MASSCOOL PCI Card, 4 internal SATA Model XWT-RC040

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*It's low-cost*It sort of functions properly when setup right (Windows 7 works)*Small form aspect*Comes with two sata cables (Might need longer ones though) *Not compatible with all optical drives as I identified out, hit or miss.*Annoying having to flash the bios and with some less experienced users it could be too hard. You need to have to flash update the Silicon Image 3114 bios in dos (Use freedos and a floppy or pendrive). You can get them off their internet sites, make confident to get each files (UPDFLASH.EXE) and the right bios according to your setup (non raid or raid).Variety the following to flash the bios at command prompt in the right directory (UPDFLASH.EXE biosfilename.bin)Then grab the newest drivers for Windows 7 (Non Raid or Raid make positive to get the correct ones).

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four SATA ports on 1 PCI card All ports internalPCI interface needs modificationonly 1.5GB/sMajor installation headache I purchased this card knowing about all of the above components. You will most likely have to widen the slot on the card ahead of it will fit into the pc.The card ought to have its BIOS at a particular level to match up with the XP drivers for it. XP did not recognize the card with the included disc, or any of the drivers I downloaded from the support link on the Masscool web site (it linked to the Silicon Image page.) Neither the Windows or DOS flash utilities provided worked to update the BIOS to match the present drivers. Legacy drivers do not exist on their website, but with some aid from search engines, you can discover the right drivers.Not a plug and play resolution, but completely functional after a few hours of fiddling around. Try a thing else if you want a quick fix for far more storage.

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Inexpensive. Adds four internal SATA headers. As noted by prior reviewers, it is only SATA I. And you will need to reflash the BIOS to use a large challenging drive. And flashing the BIOS demands making a floppy boot disk. But I knew all of that prior to I purchased this card. I'm glad I read the previous evaluations, so I wasn't in for any surprises with this card. I had run out of SATA headers in my residence server box, and this was an low-cost way to get 4 a lot more, despite the fact that they're only SATA I, and you have to do a lot of gymnastics to reflash the BIOS.

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4 SATA ports, super-cheap, does what I require it to do. I paired this card with a super-cheap atom-based ITX board and now have a quite functional fileserver making use of Linux Soft-RAID. This card automatically passed drives via to the OS (I hate FakeRAID) with no configuration required. I was worried I'd have to load a various BIOS (as some here have done), but I'm not using an optical drive, so I'm set. As soon as you open the box you ought to throw away the SATA cable included. It's way too tight, and it's responsible for a lot of people today ripping the sata ports off this card. ANY OTHER SATA cable will do just fine, and won't rip ports off. Also, the notch in the PCI connector needs a bit of filing out to fit properly. I've heard sandpaper works great here, I applied some rough disk that came with my dremil, and it worked fine. Finished in about two minutes, and the card slid appropriate in (and out, I checked). Even though this card demands a small extra perform, the price makes up for it. Most cards with much more than two SATA ports price 2-3 occasions what this 1 expenses. Read the evaluations, they have tips to fix all of this card's eccentricities.

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Package driver CD does not contain Vista driver, but Vista will uncover the suitable driver on the web and install it all by itself. none. Just believed I would add this in case an individual w/ Vista was thinking about not getting this 4-port SATA card.

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None No present driver support, and using this as a primary card for a sata card was a nightmare in XP. This item will be returned really shortly.

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Adds SATA to ur pc...i assume it is only 1.5 tho the way you have to install the card is...put the finish with the bracket down very first then the b u t t finish of the card last ....because the notch in the pci connector isnt wide - sufficient-- i'd purchase it again

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Inexpensive Does not function. The installation instructions are not accurate in the least. I then tried each driver on the CD but I was not able to get this card to work below Windows XP. I function with this type of hardware everyday and I have to say this is the most disappointing piece of hardware I have encountered in rather some time. I will call for Newegg to RMA this with out charging me a restocking fee. It's that poor.

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> 32ᄌ bit drivers on the masscool web site (also claiming windows 7 support)> their other product works great sufficient for me utilizing ESATA, it is model # XWT-RC018 (windows even automatically detected this model ! ) > 64 bit drivers will not install on my windows server 2008 r2 64bit box.tried both intel and AMD versions to rule out any naming mixups.

