Hydra eSATA

Maximize your storage capacity with the Hydra 4-Bay RAID enclosure and its four 3.5" SATA hard drives. An ultra durable aluminum casing provides efficient heat dissipation, while the extra large powerful rear fan keeps your hard drives cool during long hours of operation. Cutting-edge RAID technology offers an added level of protection for your valuable data assets. The Hydra will surpass all your high performance storage needs.

 

4-Bay RAID Storage
The Hydra is designed to house up to four 3.5" SATA hard drives with optional RAID configurations. Use it as a reliable backup for your important data with RAID 1/10, for optimal performance and speed with RAID 0 striping, or select RAID 5 for the perfect balance between high performance and data integrity. In case of a drive failure, the removable hot swap rack makes installing and replacing the hard drives quick and easy.

 

High Speed eSATA Connection
The Hydra eSATA comes with an ultra fast eSATA connection to maximize transfer speed, ideal for efficient creation of large backups and quick data access to data and information. To keep your drives cool, the Hydra uses smart fan technology to automatically regulate fan speed according to its internal temperature. This function plus the rubber padded feet not only optimises cooling but also reduces the noise level.

RAID Setup
Note: For RAID 0/1/10/5, hard drives of identical capacities are recommended. If the capacities are different, the total amount of the space that can be used will depend on the drive with the smallest capacity.
Non-RAID (PM) The drives show up as independent volumes. Each drive can be formatted and accessed separately. If one drive fails, the others are not affected. This setting does not provide any performance or redundancy benefits.
1-4 hard drives
JBOD - Disk Spanning (BIG) The drives show up as one large single volume, combining the capacities of all drives. Spanning is an array (not RAID) that is written sequentially across the drives. By itself, it does not provide any performance or redundancy benefits. It is ideal for drives with different capacities, making use of the maximum storage capacity. However, if one drive becomes damaged, the whole array can become corrupted.
1-4 hard drives
RAID 0 - Disk Striping (FAST) The drives are shown as one large single volume but the total size will depend on the drive with the smallest capacity. This setting is used where speed is the primary objective but RAID Level 0 (also called striping) is not redundant. This form of array splits each piece of data across the drives in segments; since data is written without any form of parity data-checking, it allows for the fastest data transfer of all other modes. On the downside, if one drive becomes damaged, the whole array can become corrupted.
2 hard drives
4 hard drives
RAID 1 - Disk Mirroring (SAFE) Two drives show up as one volume but only 50% of the total capacity, depending on the drive with the smallest capacity, can be used. RAID 1 creates an exact copy (or mirror) of a set of data on the second drive. This is useful when reliability and backup take precedence over storage capacity. Should one hard drive fail, it can be replaced and the data rebuilt automatically. When more than two drives are installed, the remaining drives will show up as independent volumes.
2 hard drives
RAID 10 - Disk Mirroring with Striping (SAFE) The drives are shown as one volume but only 50% of the total capacity, depending on the drive with the smallest capacity, can be used. RAID 1 creates an exact copy (or mirror) of a set of data. This is useful when reliability and backup take precedence over storage capacity. When one hard drive fails, it can be replaced and the data rebuilt automatically.
4 hard drives
RAID 5 - Disk Striping with parity (BIG + SAFE) The drives are shown as one volume but the total capacity, depending on the drive with the smallest capacity, is the combined size minus the size of one drive. RAID 5 uses block-level striping with parity data distributed across all member disks and therefore provides the perfect balance between high performance and data integrity. When one hard drive fails, it can be replaced and the data rebuilt automatically.
3 hard drives
4 hard drives
Remarks	Changing the RAID setup will require you to re-format the drives. Make sure you backup all data before doing so!

Model No.	HY-SAJS
Certifications	CE, FCC
Case Material	High quality aluminum for optimised heat dissipation
Application	Up to four 3.5" SATA-I or SATA-II hard drives (1.5Gb/s or 3.0Gb/s) 4 hard drives of identical capacities are recommended for optimal performance Supports large volumes in excess of 2TB *
Interface/Ports	1x eSATA port
Data Transfer	eSATA up to 3.0Gbps (375MB/s)
Features	Configurable hardware RAID controller (Non-RAID, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10) Utilizes hardware accelerated RAID rebuild engine Supports SATA II Gen2i and Gen2m specification with 3.0Gbps and 1.5Gbps data rates RAID 5 write-back cache to enhance performance Rebuild transfer rates up to 60MB/s Supports large volumes in excess of 2TB * Smart Fan technology (automatically regulates fan speed according to the internal temperature) Automatic alarm for fan, drive or power supply failure "Hot Swap" removable rack
Environment	Operating Temperature: 5°C ~ 40°C Operating Humidity: 20%RH ~ 80%RH Storage Temperature: -20°C ~ 70°C Storage Humidity: 10%RH ~ 90%RH
System Requirements (PC)	eSATA: Windows XP/Vista * Your hardware device must have the correct corresponding port (e.g. eSATA host controller or PCI card) eSATA Plug & Play support and Port Multiplier (Non-RAID only) for host controller
System Requirements (Mac)	eSATA: Mac OS 10.4 or higher Your hardware device must have the correct corresponding port (e.g. eSATA host controller or PCI card) eSATA Plug & Play support and Port Multiplier (Non-RAID only) for host controller
Power Supply	Internal Power Supply universal auto-switching (UL, cUL, CE, TUV approved) Protection: OCP, OVP, Short Input: AC 90-260V, 50Hz/60Hz Output: DC +5V/8.4A +12V/6A (12V peak current 4A/10sec)
Product Size	24.5cm x 17.7cm x 13.5cm
Packing Accessories	Hydra eSATA (no HDD included) eSATA cable Power cord & manual
Carton/Packing	Retail Box Size: 32.7cm x 27.2cm x 21.4cm Carton Size: 45cm x 34.5cm x 30cm (2pcs per carton)
Remarks	* In order for the computer to access volumes larger than 2TB, both the hardware and Operating System need to have the capacity to support large volumes (e.g.: WinVista 32bit/64bit or Mac OS 10.4 and above)

RAID Performance
Test Environment	PC Motherboard P5AD2-E Premium, Intel Pentium 4, CPU 3.0GHz, 512MB RAM, Sil3132 eSATA host controller, Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit SP1 - FDBench v1.02 Mac MacPro, Intel Xeon Quad Core, CPU 2.8GHz, 4GB RAM, Sil3124 eSATA host controller, OS 10.5.5 - Quickbench v4.0 HDD 4x Seagate 1.5TB (ST31500341AS)
eSATA
Remarks	The lower performance on Windows compared to the Mac is due to the motherboard and host controller; it does not support the AHCI mode and only runs on IDE mode. It should be noted that this is not related to the Hydra eSATA or the Operating System.

Description	Version	Date	Size	File
High resolution JPG images	N/A	2009/01/13	4.22MB	ZIP
Manual (English)	v1.0	2009/01/16	185KB	PDF

Frequently asked questions: [FAQ]
HDD compatibility list: [PDF]
Comparison chart for the Hydra series: [Hydra Comparison]

Extra HDD trays available on request (P/N: HY-NAS-T)
Carton Size: 46.5.cm x 39.5cm x 35.8cm (40pcs per carton)