WTB PCIe to SATA expansion card (2/4 port)

The card was untested and given to me as-is. Turned out it probably has faulty microcontroller, doesn't detect any drives, tried connecting on 2 PCs.
@ibose thanks for helping, I appreciate it.
Bump, still looking.

Additionally wanted to know what if I order one using Ebay International? Specifically this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/364065274793
Will it attract customs? Never ordered International so have literally 0 idea. Please DM me if you have any idea.
 
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@enthusiast29 @ibose

Just curious, is the existing card also based on the ASMedia ASM106x series chipset, or is it just a basic JMicron JMB575-powered port multiplier? If it's the former, then what's the firmware version?
 
@enthusiast29

Well, that's unfortunate. :(

On another note, in case you're planning to set up a typical DIY NAS or such, it would be better to grab an enterprise-class RAID card (like this one), flash it to Initiator Target aka IT mode, and use that on the host motherboard for the sake of stability, performance, and longevity. The cost factor will be slightly on the higher side (compared to the eBay listing you mentioned earlier), though, but don't ignore the advantages.
 
@Titokhan
I'm just looking to expand storage on my primary system which only has 4 SATA ports and 2x M.2. They're all occupied and I'm using another PC to store data on. Thing is I access that data too often and it's kinda slow over the network due to the latency maybe.

I already have a SMB server running on my OpenWRT router for a NAS like solution but I keep data dumps and torrents there which are not latency sensitive.
 
@enthusiast29

From my personal experience (as well as many others from the data hoarding communities), those el cheapo cards are notorious for introducing a plethora of random anomalies under load - something which often leads to data corruption.

In your use case, I would suggest to go for a ready-made low-powered NAS, or build one - whatever suits you. Even for the latter, the aforementioned card would be immensely helpful.

With that said, guess I single-handedly diverted the notion of this thread from a WTB one to a discussion, so feel free to tag any mod and move the last few posts to the Computer hardware sub-forum, if required. :wacky:
 
@Titokhan I appreciate it. I might look into that to research a bit more. I also have a spare old machine lying which I might be able to setup as a dedicated bare metal for NAS OS but power consumption might be a blocker (or not), we'll see.

As for diverting the topic, I'm fine with it since it didn't push anyone else's thread down.
 
enthusiast29 said:
I'm just looking to expand storage on my primary system which only has 4 SATA ports and 2x M.2. They're all occupied and I'm using another PC to store data on. Thing is I access that data too often and it's kinda slow over the network due to the latency maybe.
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ATX mobos have 6 sata ports so you can look into getting some compatible used one from here. It is however my opinion that one should not need more than 6 sata drives nowadays & if it is needed then either the data management or the drive size need to be checked again(4TB hdd is the min one should buy nowadays for storage only). Also, I have not encountered any latency issue over a wired gigabit ethernet network.
 
Titokhan said:
@enthusiast29

From my personal experience (as well as many others from the data hoarding communities), those el cheapo cards are notorious for introducing a plethora of random anomalies under load - something which often leads to data corruption.

In your use case, I would suggest to go for a ready-made low-powered NAS, or build one - whatever suits you. Even for the latter, the aforementioned card would be immensely helpful.

With that said, guess I single-handedly diverted the notion of this thread from a WTB one to a discussion, so feel free to tag any mod and move the last few posts to the Computer hardware sub-forum, if required. :wacky:
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I second this . I have a pcie to usb3 card . Bought from amazon . No name Chinese crap. 4 USB 3 ports at the back to connect my segate expansion drives. Did not work as advertised . Frequent data corruption . Frequent power loss under heavy data transfer . Not reliable . Finally accepted my losses and threw it away. Did not regret that last bit .
 
you could get a internal 2 port sas card off ebay for like 2-3k flash it mode and enjoy 8 sata ports.
I bought thsi LSI 9207-8i for my nas works great as long as you can keep it cool.

Be careful with no name sata expander cards if data is imp to you i have had bad experience with some of them and some dont recognize large drives.
 
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30fps101 said:
you could get a internal 2 port sas card off ebay for like 2-3k flash it mode and enjoy 8 sata ports.
I bought thsi LSI 9207-8i for my nas works great as long as you can keep it cool.

Be careful with no name sata expander cards if data is imp to you i have had bad experience with some of them and some dont recognize large drives.
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Abroad no issue but not so easy to find such cards at reasonable rates here. For 3-4k it is better to just buy old used processor & 6 sata ports mobo to assemble another NAS/file server.
 
guest_999 said:
Abroad no issue but not so easy to find such cards at reasonable rates here. For 3-4k it is better to just buy old used processor & 6 sata ports mobo to assemble another NAS/file server.
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Finding a cheap cpu is not an issue you can get used i3 6100 for as low as 1.2k but there is no way you are going to find older mobo with 6sata ports for anything less than 10k.

The issue is cpus don't die that often mobos do and as the production stops for that specific chipset the price for then goes through the roof.

Edit: also with a sas card you can virtualize your nas and pass through the card itself.
 
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