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Add-on card with Internal SATA connectors?

Matt_Stevens

Matt_Stevens

Senior member
Running out of SATA connections sucks. :sneaky: SSD, DVD drive, BD-ROM, front SATA port, two drives in RAID 0...

They run out fast!

Is there a card one can add that has internal SATA ports? It sure would be nice to have two more to play with.

Why are Firewire 1394 B (800) cards so darned expensive? D:
 
Yes, there are many, ranging from cheap $20 cards to $1000+ plus real hardware RAID controllers. If you just want to add a couple more SATA ports for storage only, one of the Syba cards will work fine.
 
First if you have a spare PCI slot you can get a card for that to run your DVD drives from. They shouldn't be impacted by the speed drop.

Second Firewire is expensive in general for two big reasons, royalties are high and majority use is only in professional markets. That's especially true for Firewire 1394 B / 800. And thanks to Thunderbolt / Light Peak we can pretty much be sure that Firewire C (1600) & D (3200) will never see the light of day despite being completed specs.
 
What I have decided to do is remove one of the DVD-R drives (leaving the BD drive) because it is realy redundant at this point. I have an external iomega burner anyway so I can use that for all my DVD burning (so as not to use up my BD writer doing such mundane stuff).

This will free up a port and allow me to have my internal Mirror RAID. My Western Digital green Drive will be moved outside and hooked up via eSATA.
 
1 - SSD
2 - DVD drive
3 - BD-ROM
4 - front SATA port
5 & 6 - two drives in RAID 0
7 - ?
8 - ?

Dropping the BD yields 3 ports to "play with".
 
I was trying to avoid using 7 & 8 because those ports are by Marvell and I keep reading bad word of mouth on their drivers. Was not aware of this until after i had purchased that MB.

What I am doing is forgoing the front eSATA connection and removing the DVD drive. That frees up two slots for my mirrored RAID. Then, when i get around to it, I will add a card. Or... If Marvell's drivers suddenly improve, I will install them. But I'm good for now.
 
A friend of mine who is a Network Engineer has said the Marvell drivers can be twitchy and to avoid. Basically, my system is running stable and fast right now. Why risk messing that up? 🙂
 
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