Sonnet Technologies Tempo SSD

We're sorry, but this item is no longer for sale. However, there may be more Expansion Cards items available.

Sonnet Technologies Tempo SSD

Professional SSD Upgrade Solution

Mfr P/N: TSATA6-SSDPS-E2 OWC SKU: STITSATA6SSDPSE

Sonnet Technologies Tempo SSD

Highlights

  • Adds Fast SSDs to Your System - Mounts two high-performance 6 Gb/s SSDs (sold separately) in your Mac Pro's, desktop PC's, or Thunderbolt expansion chassis' PCIe slot
  • Adds eSATA Connectivity to Your System - Cost-effective solution for adding high-performance 6 Gb/s eSATA ports to your Mac Pro or desktop PC with PCIe slots, or Thunderbolt expansion chassis with PCI Express slots
  • High-Performance PCIe Interface - PCI Express 2.0 x4 host bus interface for high-performance applications
  • Superior Performance - Data transfers speeds up to 960 MB/sec1
  • Optimized for Maximum Performance Over Thunderbolt - Perfect for use in Sonnet's Echo™ Express III-D, Echo Express III-R, xMac Pro Server, and xMac™ mini Server Thunderbolt expansion systems
  • RAID Support - Supports OS X and Windows RAID features
  • Boot Support - Supports booting from attached drives under OS X or Windows 7 and 8 (see Tech Specs for details).
  • AHCI Compliant - No drivers required
  • Supports S.M.A.R.T. data reporting
  • Supports Sonnet-exclusive locking eSATA data cables
  • Sonnet Technologies 5 Year Limited Warranty
Reviews (7)
availability

It's About the Performance

If you've been thinking about fast, bootable storage, you've read the stories and seen the reviews; SSDs are hot right now. Not only do they offer tremendous performance and easily outperform hard disk drives, they're more reliable, their prices are dropping and you can get more capacity than ever. If you've got an older Mac Pro® or Windows® desktop computer, you could just get a couple of 2.5" SSDs (plus necessary adapters) and install them in some empty drive bays (if there are any) and be done with it — but the 3Gb/s SATA interface in your computer won't support fast 6Gb/s SSDs at full speed. Sonnet engineered a great alternative — Tempo™ SSD Pro Plus. It's a fast 6Gb/s SATA PCI Express adapter card that enables you to attach readily available 2.5" SSDs and install the assembly neatly into a single PCIe slot, no cables or drivers necessary.
Unlike other PCI Express SSD cards that rely on proprietary, premium-priced SSD modules, Tempo SSD Pro Plus uses standard 2.5" SATA drives that you choose. You get to select from the widest variety of SSDs, and buy the ones that best suit your capacity and performance needs while working within your budget. Because 2.5" SSDs are readily available, you're not tied to one retailer or SSD manufacturer should you decide to upgrade to higher capacity, faster SSDs.

Thunderbolt™ Port? Instant SSD Solution

Tempo SSD Pro Plus is a full-length, full-height card to which you can install two SSDs; if you've got the space and need great performance, this is the card for you. This Sonnet solution also supports OS X® and Windows RAID features. The card uses a fast 6Gb/s SATA controller chipset and PCIe 2.0 x4 interface to deliver read speeds up to 960 MB/s from a pair of SSDs configured as a RAID 0 set. AHCI compliance ensures installation of the card is simple — attach your SSDs with provided screws, mount the card in an available PCIe slot, and turn on your computer — the necessary drivers are installed automatically.

Plus Your Outside Connection

Got a Thunderbolt connection, but no PCIe slot? Tempo SSD Pro Plus is ideal for use in Sonnet's Echo™ Express III-D desktop or Echo Express III-R rackmount Thunderbolt 2-to-PCI Express® card expansion systems, the xMac Pro Server PCIe 2.0 expansion system/4U rackmount enclosure for new Mac Pro with Thunderbolt 2 ports, or the xMac™ mini Server PCIe 2.0 expansion system/1U rackmount enclosure for Mac mini with Thunderbolt ports. Adding this card to any of these Thunderbolt expansion systems is a great way to add high-speed SSDs plus eSATA connectivity to your Mac® with Thunderbolt 2 or Thunderbolt ports!

