Stereodude
Not really a
Does anyone have any suggestions for a PCI-e SATA card compatible with optical drives? Preferably with 4 ports. The extra 4 ports on my Asrock mobo don't play nice with them.
question SATA card for optical drives?
- Thread starter Stereodude
- Start date
Stereodude
Not really a
The ASM1061 is the controller on the ASRock board that doesn't play nice with the optical drives. I found many similar complaints online about it. Obviously I want to avoid any cards using it.
I'm thinking to try this card. Amazon's generous return policy will come in handy if it doesn't work suitably.
A few reviewers of a similar card at Newegg with that controller reports it as working for optical drives.
I'm thinking to try this card. Amazon's generous return policy will come in handy if it doesn't work suitably.
A few reviewers of a similar card at Newegg with that controller reports it as working for optical drives.
Stereodude
Not really a
You guys sure are silent on topics relating to storage... :scratch:
Stereodude
Not really a
And which ones are those?
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
Sorry, I don't know much about SATA chipsets and haven't used an optical drive in a long time.
ddrueding
Fixture
All I know is that most optical drives didn't work on add-in SATA cards about 4 years ago. Not useful? That is why I didn't post 
Stereodude
Not really a
Well, I went ahead and ordered the card from Amazon. If it doesn't work I'll send it back and might get something with a Silicon Image SATA controller. There are numerous reports of their SiI3132 chipset working for optical drives. The reason I didn't buy it first is that it only supports 2 drives and I'd like >2 without 2 cards. There are also some reports that it doesn't play nice with EFI BIOS though people seemed to be blaming the early EFI BIOS implementations.
In the past when I looked into add on SATA cards the price was rather high that it didn't make sense to add it on and rather get a new mother board with more sata ports. The card you linked to is at least reasonably priced. Amazon makes sense to order from because they typically make it easy to return for free.
Stereodude
Not really a
I'm using the ICH ports for RAID-1 and my SSD. That leaves only one port for optical drives. I wanted to avoid having a RAID card in this system.
Stereodude
Not really a
The motherboard has 10 SATA ports. I didn't know the extra 4 non-Intel ports didn't support optical drives when I bought it. Apparently making a fully compliant SATA controller is too hard. :bstd:
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
Did you load the drivers for the extra SATA ports?
Stereodude
Not really a
Yes, I did. I put a HD on it to test it and it works fine.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I've been using a couple Samsung external USB3 Blu-Ray drives for the last few weeks, mostly so I could move my main desktop well away from my body during the (theoretical - it's actually been pretty mild this year) heat of summer. I don't notice any performance decrease in overall disc ripping time and I'm making use of hardware that would otherwise just be sitting on my workbench anyway.
ddrueding
Fixture
All my optical drives are USB at this point. Even the retail Lenovo boxes don't have one and offer a USB when ordered.
Stereodude
Not really a
The Syba / IOCrest card with the Marvell controller seems to be working fine. It's definitely far more functional than the ASMedia chips on the motherboard. I'm burning my first disc with a drive on the controller card as I write this.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
A few years back I went through a lot of hassle finding a cheap add-in eSATA controller that wasn't a SiL piece of shit. Eventually I came across an appropriate Syba card with a Marvell chipset that worked perfectly for my application. Perhaps what we can take away from this is that Marvell chipsets should be our first choice for add-in cards?
Stereodude
Not really a
That would certainly be the trend developing. I burned several discs with a drive on the Marvell chipset and had no issues, whereas the drive would drop from the ASMedia controller when I inserted a blank disc.