Recommended SATA card for adding only extra drive to Asus H87I-Plus motherboard?

So my motherboard has a single PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 slot in which I want to get a SATA adaptor so I can add one more drive to my server. I do not intend to add more because I've already run out of space in the server, and am squeezing this last drive in. So with the fact that I only want to put it only one drive, can I use any SATA card and not worry about incompatibility with unRAID and card RAID modes etc? Otherwise can someone recommend me a SATA card that would work for me, in the UK? Thanks for your help.

Edit: Would this card or this card be okay?

Here is our hardware list.

The first card on ebay is SiI3132.

See the note regarding this chipset in the wiki.

I would give the Amazon card a chance.

If it's not working you can easily return it.

I am using Rosewill RC-218 with that motherboard, but I don't know here you can get it.

It's 8.85 incl. shipping and a Amazon return possibility - I doubt you will find something else that is cheaper to get.

Thanks for the help Fireball3 and trurl, I'm going to order the Amazon card and post back how it went.

So I got the card today. I decided I was gonna juggle things around a bit and connect my cache drive to this new SATA card, as it wouldn't be a big deal if it got messed up (backed up my Plex installation that was on it too).

First things first, the instructions that came with the card were all in German. I spent 10 minutes double checking that I understood the vague diagrams on how to set the jumpers so that the SATA connectors were active, and not the eSATA ones. Once I'd installed the card and connected my drive up I switched on the server with a monitor and keyboard hooked up ready to debug any issues.

The first issue was that the disk simply did not show up. Not in the BIOS, and not in unRAID when I let it start up. Thought the card was a dud. Checked the jumpers again, checked the cables, checked the card was seated firmly, and spent a long time trawling through the BIOS to make sure nothing was stopping the card from working and I ended up changing some settings.

After a reboot there was light! On the POST screen the RAID card showed an info screen to let me know my drive was connected and it was in non-RAID mode, with a handy settings screen to allow me to switch between RAID and non-RAID modes. Great. Except when I rebooted again, the drive disappeared from the info screen and was AWOL again. Not a good sign. Ended up reconnecting the drive to the second SATA connector on the card and it's worked fine for a few boots now, with the drive working fine. I'm not sure if the first connector is dodgy or there was an issue elsewhere, but I couldn't be bothered with sending the card back because I don't care if the second connector is faulty, I won't need it.

TL;DR everything worked out fine in the end, and the card does the job. Thanks for the help!

I'm not sure if the first connector is dodgy or there was an issue elsewhere, but I couldn't be bothered with sending the card back because I don't care if the second connector is faulty, I won't need it.

Well, I wouldn't be pleased with that situation but if you're OK, all is fine.

I'm not sure if the first connector is dodgy or there was an issue elsewhere, but I couldn't be bothered with sending the card back because I don't care if the second connector is faulty, I won't need it.

 

Well, I wouldn't be pleased with that situation but if you're OK, all is fine.

I'm definitely going to check it again when I get the new disks to put into my server, but for now I just wanted to make sure the card would work. It's been working fine now for a few days, and like I said I have no intention, or space, for another drive so I just need the one slot. The card also came with 2 SATA cables and a molex to SATA cable, both I which I needed so it was a pretty good deal for that price.

I could include that card in the wiki, when it's editable again, if you provide some more information.

- find out what chipset is on that card (written on it or shown during POST)

- are temps and SMART values shown in unRAID

- is spindown working properly

I could include that card in the wiki, when it's editable again, if you provide some more information.

 

- find out what chipset is on that card (written on it or shown during POST)

- are temps and SMART values shown in unRAID

- is spindown working properly

- I believe it's JMB363?

- Temps are shown and I get a report when I run smartctl in the console

- I'm not sure about this as I have an SSD connected?

I've just tried this card with the same chipset and only one of the internal sata ports work.

Thanks for the feedback.

Card is now in the "unrecommended" table.

Who knows how long the Amazon link will last - here is the name of the card as advertised.

CSL - PCI Express eSATA + SATAII + PATA (IDE) interface card | controller card 2 x eSATA, 2 x SATA II and 1 x PATA | incl. RAID controller (JBOD)

I suspect there's a configuration issue with the card => it seems to have 2 SATA ports, but each can only be directed to EITHER one of the eSATA external connectors or an internal connector.

I suspect the issue was a poorly seated jumper (although it's possible the internal connector is in fact faulty).

May not be worth the bother to test, but you could try using an eSATA cable and connecting a drive externally, just to confirm that the other port is working okay.    Might be useful to have it available for pre-clearing or occasionally hooking up an unassigned drive for whatever purpose.