Extra Features

Featuring two 6Gb/s eSATA ports and dual SATA controllers, the Tempo SSD Pro Plus enables you to connect two external storage systems with eSATA interfaces for fast transfers between them or to improve performance by creating a RAID set. Single-drive enclosures let you easily back up data, move files from one computer to another, or take advantage of a fast SSD. Many multi-drive storage systems include swappable drive trays, which are perfect for managing daily backups and multiple projects. Some systems feature integrated hardware RAID controllers that manage up to four drives and enable you to create large, protected RAID volumes, yet only a single cable is required to connect these multi-drive systems to the Tempo SSD Pro Plus. Whether you connect single- or multi-drive systems, or a combination of both, Tempo SSD Pro Plus supports them at maximum performance levels. The Tempo SATA Pro Plus supports hot-swapping of external drives under OS X, and supports booting from attached drives under OS X2, and Windows38, 7, and Server 2012. It supports media readers with eSATA interfaces, such as the RED STATION REDMAG 1.8" and 2.5", and you can connect optical drives, too. Drive health monitoring is supported through S.M.A.R.T. data reporting. And, for a secure external connection, this card supports Sonnet's exclusive locking eSATA cables.

IncludesIncludes

Back to top
  • (1) Tempo SSD Pro 6Gb/s SATA Dual 2.5" SSD PCIe 2.0 Card with eSATA Ports
  • (1) Drive mounting screws
  • (1) SSD mounting screws
  • (1) Documentation
  • Sonnet Technologies 5 Year Limited Warranty

SpecsSpecs

Back to top

    RAID Features

    • OS dependent

    Internal Connectivity

    • (2) SATA 6.0Gb/s

    External Connectivity

    • (2) eSATA 6.0Gb/s

    Card Interface

    • PCIe

    Card Form Factor

    • Full Height, Full Length

    PCIe Bus Interface

    • PCI Express 2.0 x4

    Mac OS Compatibility

    • Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
    • Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
    • Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
    • OS X 10.9 Mavericks
    • OS X 10.10 Yosemite
    • OS X 10.11 El Capitan
    • macOS 10.12 Sierra

    PC OS Compatibility

    • Windows Vista
    • Windows 7 32-bit Edition
    • Windows 7 64-bit Edition
    • Windows 8 32-bit Edition
    • Windows 8 64-bit Edition
    • Windows 8.1 32-bit Edition
    • Windows 8.1 64-bit Edition
    • Windows 10 32-bit Edition
    • Windows 10 64-bit Edition

    Dimensions

    • Height: 18.0 cm (7.1 in)
    • Length: 2.0 cm (0.8 in)
    • Width: 11.9 cm (4.7 in)

    Weight

    • 204.0 g (0.45 lbs)

    Certifications

    • RoHS

    Compatibility & Installation VideosCompatibility & Installation Videos

    Back to top

    Mac Pro

    How to find your Mac’s Model ID info
    Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
    Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
    Mid 2012
    Model ID: MacPro5,1
    3.2GHz 4-Core Xeon & 3.3GHz 6-Core Xeon & 2.4GHz & 2.7GHz & 3.1GHz 12-Core Xeon
    Detailed SpecsInstall Videos
    Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
    Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
    Mid 2010
    Model ID: MacPro5,1
    2.8GHz & 3.2GHz 4-Core Xeon & 3.3GHz 6-Core Xeon & 2.4GHz 8-Core Xeon & 2.7GHz & 2.9GHz 12-Core Xeon
    Detailed SpecsInstall Videos
    Mac Pro (Early 2009)
    Mac Pro (Early 2009)
    Early 2009
    Model ID: MacPro4,1
    2.7GHz & 2.9GHz & 3.3GHz 4-Core Xeon & 2.3GHz & 2.7GHz & 2.9GHz 8-Core Xeon
    Install Videos
    Mac Pro (Early 2008)
    Mac Pro (Early 2008)
    Early 2008
    Model ID: MacPro3,1
    2.8GHz 4-Core Xeon & 2.8GHz & 3.0GHz & 3.2GHz 8-Core Xeon
    Install Videos
    Mac Pro (Early 2007)
    Mac Pro (Early 2007)
    Early 2007
    Model ID: MacPro2,1
    3.0GHz 8-Core Xeon
    Detailed SpecsInstall Videos
    Mac Pro (Mid 2006)
    Mac Pro (Mid 2006)
    Mid 2006
    Model ID: MacPro1,1
    2.0GHz & 2.7GHz & 3.0GHz 4-Core Xeon
    Detailed SpecsInstall Videos

    reviewsCustomer Reviews

    Back to top
    4.86 out of 5

    6 out of 7 (85%) reviewers would recommend this product

    Write a Review
    5-Star
    4-Star
    3 star
    2 star
    1 star
    86%
    14%
    0%
    0%
    0%
    Excellent Purchase, fast!

