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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/798
REVIEW | PRODUCTIVITY
108 MacDirectory
FirmTek is shipping the new SeriTek/5PM,
which is a quiet, ultra-cool, high perfor-
mance, state of the art, 5-bay, hot-
swappable, SATA port multiplier external
enclosure. The SeriTek/5PM features an
attractive, heavy-duty case made from
brushed and anodized extruded alumi-
num. The enclosure is very compact and
provides a high quality 220W server-class
universal power supply. The SeriTek/5PM
delivers several exciting new features
including a multi-second delay front-panel
power switch, a unique temperature
management system plus mutable
temperature and fan failure alarms.
The SeriTek/5PM enclosure is available
alone ($539.95) or can be purchased with
a FirmTek SeriTek SATA PM compatible
host adapter. The SeriTek/2SE4 (PCI-X),
SeriTek/2SE2-E (PCIe) and the
SeriTek/2SM2-E (ExpressCard/34) are
available in separate bundles. The
SeriTek/5PM is available directly from
FirmTek and its resellers.
The new heat management system found
inside the FirmTek SeriTek/5PM provides
enhanced airflow throughout the chassis.
A unique system of cooling vents, holes in
the tray handles and perforations have
been engineered to double the cooling
capacity of the enclosure. This new design
technique combined with the dual
70x70x15mm fan system allows more air
flow to be pulled from the front of the
enclosure, across the hard drives and
expelled out of the rear of the enclosure.
Large 1TB hard drives typically require
more power and produce more heat than
smaller hard drives. The new SeriTek/5PM
heat management system is designed and
tested to comfortably cool the largest high
capacity hard drives while also providing
user selectable three-speed fan control.
The new design features provided by the
SeriTek/5PM make it the new gold
standard of 5-bay port multiplier
enclosures. While FirmTek is certainly not
the first company to introduce a 5-bay
SATA PM enclosure, this new product
includes all of the features that many
users have been looking for in a high-
quality, 5-bay enclosure. The small foot
print makes it easy to utilize several
SeriTek/5PM enclosures with a single
computer system without worrying about
space requirements. In addition, the
enclosure provides many new user-friendly
features and amazing rigidity.
When you install a single hard drive inside
an enclosure vibration issues are important,
but not usually a major design issue.
However, once five 3.5" SATA hard drives
are actively working inside a single, small
enclosure it takes a great deal of
engineering experience to design and build
an enclosure that insures the hard drives
stay cool, quiet and vibration free over
years of use. The SeriTek/5PM provides a
rock solid, vibration resistant, SATA hard
drive mounting platform that easily meets
these requirements. Hitachi also tested the
SeriTek/5PM. Based on the results, FirmTek
was selected to participate in the "Hard
Drive by Hitachi" Ingredient Brand Program