Hello Folks,

Am toying with the idea of purchasing a eSATA external hard enclosure and a eSATA PCI-X card - to backup data from a 64-bit Centos 4.4 box. Can someone please recommend a PCI-X card with linux support?

I have no need for internal ports, but would like 2 external eSATA ports. I've been hunting the net and can't seem to find PCI-X cards with linux support.

Any links or suggestions will be much appreciated. Thanks...

K.Itnaa

I have seen these from MRi,
http://www.mri.co.uk/products/connec.../sataIndex.htm
But I could not tell you how well they work as I don't have any of them myself.

I've been considering something similar, and the Norco DS-500 looks pretty interesting to me. Further down on the page are SATA cards. Note: I haven't used any of these myself, so I can't comment on their performance, etc

Thanks a ton, folks!! Will accumulate links and add should I bump into others...

JW,

If I may, regarding the eSATA hard drive enclosures, any particular make/model that you are inclined towards or prefer? I'm currently trying to zero down on that too. In particular, I'm looking at 2-bay drives. I'm seriously considering one of Wiebetech's devices (ask not why!! just gut-feel... generally can't find reviews on these devices).

If it's any help, these are some links I've collected over the last couple of days (not all may be directly relevant since I'm also thinking of an eSATA PCIe card for another box, and was initially also considering USB2/Firewire... but later focused on eSATA only... so there's a bit of a mix... ):


firmtek
http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/
http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/2ense2e.html
2006 Article: http://www.barefeats.com/hard83.html
2004 Article: http://www.hdforindies.com/2004/12/r...ritek-1se2-and
2004 Article: http://www.hdforindies.com/2004/12/h...lease-hardware


wiebetech
http://wiebetech.com/products/silversata.php

granite-digital
http://www.granitedigital.com/
http://www.granitedigital.com/catalo...swapbackup.htm

caldigit
http://www.caldigit.com/S2VRDuo.asp
2006 Article: http://www.barefeats.com/hard82.html

cru-dataport
http://www.cru-dataport.com/htmldocs...ubsysSATA.html

coolmax
http://www.coolmaxusa.com/EnclosureC...subcategory=u2
http://www.coolmaxusa.com/productDet...2&category=3.5
http://www.coolmaxusa.com/productDet...2&category=3.5
http://www.coolmaxusa.com/productDet...2&category=3.5

kingwin,
http://www.kingwin.com/pdut_Cat.asp?CateID=27

sabrent,
http://www.sabrent.com/products/index.htm
http://www.sabrent.com/products/specs/ECS-STU35.htm

lacie
http://www.lacie.com/products/range.htm?id=10033

vantec
http://www.vantecusa.com/product-storage.html
look at Nexstar 3 series only, infact only:
NST-360U2 = 3.5", IDE, USB2
NST-360UF = above + firewire
NST-360SU = 3.5", SATA, USB/eSATA

adaptec
http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/product...or/enclosures/
Adaptec eSATA/USB 2.0 Hard Drive Enclosure Kit
1000GB HDD allowed; eSata or USB2, aluminum case,
http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/product...-300/index.htm

Enhance Technology
usb only - http://www.enhance-tech.com/products...p/exchange.htm
http://www.enhance-tech.com/products...verseries.html

itnaa - in fairness, at this point in time No, I don't really feel I'm in a position to offer recommendations. In my case, I've got a couple of big drives in different PC's, and I'm thinking it would be advantageous to have a single central source for my data. A big RAID, with SATA disks, would be really cool, but in all honesty I am only in the "Gee, that would be pretty cool" mode of thought as opposed to actually taking action.