StarTech 2 Port PCI Express eSATA Controller Adapter Card Model PEXESATA2

Pros: Small form factor.

Cons: Recognized by the computer on boot prior to the Raid POST... but.. brick.

Other Thoughts: I am just going to skip the eSata all together. This is my second eSata card and my third cable.

The next motherboard will either already have eSata on the back plate or not at all. I spent about 100 dollars in this experiment and frankly it is not worth warrantry, RMA or any of that.

I have been trying to use with a Vantex HD4R enclosure to a Z77 Mpower MSI motherboard. No success. The enclosure uses a USB 3.0 cable

I have already designed a replacement machine that eliminates the enclosure by having a LSI Raid Card for at least 8 drives, 10 SATA ports would be better. Moar please.

I have not been doing well with Newegg lately and will hang in there. I have been served by Newegg very well these last 15 years or so and I expect to continue to be a good customer despite a recent rash of expensive bad products...

Pros: Port multiplier feature / Plug and play

Cons: None, so far...

Other Thoughts: I had purchased a Rosewill eSATA add-on card that stated it had port multiplier functionality for me to use with a dual external HDD dock. I could not get it to work. I then found this one and figured I'd give it a try. I plugged it in and booted up the Vista system that its in. Vista immediately found the card and downloaded the driver from Windows Update. Once it was ready, I plugged in two drives and turned the dock on. Vista immediately pulled up both drives. That's all I needed.

Pros: None

Cons: Apparently you have to spend $350 to get an eSATA controller that actually does what it says it does on the @*#$ing box.

Other Thoughts: Not NewEgg's fault but I seriously developed tension headaches trying to get external drive setup working. Ended up getting so frustrated I just crammed two additional 3.5" drives into my tiny HTPC case. Silicon Image chips are unsupported trash.

Pros: Driver install was straightforward even without an installer. The card was quick and reliably worked with all the drives I put in the SATA dock it was attached to.

Cons: The drive cannot pass SMART information. That is the only function I reallyh needed and it did not have it. Any SATA card should be able to do this very simple task.

Pros: It seems to work well in windows.

Cons: No PMP under linux.

Other Thoughts: I got this card expressly for its PMP support under Linux, and I can't get it working no matter what I do.

Pros: I have this in a heavily used HTPC with 7 drives and 14TB of data. Works as advertised. Zero issues in over a year. After a failed intel ICH10R raid fiasco I'm buying another and going to mirror all my drives in Windows 7.

Cons: None -

Pros: -Drivers get you up and running in no time
-Immediate 2 extra eSATA ports for external devices

Cons: -None

Other Thoughts: I have multiple hard drive docks, yet not enough eSATA ports. This fixed that for me and freed up plenty of USB ports.

Pros: Worked as advertised and provided the needed sata port-multiplier function needed for the dual slot Thermaltake BlacX Duet to function properly.

Cons: Haven't researched it yet, but it worked when installed in 1 IBM workstation's x16 slot but didn't in a different model, IBM workstation's x16 slot. Neither pc had but 1 x16 slot and a PCI slot because they are small desktop workstations, so I don't know if they have different version PCIe x16 slots or what? One recognized the card and the other didn't?

Pros: Installs easily. Just need to download drivers for Windows 7 from website. I had same problem some others said about the esata slots too close to case frame in first slot I installed in, just moved it to another and had no problems at all. More of a case issue I think

Cons: None

Pros: Easy install and driver update. OS recognises multi drives per port. Have 2 BlacX Duets, one on each port, attached with no detection problems. Very FAST transfer speeds betewwn both drives, both Duets or any drive and the Host computer. Puts USB to shame.

Cons: None