Sata Expansion card 1 to 5 Port Multiplier

ProShifu · September 3, 2019

Hello!
I'm thinking of bying an expansion card similar to this one: https://www.amazon.com/Widewing-Expansion-SATA3-0-Motherboard-6Gbps/dp/B07FTJJB9K
Now I know that my motherboard doesn't support port multiply (PM), but I'm wondering if someone knows this:
I have 5 HDDs connected to a power switch where I can power on each HDDs separately. If I have all 5 HDDs connected to this expansion card, do you think that each port works as long as there's only 1 HDD powered on at a time? Or do you think that only 1 port works if the motherboard doesn't support PM?

Thanks!

4c3T · March 25, 2020

The port in the middle of this card will be the one that allows non-supported SATA controllers pass-through to one drive only! So, for your setup you will have to switch cables, or just remove that card altogether.

If you haven't gotten around the problem yet, I suggest that you purchase one of those simple Marvell-cards that you can find littering about on Ali Express or eBay which will cost you next to nothing.

Also, I'd strongly suggest that you forgo the small barrel jack and use a SATA power plug, since the Chinese are very cheap when it comes to cables. That cable that comes with it is... Well, a joke, really. The leads are so thin, not to mention brittle so they're easy to break, and I'm guessing they're susceptible to interference as well. The plastic is kinda mushy too, so it's probably the cheapest blend they could find. I bet it won't hold up to code when it comes to being fire retardant either. Only speculation on my part though..

I had some trouble with my setup with these and I found them bulgy to deal with and easily came loose, which can be harmful among other things, to other components inside a computer.

I have 4 of these cards (For now, thinking of expanding with many, many more!), and they work pretty ok, as long as you make sure there's no glitchy plugs supplying power.

I had lots of trouble a while ago, leading me to think I had cable-issues as well as faulty SATA-cards, all thanks to the power connectors in my PSU (Well used and old POS!) even when I used the SATA power connector. Sometimes it was rock-solid for a month or two-three or so, then it could all of the sudden just BSOD my server, and the event viewer pointed at my drivers as the cause of it.

But, I swapped out that PSU since I noticed that the LED's on the boards was acting funny and when I touched the power cable it started to flicker (And BSOD'd on me). Since then - Rock friggen solid and not a hiccup since!

Other than that they've worked like a charm.