Bonzai Duck,
I only want to have one RAID 1 array, and the Vantec (using JMicron) is providing that. It's sitting in a PCI-e X1 slot. The other PCI-e X1 slot has a firewire external and internal connection board (I don't know what brand), but I'm not using it. I could possibly move the Vantec to one of the PCI-e X16 slots (one at x16, the other at x4) since they're empty now. I'll need to research this to see what it's capable of doing.
There is only the one onboard SATA controller, set for AHCI.
THe onboard USB 2.0 controller is enabled.
The Intel RST and Smart Connect are both disabled.
The board has 2 USB 2.0 rear connectors, and 2 USB 3.0 rear connectors - that's where the external drives are connected.
The manual states that the I/O Controller is an iTE I/O Controller chip.
I can't find anything about an eSata controller, although the Vantec has 2 rear eSATA ports which I'm not using.
I'm not sure if any of this answers your questions. I did disconnect the 1TB USB 3.0 drive and have not had any of the Controller errors since. Actually, although the other 2 externals (in one Kingwin box) are plugged into the USB 3.0 port, but they're only using USB 2.0. I do have two USB hubs connected - one is a 4 port USB 3.0 (connected to the USB 3.0 port, and that's where the USB 3.0 1TB drive was connected). The second hub is in a USB 2.0 port. These have my camera, Wacom tablet, and printers attached, and a USB extension cable that I use for card readers, etc. that I want to use briefly.
Is it THIS Vantec? . . .
http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/578
Specs say x4, x8, x16 slot.
I never thought to determine whether the physical slots of x1 PCI-E were the same size as x4. I have an x16 which only works as x4.
Mmm . . . you're talking about a different model? That has IDE and SATA-II (300)?
Move it to the x4 slot anyway, unless you need that slot for something.
Again, check the motherboard manual. You can't just populate all the PCI-E slots on many motherboards. You use one slot, then resources may be withdrawn for something else.
If you ask me, and from what you're saying ("two USB hubs" etc.) your system is overloaded with too much . . . stuff. I explained how my own motherboard didn't have enough resources to connect a USB3 hub to the onboard 20-pin Asmedia port.
Personally, I wouldn't have that many hubs connected. I'd use a 4-port USB3 hub for both types of devices. Do you need to have that many extra USB ports?
I use several USB2 ports at the mobo I/O panel -- kybd, mouse, joystick . . . game-controller . . etc. Joy and game I only plug in one at a time. I use my USB drives as backup devices, unmount, disconnect, unpower and remove them when the backup is done. Even my camera -- I connect it when I want to upload photos, then unmount, disconnect and unpower.
I've seen other folks here load up a system with piles of SSDs and HDDs. If a person were going to do that, it would be better to have a NAS or server. Remember the KISS principle.
There's no reason you shouldn't be able to have a two-disk RAID1 on a separate controller from that of the boot/system disk, and there should be several configurations that are within your hardware resources. But they way you're describing the system -- I only suspect that it's "choked up."
Tablet . . . printer(S)? Do you have any other desktop computers? If you do, do you have them on an Ethernet LAN? Some -- many-- printers provide Ethernet as well as USB connectivity. We've got three printers in the house for 5 systems, two of which plug into Ethernet hubs/switches.
Definitely true, though, if you need some single drives on AHCI-mode, you need a separate controller for the RAID1.
I want someone else to come in here and either challenge/correct me, or offer an opinion. I think you're trying to connect too much stuff to one machine. That's why I don't sell my older computers. Ethernet switches can be had for <=$50; RJ-45-terminated cables are cheap; you can even throw wireless Ethernet into the mix. You can do peer-to-peer sharing; share printers; put a scanner on one machine; printer on another.
You can add a NAS device, an old computer commandeered to be a server, other workstations. There's just a limit to the number of things you can connect to one machine and expect it all to work on demand.
I think you can sort all this out, and just removing the USB3 drive seemed to indicate the kind of problems you're running into with this.
Some folks have said in other threads that they just leave their USB drives running and connected, but I explained what I do with mine.