
Protection: No built-in data protection.
Capacity: In SPAN/Concatenated mode, the capacities are
combined. When set up as independent drives, each drive
presents its stated capacity for use.
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