    Excellent produit, speed of 850 Mbs on Mac Pro 2009 with two Micron SSD for a total of 4 Tbs.

    I would recommend this product to a friend!

    Verified Purchase
    Verified PurchaseVerified Purchase.
    Peyo, 
    Mar, 2 2018 
    • Reviewer:Peyo
    • From:Nova Scotia, Canada
    • Age:55-65
    • Experience:Power User
    • Owned Product:1-3 months
    This SSD card does exactly what it should!

    My only negative the card is exactly full-size and requires some gentle "persuasion" to maneuver into the case.

    I would recommend this product to a friend!

    Verified Purchase
    Verified PurchaseVerified Purchase.
    HelloFromAtlanta, 
    Jan, 2 2018 
    • Reviewer:HelloFromAtlanta
    • From:Atlanta, GA
    • Age:35-44
    • Experience:IT Professional
    • Owned Product:1-3 months
    Excellent upgrade for old Mac Pro

    There are two things about this card that make it better than many other PCIe cards (note that all the speeds below are theoretical maximums except for the benchmark tests): 1) This is a PCIe x4 card (2000 MB/s In a PCIe gen 2 slot and 1000 MB/s in a PCIe gen 1 slot). Many PCIe cards are only x2 (1000 MB/s in a PCIe gen 2 slot and 500 MB/s in a PCIe gen 1 slot). However, the PCIe gen 1 slots in the Mac Pro 2008 cannot do x2, so an x2 card would only connect as x1 (250 MB/s). Max SSD speed is 600 MB/s so PCIe gen 1 x2 is a bottleneck in either case. My Mac Pro 2008 has two gen 2 slots occupied by a graphics card and a USB 3.1 gen 2 card so I want to use this card in a gen 1 slot. That's why the x4 is important to me. 2) The card uses standard SSDs. Other PCIe cards may use proprietary blades which become useless when you want to upgrade them. An SSD can be moved to another computer with or without available PCIe slots. Layout: The card uses a PES12T3G2 PCI Express Gen2 Switch, 4 lanes upstream (1000 MB/s in a gen 1 slot, 2000 MB/s in a gen 2 slot) and 4 lanes downstream split between two "Marvell 2-port SATA III PCIe 2.0 x2" controllers (1000 MB/s each). Each controller connects an internal SSD and an external SSD (600 MB/s each). Therefore, for optimal software raid of two SATA devices (1200 MB/s) you would raid either two internal SSDs or two external SSDs or one internal SSD from one controller, and one external SSD from the other controller. Using two SSDs on the same controller would limit the speed to 1000 MB/s. A raid of four SSDs (2400 MB/s) connected to this card would be limited by the controller's PCIe link speeds (1000 MB/s each) and by the PCIe slot's link speed (2000 MB/s). Installation: This is a very long card. To install it into the top slot (Slot 4) of my Mac Pro 2008, I had to remove the fan assembly, insert the card, and then reinsert the fan assembly. The card has tabs that provide extra stability. They can be snapped off if they interfere with components on the motherboard. I had to snap off one of the tabs. Testing: I used two 1.0TB Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSDs. I used Disk Utility.app to create a software raid of two partitions, one on each internal SSD. I used Blackmagic Speed Test.app to quickly measure the speed. With a non-raid partition, I got 416.4 MB/s Write and 496.3 MB/s Read. If the PCIe link was 500 MB/s, then that read speed would be much less, since it's impossible to get that close to the max link speed. With the raided partitions, I got 617.4 MB/s and 729.1 MB/s. The speed would be greater in a gen 2 slot since 729.1 MB/s is getting close to the 1000 MB/s limit of the gen 1 slot. The product page on Sonnet's website for the Tempo SSD Pro Plus has performance graphs that illustrate the relative performance levels of different slots. The partitions appear in the Startup Manager (hold option during boot). This feature doesn't work with some other PCIe cards. I have another disk with a Boot Camp partition. I was unable to boot into that. The issue may be with my other PCIe cards. Previously, I had my graphics card in slot 2 to make Boot Camp work, but that makes slot 3 unusable. I have not tried moving the graphics card with the Tempo card, since Boot Camp on my Mac Pro is no longer important to me. My graphics card is the EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition. Other graphics cards may result in different behavior.

    I would recommend this product to a friend!

    Verified Purchase
    Verified PurchaseVerified Purchase.
    joevt, 
    Mar, 8 2017 
    • Reviewer:joevt
    • From:Langley, B.C.
    • Age:35-44
    • Experience:Power User
    • Owned Product:less than a month
    View More Reviews
    This item has been added to your cart