Hard drive controllers, while slower to evolve than other computer components, have been no less effected by the winds of change than any other invention of the information age.
Thus, in a relatively short time, we've seen PC drive technology develop from ATA33 to ATA133. And, since ATA133 is scheduled to be the last generation of the parallel-connection IDE family, it seems high time to look ahead and see what new standard is cresting the horizon.
As it so happens, that new standard is Serial ATA -- a drive technology that seeks to pick up the pace where older ATA standards left off.
Serial ATA is an easy-to-implement drive connection standard that, according to manufacturers, is designed to scale from the current speeds of ATA133, all the way to ATA800.
This particular article will be dedicated to testing one particular Serial ATA controller -- the two-channel RAID 0+1 Highpoint RocketRAID 1520.
Below, a photo of the Highpoint RocketRAID 1520
The RocketRAID 1520, 1540
Highpoint has introduced two Serial-ATA RAID cards, both of which are based on the RocketHead 100, and are designed to allow users with only parallel-connection style ATA controllers to jump on the new serial bandwagon. The RocketRAID 1520, as its name suggests, is a two-channel Serial-ATA implementation, while the RocketRAID 1540 boasts of four-channels. In both cases, RAID features can be deactivated in order to operate the card as a standard Serial-ATA adapter.
Serial ATA
Serial-ATA is a new interface standard that has been developed for use with IDE drives. In essence, it represents an evolution away from the older parallel connectors of previous ATA standards to a new serial interface. This new arrangement is designed to be perfectly backwards-compatible with existing software, and to be easily implemented in hardware without the need for physical design modifications.
The rounded cords and smaller connectors of the new standard are designed to both improve signal quality and reduce the obstruction of air-flow within a computer -- both of which significantly improve a PC's quality of life.
