eSATA technology is gaining popularity as a high-performance-per-dollar external storage option. Since motherboard support for eSATA is still pretty limited, fans of the technology are left with two choices: Track down one of the few motherboards featuring onboard eSATA support or purchase an add-on eSATA controller card. After solving the interface problem, the next step is finding an eSATA enclosure supporting your preferred RAID type.

Data Protection Solutions, a Florida-based company formerly known as Arco, has introduced a product called the eSATA Raid+ that addresses these issues with a single-box solution. It doesn't require eSATA support on either your motherboard or a separate controller card. All you need is an open SATA port and a pair of hard drives.

Setup and Configuration

Getting the eSATA Raid+ up and running is fairly simple. The first step is acquiring a pair of disks—basically any SATA drives with matching capacity will do—the RAID+ works with "all brands of SATA drives, drive formats, and partitioning schemes." Screw the disks into the RAID+ drive caddies and slide them into the chassis. Each caddy has its own lock securing it in place. Next, a separate key is placed in the slot next to the front LCD to select the "copy" function. This initiates a block-by-block mirroring of the drives. After the process is complete, both drives will remain continuously mirrored automatically.

By turning the key to other settings, you can toggle through the menus for normal, configuration, and locked modes. Through a scrolling menu on the LCD, you can manually set warning buzzer, backup, logging, and other options. For updates at a glance, the front LEDs indicate drive status and mirror condition based on color.

The next step is connecting the eSATA Raid+ to your system. If your machine supports eSATA, you can plug it in directly from your PC to the back of the box with the supplied eSATA cable. If not, install the SATA to eSATA adapter in an empty PCI slot and connect it to an open SATA port. Once you've got the drives mounted and the cables plugged in, it's just a matter of booting up your system and you're good to go. No additional controller or driver installation required.

The eSATA cable plugs into the port on the back of the chassis. The RCA ports above the AC power connector don't serve any useful purpose.

According to Data Protection Solutions, the eSATA Raid+ works with all versions of Windows, Linux, Unix, Solaris, NetWare. The management software bundled on the CD only works in Windows and Linux, but the eSATA Raid+ is configurable via the front LCD panel whether attached to a PC or not.

A dedicated onboard processor handles disk functions like mirroring and interrupt processing in firmware, lowering resource utilization on the host PC. Some internal flash memory is also set aside for storing log files.

Performance

We didn't have time to put the eSATA Raid+ through a full barage of benchmark tests, but we did manage to get a couple of runs on HD Tach 3. Using a pair of Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB (SATA 150) drives, we compared the performance of the eSATA Raid+ with both drives mirrored against a single drive connected to a SATA port on our testbed motherboard.

The results were pretty close to what you'd expect from a pair of mirrored SATA 150MB/sec drives—random access and average read speed were slightly slower on the RAID+ than the single disk, but not by a huge margin. The RAID+ also demonstrated very low CPU utilization, an attribute you'll be hard-pressed to find on other attached storage solutions with similar throughput.

Final Thoughts: What to Buy

Overall, we found the eSATA Raid+ easy to set up and use. Performance was solid, and it earned extra marks for low CPU utilization. If you're looking for speedy external storage that plays well with computationally demanding tasks, you'll appreciate this feature. Unfortunately, the eSATA Raid+ drops a bomb with its heft $699 price-tag (no hard drives included).

This spoils the dollar side of the performance per dollar calculation in our minds, leaning us toward alternatives like LaCie's Two Big dual-disk eSATA drive. With customizable RAID0, 1, spanning, and JBOD configurations, you can get the 500GB version (with two 250GB disks included) for less than what the eSATA Raid+ costs on its own. You'll need to install the PCI-X controller card with LaCie's drive, but it's worth noting the eSATA Raid+ will also fill up an open PCI slot if you're using the SATA to eSATA adapter, though you might have more freedom to choose which slot it goes in.

Then again, if your living room, home office, or small business calls for a portable storage device that's bootable from virtually any machine with SATA support, and where features like locking drive bays, mirroring, hot-swappable disks, and standalone management won't go unused—the added expense might be worth it.