Question 1

Will this card supply 2 non raid sata ports?

Accepted Answer

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: I have this plugged into basic Pentium 4 file server running NAS4free. I needed it because the motherboard didn't have any SATA ports, and I needed something cheap, because I knew that it wasn't going to be used for anything more than the sata ports.

The install was simple, and the motherboard has cause no issues. The OS was able to recognize the two drives independently. I then configured each one separately. No RAID was performed on the card, and it functioned just fine.

Since that time I have put the two drives on this card (650Gb and 500 Gb 2.5 SATA HDDs) into a software RAID. As far as the card is concerned, there are still two separate non-RAID SATA connections.

I don't remember for sure, but I don't think that you can lock the SATA cables onto the card...but that hasn't caused any issue for me.

Question 2

Will it work on my Dell 2400 Dimension. Putting in a 500gb SATA and taking out the 80 gb ultr ATA?

Accepted Answer

My Abit IS7-G motherboard is old and uses standard PCI slots ( not PCI express style), so i ordered the Syba PCI card.  For the low cost, it was worth the experiment.  It works.  The Abit board had 2 existing SATA ports, along with about 6 PCI slots. Needed another SATA. I had about 3 empty PCI slots.  The first one I chose worked without any conflicts.  It comes with a CD with drivers.  Install card.  When prompted, just point to the CD.

Question 3

I am trying to install a LG Blu-ray disc rewriter in my Dell 4550 Dimension desktop that uses 32-bit Windows XP professional.  The motherboard doesn't have SATA connectivity.  What do I need to buy and/or download to upgrade my PC? Please be as specific as possible inasmuch as I am a novice.

Accepted Answer

One solution is to use an open PCI card slot and an appropriate card.  There are several different types of PCI slots (older ('regular') and variants of PCI 'express' -- PCIe -- such as x16 and x1).  See, for example, Wiki entries on 'expansion card' and 'expansion slot' (to get the concepts in hand) and then run a search for 'identifying PCI expansion slots' -- the search produces several images of motherboards with slot types labeled, making it easy to identify what you have on your MB.
   Once you've ID'd the TYPES of available slots on your motherboard, you can find (on NewEgg, of course) cards that are designed for your slot type and that add internal SATA connection points for SATA devices.  Some cards add 2 and some add 4 -- but all devices will share the bandwidth of the PCI slot, so it's not good to affix SATA devices that will run concurrently.  To see sample cards, go into ' Computer Hardware > Computer Accessories > Add-On Cards > '  and then search for 'PCI card for SATA' or some similar search.
   There may be IDE-to-SATA device converters (which would allow you to use an open IDE conenctor on your MB), but I've never looked for that, and someone else may discuss that option, if it exists.  In the reverse situation, where someone with a SATA-only MB is trying to use an IDE device (the opposite of your issue), SATA-to-IDE device converters do not get rave reviews for simplicity of installation.

Question 4

Is thiscontroller card AHCI compliant?
 I wish to attach an ssd disk.

Accepted Answer

It will be slow - it's only a 150Mbs, you need something that will do 6Gbs to take advantage of the SSD disk speeds.

Question 5

that part would fit or upgrade Dell Dimesion 3000?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  the Syba SD-SATA150R PCI card should work in a Dell Dimesion 3000.  That system has 3 PCI slots so this card should be an easy addition.

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