StarTech 2 Port SATA 6 Gbps PCI Express eSATA Controller Card Model PEXESAT32

Pros: Works with Windows 8 64 bit out of the box.

Cons: Only runs my Samsung 840 Pro SSD at about 300 MBPS when it runs over 500MBPS on my one native SATA3 Port.

Its disappointing, since I paid for speed.

Pros: none

Cons: Tried supplied drivers, Startech downloads and Marvell drivers from station-drivers.com. All reported errors on installation and no attached drives were detected. Strangely device manager reported that the card was working properly. I worked with Startech support and they determined the card was defective.

Other Thoughts: Startech rep recommended their PEXESAT322I card which is not found by Newegg.ca search using terms "esata" and "card" but is found by searching the Startech part number. I bought the card from Newegg.ca and it has worked flawlessly.

Pros: Plugged it in and was using my new SoloPRO 2TB right away. Transfer speeds are great.

Cons: I had to shut my server down to install it I guess

Other Thoughts: It worked immediately, no driver issues, great transfer rates (I'm using a SATA II drive so I can't speak to SATA III speeds). Easy to install and great results.

Pros: It's small

Cons: Does NOT work with Thermaltake BalcX Duet!! I've been trying for months to find a card that works with the BlackX Duet and non of them work!!!

Pros: None

Cons: Tried on 3 of my computers. None of them worked.

Pros: Port Multiplier Feature - allows me to connect my 4bay JBOD eSATA enclosure and use all drives. (Vista and 7)

Cons: none

Pros: Installed it and running it with Raid 1 configured external drive. Installation was smooth no problems with this card.

Cons: None

Pros: None for my situation.

Cons: Win 7 did not provide drivers, contrary to manual. CD did not contain drivers, had to get them off the station-drivers.com site. That site included a firmware upgrade, but I found it impossible to install.

Other Thoughts: I bought this because it advertised a Port Multiplier feature which I thought would work with the Thermaltake BlacX Duet. It did not. With this eSata card the Duet only works with 1 HD in the unit, with 2 Windows shows no drives. My motherboard eSata at least works with the Duet with 2 drives although it only sees one. It looks like I'll be returning this and trying another eSata card.

Pros: I purchased this in the hopes it would work connected to silicon image port multipliers in an external multi hard drive enclosure along with server 2008r2. I tried an Addonics ADS3GX4R5-E and a Norco 4618 but both refused to function reliably even after the latest firmware and windows drivers that I could find were applied. I tried new cables, hard drives, etc but nada. Way too flaky, very frustrating. So I put two of these cards into the server and both were only partially recognized in windows. (The latest drivers from StarTech were not recognized at all by 2008r2, even though they were supposed to be for 2008r2). Only the Microsoft drivers would apply and they were not complete. Bah. After searching, I found these newer drivers at http://www.station-drivers.com/page/marvell.htm and voila! This site looks like it's in France. These drivers worked wonderfully with this card and all the hard drives came to life immediately and have remained stable. Speed is the best yet.

Cons: StarTech's drivers and support is abysmal. It should not be this hard to find software to make your brand new add on card function.

Other Thoughts: The card has only 7 channels so you cannot connect it's two ports to two port multipliers with 5 hard drives on each multiplier. The card will only recognize 7 HD's. The solution is to use two cards, with one port to the port multiplier. The remaining port on each card can connect directly to a hard drive. The Norco DS HD enclosure I was using is setup with two drives direct and 10 drives thru two port multipliers so these two cards are the bomb.