Acard AEC-6290M User manual

PCI-to-SATA Adapter
AEC-6290M
User’s Manual
Copyright © 2003 ACARD Technology Corp.
Release: November 2003
Version:1.0

Copyright and Trademarks
The information of the product in this manual is subject to change without prior
notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of the vendor, who as-
sumes no liability or responsibility for any errors that may appear in this manual.
ACARD and SCSIDE are the trademarks of ACARD Technology Corp. Apple logo
is the registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
This manual contains materials protected under International Copyright Laws. All
rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without the written per-
mission of the manufacturer and the author. All inquires should be addressed to
ACARD Technology Corp.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction .......................................4
1.1 Overview ................................................................ 4
1.2 Features ................................................................. 4
1.3 Specifications........................................................ 4
1.4 Package.................................................................. 5
Chapter 2 Hardware Installation........................6
2.1 Quick Installation .................................................. 6
2.2 HDD Compatibility ................................................ 6
2.3 Hardware Installation............................................ 7
Chapter 3 System Installation ...........................8
3.1 Install OS into HDD with the Adapter.................. 8
3.1.1 Install OS 9 into HDD with the Adapter.......................... 8
3.1.2 Install OS X into HDD with the Adapter ....................... 10
3.1.3 Verify System Profiler .................................................... 11
3.2 Install the Adapter in Current OS ...................... 15
3.2.1 In OS 9 ............................................................................. 15
3.2.2 In OS X............................................................................. 17
3.2.3 Verify System Profiler .................................................... 18
Chapter 4 Troubleshooting ..............................19
Technical Support Form....................................20

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nPower requirement --- Voltage: 3.3V +/–2%
5V +/–2%
Current: 0.5A Max.
nEnvironment --- Operating temperature: 0oC to 70oC
Storage temperature: –20oC to 85oC
nHumidity --- 15% to 90%
nDimensions --- Width: 12.95cm
Height: 6.77cm
nConnectors --- Two 7-pin SATA connectors
1.3 Specifications
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Overview
ACARD AEC-6290M is a 32-bit, 33MHz, 2-channel, high-performance PCI-to-SATA
adapter. Its on-board Flash BIOS supports boot function. Besides, it can coexist
with the on-board Serial ATA controller. It has the full-featured PCI 32-bit bus mas-
ter transfer, including PCI-enhanced data transfer commands (133MB/s) and built-
in Scatter/Gather function for multitasking OS.
1.2 Features
nA standalone PCI-to-SATA controller.
nSupports Serial ATA hard drives.
nData transfer rate up to 150MB/s.
nCost-effective and high-performance.
nSupports Mac OS 8.5, OS 9 and OS X.
nSupports G3, G4 and G5 series Power Mac models.

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1.4 Package
When you open the package, please examine the following items.
nAEC-6290M × 1
nInternal Serial ATA Cable ×1
nUser’s Manual × 1
nACARD Support CD × 1
nPower cord for Serial ATA hard drive × 1

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Chapter 2 Hardware Installation
You can install AEC-6290M and hard drives successfully to your Mac machine ac-
cording to subsection 2.1. Before installing the operating system, if the hard drives
connected to AEC-6290M contain important data, you had better back up.
2.1 Quick Installation
1. Open the Mac machine’s or Power Mac’s case (refer to Mac manual).
2. Choose an empty PCI slot to insert AEC-6290M.
3. Install hard drives into the Mac machine or Power Mac.
4. Connect AEC-6290M and the hard drives with serial ATA cables.
5. Close the Mac machine’s or Power Mac’s case.
2.2 HDD Compatibility
AEC-6290M is particularly designed for DMA hard drives. It supports most SATA
hard drives of the following brands.
nHitachi nSeagate
nMaxtor nWestern Digital

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2.3 Hardware Installation
It is quite easy to connect the serial ATA cable and the power cord to SATA hard
drives, because they are foolproof. The methods are given below.
(1). Connect the serial ATA cable to AEC-6290M and the serial hard drive.
(2). Connect the power cord to the hard drive.
NOTICE: The serial ATA cable is used to transfer data of very high
frequency. It is suggested not to connect and disconnect it often, for the
connector is easily damaged.
The enclosed serial ATA cable and power cord are specially designed for Mac com-
puters. Each of them has a connector bending 90 degrees on one end. When you
use the serial ATA cable, remember to connect the end with a bending connector to
the hard drive and another end to AEC-6290M.

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Chapter 3 System Installation
This chapter is going to tell you how to install and use the hard drives connected to
AEC-6290M in different operating systems (OS 9 , OS X) and applications. The
built-in driver in OS X 10.1 and 10.2 is the same as that for AEC-6280M. To get
better performance and stability you should update the driver before installation.
The installations of OS 9 and OS X are somewhat different.
3.1 Install OS into HDD with the Adapter
3.1.1 Install OS 9 into HDD with the Adapter
1. Be sure that the hardware is installed correctly.
2. Insert the OS 9 source CD into CD/DVD-ROM.
3. Power on and press “C” key.
4. Wait for the appearance of OS 9.
5. Double click “Utilities”.
Here we will install OS 9 and OS X into the hard drive(s) connected with AEC-
6290M, the adapter. After installation you can boot from the original or the newly
installed hard drive.

