The other day, I installed the NewerTech MAXPower eSATA 6G PCIe 2.0 RAID Capable Controller Card (repeat that three times fast) in the Mac Pro. Although NewerTech also makes a similar driverless PCIe controller card without the RAID capabilities (at a lower price point), I had read anecdotal reports that if an external drive is connected via eSATA, which I plan to do, you cannot hot-swap the drive without having to power down and reboot the computer. Probably not an issue for most, but for about $25 more, I elected to go with the RAID version.
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| NewerTech MAXPower eSATA RAID controller card |
The install went without a hitch. I tested it by attaching a 1TB quad-interface G-Technology G-DRIVE, and everything functioned as expected. Note that because this controller card does have RAID capabilities, there are OS X drivers that should be installed. I do not plan to use the card's RAID features, but it does have a decent web browser interface for configuration. It supports RAID level 0, 1, 5, 10 and JBOD modes. Again, it also features eSATA Hot Plug Support.
I like to second-guess myself, a theme that will probably become commonplace in future blog entries. I decided to return the 3TB version of the G-DRIVE and go with an external RAID for my attached backup protocol. Although hard drive prices are inflated at the time of this writing, I needed . . . okay wanted . . . something NOW. For the past few weeks, I had my eyes on this NewerTech Guardian MAXimus 2TB Quad-Interface RAID storage solution, again from OWC. Well, that is what I ended up ordering. I'm thinking that two 2TB drives in a mirror should suffice.
Next up . . . the Time Capsule.
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