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None Check their internet site (www.masscool.com), they have no drivers readily available for most of their items, including this one. This item has an old BIOS that won't detect newer drives. You may possibly have luck with a 500GB, but no way on 640GB+. The stuff that comes on the CD is a joke, neither Vista nor XP can make sense of them. Take my tips and stay away from this brand like the plague!!! Newegg need to stop offering Masscool merchandise!!!

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Affordable and works nicely as soon as you flash the BIOS. Mine fit fine in two various instances, and my SATA cables worked fine too. Maybe I just got lucky? When I initially installed the card, it took the liberty of overwriting the partition table on my 2 disks and RAIDing them for me. Unfortunately, I had information I wasn't ready to loose.... Be confident to back up just before you hook this up.I never got the WinFlash utility to function, but it was easy in FreeDOS. Also, I didn't understand that this card is SATA I 鳖Mb/s transfer.) I thought it was SATAII, but its not. Everyone says to update the BIOS but they don't say *how*. Masscool doesn't have any info on their web-site. You have to go to the chipset maker's website - Silicon Image. They have tons of info, the newest BIOS, a utility to flash it, and directions on how to do it.

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It WORKED... it DOESNT work anymore. I went to swich some cabling about, and the connector on the card broke off into my cable. Now I have to get an RMA and get it replaced.I had to eliminate the motherboard to get it to sit correctly. Appears like you need to have genuinely genuinely reallllly push the card to get it in. Thought it was a good product, but in between having to pretty much force in to sit effectively and then the connector snapping off I'm hoping my motherboard doesn't break when I try to get rid of it.

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Detected under Fedora 12 and Ubuntu 10.4. Drives attached to this are accessible out of the box. Ultra slow transfer rates to drives connected to this board. Identical drives hooked to the mobo via onboard SATA work fine. Much less than 10 MB/sec transfering from drive to drive, gimme a break!Contacted Masscool via their assistance website and have been waiting weeks for any reply -- they haven't contacted me at all. Not sure why I am receiving slow speed, appears to have newest firmware.My suggestions, if you designing a new system and are contemplating this board, spend funds for a mobo with a lot more onboard SATA slots. Preserve your fingers crossed if you order this unit -- Masscool will not aid you.

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Worked effectively in linux and windows xp. Good low-cost pci sata card. The ports are challenging to reach in the case. I don't genuinely see this as a serious fault. I don't think the sata ports "lock" the connectors in or not.

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Cheap. Poor physical manufacturing tolerances. I have installed quite a few PCI cards, but this 1 was unique. While the card aligned correctly with the PCI connector, it took enormous force to seat it in my Asus motherboard. I tried installing it in a Dell and had the same challenge. The thickness of the card's edge connector is greater than the opening supplied in the PCI connector. Finding it out was extremely complicated too. Once the card was seated, it worked well, but the force necessarily to seat and eliminate it could damage your motherboard. I recommend avoiding this poorly made product.

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This card works as advertised if you do your investigation. It gets the job carried out for 20 bucks! Common people today what are you expecting? It is a 20 dollars PCI SataRAID card, hence it can't carry out any better. I have tested this card below Windows Property Server, it works. I ran it in RAID0 for a whilst. Later following, I moved it into a Windows 7 test machine and also worked. It ended in my server 2008 box. It is operating my Windows Server Enterprise 2008 OS in a RAID1 array without having a hiccup! So yeah it works in Windows 7, it runs in server 2003 and runs in server 2008. Some have mentioned you cannot boot from this card. That's not accurate. I'm booting off of it as I write this. Performance. Do not expect record I/Os with this card. It is a 20 bucks card as I mentioned. SATA I - Note it is NOT SATA IIOffloads a fair quantity of processing to the OS. You do not need to have to flash the card to use it. Not in numerous cases. Basically download the RAID Management utility, install it and work with it. PASS THRU enables you to use all four drives as single drives. I never ever flashed to Non-RAID and I utilized the card for 4 single drives in Windows Residence Server just fine. I was able to add drives to the pool just fine and to eliminate them as properly. I can hot-swap drives with no taking the server offline connecting this raid card to the Athena Power MR-125B Black SATA Mobile Challenging Drive Rack - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817123302Excellent luck everyone. Once you know you newegg :)If performance is the main reason why you are looking at a raid card you require to start ignoring cards in the ฤ range. Newegg offers some superior-dependable cards that will absolutely give you that added efficiency you are searching for. Clearly, not in the ฤs range so move on.

