• Overview
  • Tech Specs
  • Performance

Simple SSD Upgrade Solutions

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 are more reliable, their prices are dropping and you can get more capacity than ever. If you’ve got a Mac Pro® or older 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. You could also get a 6Gb/s eSATA adapter plus external mount SSD storage, but they come with the excess baggage of power adapters and cable clutter. Sonnet engineered a great alternative—Tempo™ SSD. 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.

Mount 1 or 2 2.5" SATA SSDsUnlike other PCI Express SSD cards that rely on proprietary, premium priced SSD modules, Tempo SSD 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.

Compatible with 2023 Mac Pro

Tempo SSD Key Features

Adds Fast SSDs to Your System—Mounts one or two high-performance 6 Gb/s SSDs (sold separately) in your Mac Pro's, desktop PC's, or Thunderbolt expansion chassis' PCIe slot

High-Performance PCIe Interface—PCI Express 2.0 x2 host bus interface for high-performance applications

Great Performance—Data transfers speeds up to 660 MB/sec(1)

Unique Modular Design—Enables installation of a single SSD in half length card spaces, two SSDs in full length card space when extension plate is attached to the card

Optimized for Maximum Performance Over Thunderbolt—Perfect for use in Sonnet's Echo Express and xMac mini Server Thunderbolt expansion products

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

Shadow

A Card with Room to Grow

Tempo SSD features a unique modular design that grows with your needs. Out of the box, this Sonnet solution is a half-length, full-height card to which you attach one SSD. It’s small enough to fit in most spaces, perfect for installing a single SSD into your system. With the included extension plate attached, the Tempo SSD is transformed into a full-length card to which you can install an additional SSD. Adding the second SSD allows you to improve performance or data security by exploiting OS X® or Windows® RAID features. This card uses a fast 6 Gb/s SATA controller chipset and PCIe 2.0 x2 interface to deliver read speeds up to 660 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. Drive health monitoring is supported through S.M.A.R.T. data reporting.

Tempo SSD with Bracket

Add More to the Plate: The included extension plate allows you to add a second SSD to expand your storage needs.

Thunderbolt™ Port? Instant SSD Solution

Got a Thunderbolt connection, but no PCIe slot? Tempo SSD Pro is ideal for use in Sonnet's Echo™ Express Pro Thunderbolt™ Expansion Chassis for PCIe Cards or the xMac™ mini Server PCIe 2.0 expansion system/1U rackmount enclosure for Mac mini with Thunderbolt ports—the combo enables you to add high-speed SSDs to iMac®, Mac® mini, MacBook® Air, and MacBook Pro computers!

MacBook Pro with Echo Express Pro Chassis

Add High-Speed SSD Drives to Your Thunderbolt Equipped Mac: Install SSD drives onto a Tempo SSD Pro and install the card into a Sonnet Echo Express Pro chassis for super fast access to all your data.

Tempo SSD Configuration Ideas


See Tech Specs Tab for footnotes
Part No.  
TSATA6-SSD-E2 Tempo SSD 6Gb/s SATA PCIe 2.0 Drive Card for SSDs(2)
Hardware  
Warranty 2-year
Internal Connectors Two SATA for 2.5" SSD or HD(3)
Drives Supported  

SATA 6 Gb/s, SATA 3 Gb/s, and SATA 1.5 Gb/s  

Data Transfer Rate Up to 660 MB/s(1)
Firmware Flash-ROM upgradeable to latest firmware version
Boot Support

Single SSD only:

  • Mac Pro [early 2008 (3,1) through mid 2012 (5,1)](4)
  • Any Thunderbolt 3 Mac
  • Windows 10, 8, 7, or Server 2019, 2016, 2012 PCs
Advanced Features Supports S.M.A.R.T. status data reporting
RoHS Compliant Yes
Package Contents
  • Tempo SSD 6Gb/s SATA PCIe 2.0 Drive Card for SSDs
  • Extension plate (for mounting second SSD)
  • Plate and drive mounting screws
  • Documentation

    Note: SSDs sold separately

 

Specifications subject to change without notice.

 

 

 

 

Mac Compatibility

Mac Pro® 3,1, 4,1, 5,1, 7,1 (2019), or 14,8 (2023)

Power Mac® G5 (with PCIe slots)

Xserve® (Intel with PCIe slots)

OS X® 10.5+

macOS Sonoma compatible

PC Compatibility

PC with PCIe slots

Windows® 11, 10, 8, 7

Windows Server 2019, 2016, 2012, 2008 R2, 2008

Thunderbolt Compatibility

Mac (Intel® or M1) or PC via a Thunderbolt to PCIe Card Expansion System

Sonnet's xMac mini Server and xMac Pro Server


Technical Notes

  1. Pair of SSDs configured as a RAID 0 set. See Performance Tab for details.
  2. SSDs sold separately.
  3. Tempo SSD cards sold before mid 2014 have support for only 5V devices. Cards with serial numbers Bxxx03334 and greater also provide 12V and 3.3V to the SATA power connectors.
  4. Cards with a serial number starting with "B" or later support booting macOS from attached SSDs out of the box. A card with a serial number starting with "A" may be upgraded to support booting OS X from attached SSDs by updating its firmware using the firmware updater.
  5. See this Mac Pro installation video.

 

Mac LogoWindows LogoPCI Express LogoroHS Logo




Tempo SSD Performance Comparison

One SSD Configuration

Number 1
One SSD
(PCIe 2.0 or 3.0 slot)
(Thunderbolt 3 or 2)
Read Write
Tempo SSD
525 MB/s
500 MB/s

Two SSD Configuration

Number 1
Two SSDs
(PCIe 3.0 slot)
(Thunderbolt 3)
Read Write
Tempo SSD
700 MB/s
610 MB/s
Two SSDs
(PCIe 2.0 slot)
( Thunderbolt 2)
Read Write
Tempo SSD
700 MB/sec
540 MB/sec