Question 1

Will this operate under Windows 7- pro?

Accepted Answer

I am using this on 2012 R2 Server (RAID 5 over [3] 1.5TB) so the answer is yes, However the setup was done at the card bios level and not in the windows GUI. The Windows interface for configuration is week at best at least on my Server. The Windows 7 may be a bit better.  For the cost was just what I needed as the MB I had did not support RAID 5.

Question 2

Will this work with FreeNAS and are the ports bootable?

Accepted Answer

According to the Support forums for FreeNAS, some people have it working (even using ZFS) while others claim to have experienced difficulty.  FreeBSD needs to support the card and have drivers, and they apparently do.  The FreeBSD forums also speak of this chipset (Sil3124) and the use of SIIS(4) driver sets which offer AHCI and port multiplier support.
In short, this card should work with FreeNAS.  I would strongly recommend visiting both the FreeNAS and FreeBSD forums if you wish pursue this as an option.

Question 3

can you EASILY do a mirrored raid with an existing window 7 hp?

Accepted Answer

Sorry for the late response.  You could use that product in a file backup/restore capacity, but not in an 'image restoration' capacity.  Meaning that if you overwrite a RAID configuration with an image that didn't have those RAID drivers already present and configured, then the system won't be able to 'see' the drives configured in RAID and it will subsequently fail to boot.
In short, don't ever plan on using an image of a non-RAID system for a RAID system.  The only software packages I've seen that could do that sort of dissimilar Bare Metal Restoration (BMR) are Catalogic/Syncsort and EMC's Avamar Enterprise-level solutions (and even they will have issues with this specific non-RAID to RAID process).
I hope this helps!

Question 4

Is this controller compatible with 4TB hard drives?

Accepted Answer

I contacted Addonics technical support to ask.  The largest drive they said they've tested was 3TB.  I purchased the Seagate ST4000NM0033 and connected it to the ADSA4R5.  It sees the drive as a 4TB drive, and the ext4 filesystem with a GPT partition table installed worked perfectly to access all available space.

Question 5

What is the factory installed firmware?  Can I upgrade or downgrade the firmware (if necessary)?

Accepted Answer

The last update is for Windows 7.  Note - not compatible with Windows 10.

Question 6

Is this compatible with the Intel DP43BF motherboard?

Accepted Answer

I really don't know.  I have installed on a older ASUS mb and it works okay.  Had no problems with installation and setup.

Question 7

Is this card compatible with VMWare ESXi?

Accepted Answer

If the host can see it, then the guest and VMWare will.

Brand	Addonics
Model	ADSA4R5
Form Factor	Low Profile

Type	SATA II (3.0Gb/s)
Internal Connectors	4 x SATA II
Interface	PCI
Transfer Rate	Up to 3Gb/s
RAID	RAID 0, 1, 10 or 1+S, RAID 5, JBOD
Operating Systems Supported	Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista

Addonics ADSA4R5 PCI Low Profile SATA II (3.0Gb/s) 4-Port RAID 5 / JBOD Controller

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Item#: N82E16816318009