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6. Double click “Drive Setup”.
7. Choose the hard drive connected to AEC-6290M, then click “Initialize”. For de-
tailed information of “Drive Setup”, please refer to Mac OS manual.
8. Quit “Drive Setup Utility” and start to install OS 9 into the hard drive(s).

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3.1.2 Install OS X into HDD with the Adapter
1. Be sure that the hardware is installed correctly.
2. Insert the OS X source CD into CD/DVD-ROM.
3. Power on, press “C” key to boot from CD/DVD-ROM.
4. Before installation,click “Installer” on the top selection row.
5. Click “Open Disk Utility”.
6. Choose the hard drive you want to initialize, and click “Partition” to decide the
number of partitions you need.

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8. Quit “Disk Utility” and start the OS X installation.
9. Update the driver of AEC-6290M to the newest version, which is in the ACARD
support CD. Or download the driver from http://www.acard.com.
3.1.3 Verify System Profiler
For Mac OS 9
After you initialize the hard drive successfully, a new
“Untitled” hard drive icon will appear on the Mac window.
Of course you can give the hard drive a name.
7. After partitioning or erasing the volume, you can click “First Aid” to verify the disk
partition into which you are about to install OS X.
NOTICE: If you’re an OS X 10.3 user, you don’t need to update, because
the newest version of driver has been built in the OS.

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2. Under “Apple System Profiler” click “Devices and Volumes” to read the status of
devices. And choose “PCI” to find the SCSI card and hard drives. (Owing to the
same chipset in 6290M and 6280M, 6290M is regarded as 6280M. In fact, apart
from the different display, 6290M’s functions are all right.)
You can find the information of AEC-6290M under the Apple Logo. Please follow
the instructions below to read the system information.
1. Click Apple Logo and choose “Apple System Profiler”.

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For Mac OS X
Basically if you have installed the hard drive as well as AEC-6290M successfully,
and have partitioned or erased the hard drive, one or more hard drive icons will
appear on the desktop. You can use the built-in Disk Utility to verify or repair the
hard drive when it has something wrong.
You can find the information of AEC-6290M under the Apple Logo. Please click
“About This Mac” and then “More Info”.
Another way of finding the system information is described below.
1. Click “Finder” at the bottom of the Mac OS screen.

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2. Click “Applications” on the tool row.
3. Under “Applications” click “Utilities”.
4. Under “Utilities” click “Apple System Profiler”.
5. Under “Apple System Profiler” click “Devices and Volumes” to read the detailed
information of AEC-6290M. (Owing to the same chipset in 6290M and 6280M,
6290M is regarded as 6280M. In fact, apart from the different display, 6290M’s
functions are all right.)

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3.2 Install the Adapter in Current OS
We are going to install AEC-6290M in the current OS 9 and OS X.
3.2.1 In OS 9
1. Be sure that the hardware is installed correctly.
2. Power on.
3. Double click “Utilities” under OnBoard\Applications. (OnBoard represents the
OnBoard Mac hard drive.)
6. Click “Extensions” to see the version of AEC-6290M’s driver.

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4. Double click “Drive Setup”.
5. Choose the newly installed hard drive, and click “Initialize”.
6. You can see the initialized or partitioned volume on the desktop.

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5. Initialize the newly installed hard drive by clicking “Partition”.
3.2.2 In OS X
1. Be sure that the hardware is installed correctly.
2. Power on.
3. Update the driver of AEC-6290M to the newest version, which is in the ACARD
support CD. Or download the driver from http://www.acard.com. (If you’re an OS
X 10.3 user, you can skip this step.)
4. Double click “Disk Utility” under OnBoard\Applications\Utilities. (OnBoard repre-
sents the OnBoard Mac hard drive.)

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6. You can see the partitioned or erased volume on the desktop.
3.2.3 Verify System Profiler
Please refer to 3.1.3.

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Chapter 4 Troubleshooting
After installation, if AEC-6290M cannot work smoothly, please troubleshoot it ac-
cording to the methods given below.
1. Inspect power supply
When the device is malfunctioned, inspect the power status (ON/OFF) first. If you
connect more than 4 hard drives, you had better prepare another set of power
source in order not to affect the stability of hard drives.
2. Inspect the SATA devices
Always let the SATA devices function in a proper mode before installing the adapter.
You are suggested to inspect if every hard drive is normal in access via Mac’s built-
in SATA port.
3. Inspect the adapter
Inspect if the adapter is firmly inserted into the slot on the motherboard. If the con-
nection is not good, try to clean the edge connector with an eraser.
4. Inspect all connectors and cables
Inspect if SATA connector, device power connector and cables are connected well.
Cables are easily damaged because of improper folding. Try a new cable when the
old one is bad.

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Technical Support Form
Email: [email protected]
http://www.acard.com
System Configuration
Motherboard
BIOS version
SCSI adapter
Chipset
Memory
Display card
Other I/O card
OS version
Hard Disk
Configuration
Hard Disk Model/type
Capacity
Firmware version
Others
Problem Description
Model AEC-6290M F/W Version