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four ports pci not pci-eNO XP DRIVERS! card comes with driver disk that does not function for xp. Internet site ONLY HAS WIN7 DRIVERS. have requested that the card specs be changed to reflect this incredibly critical point: ONLY WORKS IN WIN7

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Low-cost. Inexpensive. Fairly significantly echoing what other reviews have said. Hell of time receiving the card to seat. One broken connector, so now only 3. (I would say it's additional of a function of the low cost SATA cables included that were Quite TIGHT so when I tried to eliminate it it was hard then SNAP). I applied cables that came with my MB and those worked fine and were effortless to insert and get rid of.Had to flash the BIOS. Come with 5..x version and the existing is 5.4.x, Could not read my SATA DVD-RW drive and SATA DVD-ROM until I flashed the BIOS, but that could have been the broken connector that I didn't comprehend was broken at the time (fixed BIOS and cable at the same time).Don't bother with MASSCOOL site, just go to Silicon Image website and do it there...created a bootdisk from bootdisk.com (the plain BIOS Flashing version) and it flashed no difficulty.Even my 1.5TB SATA Difficult Disk is working nicely....bummer I lost a connector but soon after all the rigamarole it's not worth returning. Have Enjoyable.

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Affordable. You want to flash the BIOS to get it to function with major drives. The manufacturer doesn't mirror the BIOS updates on their webpage, and the chipset manufacturer BIOS download link is down today.. so my restricted time has been wasted and I cannot do anything until the link is back up. This is totally unacceptable. Invest additional funds and get a nice card. You will save income in the long run if you don't have to waste valuable hours with garbage cards like this 1.

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works as it really should. I have a 2 TB Seagate on it in my WHS and an adapter to convert one of the Sata ports to eSata and works perfectly. I will be adding a lot more drive to it soon i hope. It was a tight fit in the PCi slot. I actually had to shove it and was concerned for my old motherboard. Overall the card is working great and I would get it once more.

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It works with Linux. I put it in a No cost-NAS box and haven't had any issues. I didn't require to do anything unique it just found it and employed it. none

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For single drive (Non Raid) you have to do a bios flash to make it a SATA-LINK vs SATARAID, then the card function ideal. Installed in WINDOWS House SERVER. Flash has to be done in dos. The price is terrific if you take the extra time.

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Really affordable way to get 4 internal SATA ports. I doubt if I'll need a SATA card with my next motherboard, and even if I do, I'd be lucky to be able to use this PCI 1, so I didn't want to put significantly dollars into this.Mostly uncomplicated installation -- no thanks to the included "instructions".Windows 7 drivers offered, and Windows 7 (both 32-bit and 64-bit) finds and installs them itself from the world wide web. Uncomplicated! Directions not beneficial -- it was by reading reviews here that I understood that because it shipped preflashed with RAID BIOS, to install it in Windows XP I would have to point to the RAID XP driver.The included SATA cables are a tight fit. I'm not suprised that two reviewers here broke SATA ports off of the card trying to insert them. I'm working with a SATA cable that came with my motherboard (I finally had to abandon the ULi on-board SATA on this Abit UL8 motherboard; I wasn't able to get it to function with 64-bit Windows 7, and updated drivers aren't going to occur).Ships with RAID BIOS, ought to be flashed to non-RAID BIOS for non-RAID use (but working fine for me with single drive). The men and women who program to use this in RAID mode are mostly significantly additional technical than most of us who plan to use it in non-RAID mode, so it would make much more sense to ship it preflashed with non-RAID BIOS, and let the techies flash it to RAID. But no, it's the mere mortals who have to do the flashing. I was pleased not to run into most of the troubles described in reviews here.Initial, I didn't have to file the card to install it. It went in fine in my Abit UL8.Second, I was pleased to discover that on bootup it reported BIOS five.four.03, the newer version which permits challenging drives larger that 500GB. My SATA drive is 750GB.Third, the CD (a) was not blank, and (b) seemed to be very recent, with folder dates as late as December 2009, and driver dates as late as 2007 (for Vista).Fourth, Windows XP was able to install a driver from the CD. I had to point to the RAID driver, because the card shipped flashed with RAID BIOS, but it's working fine with the single hard drive.Fifth, Windows 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit, was able to locate and install drivers from the net.It's working fine now in all three. I'm nervous about installing a 2nd SATA drive after reading the reviewer who said it reformatted his, so I program to flash it with non-RAID BIOS before acquiring another SATA drive.