StarTech PEXSAT34SFF PCIe SATA III RAID Controller Card w/ Mini-SAS Connector, HyperDuo SSD Tiering

Add Internal SATA III (6Gbps) support to a computer through a single Mini SAS (SFF-8087) port. The PEXSAT34SFF PCI Express 2.0 SATA Controller Card enables 4 AHCI SATA III connections to be added to a computer through a single internal Mini-SAS (SFF-8087) connector.

The Mini-SAS connector with Port Multiplier support allows for multiple SATA drives (up to 7) to be connected using a single cable. When used with our SAS8087S4100" text="Mini-SAS to 4x SATA breakout cable or SATSAS425BK" text="Mini-SAS SFF-8087 backplane (accessories not included, SAS drives not supported), you have a complete internal 6Gbps connectivity solution, all from a single card.

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.)

Compliant with SATA revision 3.0, this PCI Express SATA RAID card delivers up to 6Gbps of data bandwidth; ideal for high performance hard drives and solid state drives (SSD). Plus, the 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




The PEXSAT34SFF PCIe SATA 6G card is backed by a 2-year StarTech.com warranty and free lifetime technical support.

Note: The PEXSAT34SFF does not support SAS hard drives. You can connect multiple SATA hard drives to the card's SAS connector using a breakout cable such as the SAS8087S4100" text="Mini-SAS to 4x SATA breakout cable.