StarTech.com PEXSAT34RH - 4-Port PCI Express SATA III 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.

Throughput Benchmark

Drive configuration
Throughput
Drive size

1 x HDD
112.81 MB/s
2 TB

1 x SSD
490.28 MB/S
120 GB

1 x HDD + 1 x SSD HyperDuo (Safe Mode)
489.28 MB/s
2 TB

1 x HDD + 2 x SSD HyperDuo (Safe Mode)
715.13 MB/s
2 TB

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.