StarTech.com 4 Port PCI Express 2.0 SATA III 6Gbps RAID Controller Card with HyperDuo SSD Tiering -

Add 4 Internal SATA III (6Gbps) ports to a computer through a PCI Express x2 slot

The PEXSAT34RH 4-Port PCI Express 2.0 SATA Controller Card with HyperDuo adds 4 AHCI SATA III ports to a computer through a PCIe slot (x2), delivering multiple internal 6Gbps connections for high-performance hard drives and Solid State Drives (SSDs).

Featuring HyperDuo technology, the SATA card offers SSD auto-tiering which lets you balance the performance advantages of SSD storage with the cost-effectiveness and large capacity of standard hard drives. By combining SSD and HDD drives into a single volume (up to 3 SSD + 1 HDD), HyperDuo discreetly works in the background to identify and move frequently accessed files to the faster SSD drive(s) for improved data throughput - up to 80% of SSD performance! (Note: The HyperDuo automatic storage tiering feature is compatible with computers that use a BIOS.)

The PCIe SATA controller card supports Port Multiplier (PM), enabling multiple SATA drives to be connected to one port over a single cable, for a total of 7 drives (Up to 4 drives through PM on one port, and a single drive to the remaining 3 ports). Plus, the SATA controller card offers an effective hardware RAID solution, with native RAID (0, 1, 1+0) support.

Drives Used:

SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 Series 2.5” 120 GB (VTX3-25SAT3-120G)

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 3.5” 2 TB (WD20EARS)

Software Used:

IO Meter, 256KB Sequential Read, queue depth = 10

This PCIe SATA 6gbps card is backed by a 2-year StarTech.com warranty and free lifetime technical support.