Rosewill RC-215 VIA PCI SATA 1.5G x2 / ATA 133 (IDE) x1 Controller Card

Pros: Added 2 SATA ports to my old computer, giving me 2 SATA drives for my windows home server storage. Reasonably fast, and no compatibility problems. Included software to help manage RAID configuration and monitor health of the drives and RAID Array.

Cons: Can't seem to use normal SMART monitoring software so windows home server can't monitor the health of the attached drives. Couldn't get the card to boot from the SATA drives due to a limitation of the old motherboard it is plugged into.

Other Thoughts: Nice inexpensive way to add SATA ports to older computers so you can use newer, faster, larger capacity drives.

Pros: Works well. Cheap.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Got it so I could use a couple IDE drives in a machine. Allowed me to repurpose the drives with no effort.

Pros: *Expand SATA Ports
*Slim and doesn't take much room

Cons: *Doesn't work

Other Thoughts: I bought this card, thinking that I could use it for a card reader or something. I knew I didn't want to use it for a HDD because it was only rated for 1.5Gb. My computer blue screened about 3 times a day with this card. Looked for updated drivers, but boy they were hard to find. I just took this card out of my machine and it is stuck in a closet somewhere. It isn't even worth RMA'ing IMO. I just ate this one and called it a loss. Stay away.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you very much for purchasing this unit. We strive to provide the most reliable and highest quality products to our customers. Please kindly contact the Rosewill support team either via phone at 800-575-9885 or via email at rma@rosewill.com so we may assist you with a replacement.
Thanks,
Rosewill Customer Care

Pros: Rosewill Brand <- Never let me down
Sale Item
Free Shipping
Easy mechanical install

Cons: Sub Par Documentation and it matters. Unless I lived up to my somewhat high professed skill level I might have been screaming by now.

Other Thoughts: Unlike most guys I wanted this card for it's IDE slot. I have a couple IDE drives that are still good.

I was trying to install XP on an IDE HD connected to the PCI card. My problem was getting the drivers for the card recognized during the install. The system does not have floppy so I needed to integrate the drivers to the install disc. I used nLite to do this. The controller card has a VIA chip on it made by Rosewill. The Rosewill drivers on the supplied disc and downloaded from their site are very difficult to understand regarding just what the HECK driver do I want....too many options and the supplied directions did not do the task. All attempts failed with the Rosewill drivers. I went to VIA, downloaded their drivers did the integration and all was good.

Too bad this item looks to be discontinued because I recommend it if you have a somewhat high sill level and patience

Pros: Price
Easy to install.
Easy to use the utility.
Plug n Play for Windows 8 so no additional driver downloads and updates are needed.

Cons: Only 1.5G but can't complain for the price (plus I didn't need the speed for my application).

Other Thoughts: I bought this so I could attach 2 old ATA connected HDDs to my media server for document file storage. My motherboard doesn't have an ATA header so I bought this. The 2 extra SATA connections are just a bonus. I set them up and mirrored the drives in no time. Plug n Play for Windows 8 so no extra drivers to install and update.

Pros: Get an IDE for the new SATA only motherboard

Cons: doesn't work with default windows drivers

Other Thoughts: Built a HTPC with new motherboard, cannibalized IDE drive from old PC. Plan was to use the IDE to install Windows XP and then put the OS on SSD. Problem was I could not get the XP install to see the drive. I know card could see something because it tried to boot off of that drive. I couldn't install the Rosewill drivers since I had no floppy drive. Ended up getting an old SATA HDD to boot windows, then used the IDE as a data drive.

I read reviews where the card worked seamlessly, and others that had similar problems to mine. One of the Rosewill feedback comments noted that this is a Windows problem. My opinion is that this is more of a problem with the card hardware not being fully compatible with the default Windows IDE driver used during installation based on observations on what drives were available in the BIOS and the boot characteristics.

Pros: They work and there's nothing to the installation.

Cons: They're not speed demons. But considering what I'm and most likely everybody else is using them for, it really doesn't matter.

Other Thoughts: They come with a CD, but I plugged them in, hooked up a drive and booted a 7 install (on several pcs of various makes now) and never really had to install anything. I'm pretty satisfied with this cheap alternative to shelling out 50 bucks for a SATA drive. :)

Pros: Worked perfectly right out of the box!

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: its great for xbox360 drives (even temperamental hitachi's)

Pros: They sent me a replacement card when I told them mine doesn't work, so now I have 2 cards that don't work.

Cons: The card is undetected by Win 7 64bit, though it does pop up in my POST scroll during boot.

Other Thoughts: Don't buy this card.

For reference, my motherboard is Biostar TA890FXE, Windows 7 64bit Ultimate.

Pros: works perfectly. helped to add a couple of extra devices with no issues

Cons: none