eSATA PCI cards

[piano632]

My mobo does not have SATA connections, so I want to buy an inexpensive PCI card that has at least 2 external eSATA ports so I can connect external hard drives via eSATA cables. Problem is I need regular PCI (not Express) and most PCI cards have a single external port, but I would prefer to have 2 or more external ports (don't care about internal ports). SATA 300 is not necessary.

The only seemingly good one I can find is this:
http://www.cooldrives.com/es4rapcicafo.html

Are there any others with 2+ external ports that use Silicon Image chipset?

[redwudz]

Actually SATA 300 (SATA II) is a very good idea, as most all modern SATA drives use that interface. e-SATA is mostly just a different connector and cable and some changes in the specifications to match that. Mostly higher drive powers for the longer cables. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

You can use a regular SATA controller card with external sockets and a cable that has SATA on one end and e-SATA on the other. e-SATA can use longer cables, about 2 meters, but regular SATA can use 1 meter (About 30") cables.

So unless you really need a longer external cable, I wouldn't be too concerned about the different setups. I have a PCI SATA controller card and I use a e-SATA socket and a regular SATA socket on the computer and both types of drives seem to perform about the same. I also have another computer with regular SATA on the motherboard and I installed e-SATA sockets and regular SATA sockets for external drives and it works just as well.

Most computers with PCI-E also have regular PCI slots. I would rather use my PCI-E socket for other purposes, such as a video card.

I do like the Silicon Image chipsets, though. No problems with them so far.

Just my opinion, but the original SATA connector was very poorly designed. It falls out easily, especially if you unplug it a few times. Once they came out with metal cable clips, it was vastly improved. The e-SATA connector closely resembles a FireWire connector. Much more stable and not as likely to unplug by accident.

What's nice about SATA, especially compared to USB 2.0 or FireWire, is the speed. It's exactly the same speed as a internal SATA drive. Really the best external computer interface so far. Again, IMO.

[piano632]

Is SATA 300 really worth it on a traditional PCI card? I wouldn't think a standard PCI interface could achieve anything faster than SATA 150 speeds. My mobo doesn't have PCI-E. I'm just looking for something faster than USB/Firewire since I transfer a lot of large video files to an external HDD. Already have the SATA HDD in a USB/eSATA enclosure, just need the PCI card and a cable.

I did find another card with 2 ports, but it has an Initio chipset (not sure how good they are). Can't complain about the cheap price though. Might give it a try.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124010

[redwudz]

Any SATA will be faster than USB 2.0/FireWire. SATA 150/300 will generally be somewhat faster than PATA (IDE). And SATA 300 will generally be faster than SATA 150, even on a PCI interface. Since SATA 300 drives are almost standard at present, you might as well make some use of even a little improvement.

If you want to try a Initio INIC 1623 Serial ATA (SATA) host controller chipset, go ahead.

[Jim44]

My mobo does not have SATA connections, so I want to buy an inexpensive PCI card that has at least 2 external eSATA ports so I can connect external hard drives via eSATA cables. Problem is I need regular PCI (not Express) and most PCI cards have a single external port, but I would prefer to have 2 or more external ports (don't care about internal ports). SATA 300 is not necessary.

The only seemingly good one I can find is this:
http://www.cooldrives.com/es4rapcicafo.html

FWIW, I've been using that card to access 2 external drives for about 6 months. Works great no problems. Granted these drives are essentially back-up/DV-AVI storage drives, so they aren't on all the time. Access times seem on-par with my internal SATA drives. No complaints.

Jim