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Question about SATA 150/300 PCI cards (Could use some suggestions as well)

Discussion in 'Storage and Networking' started by Darncrazy, Feb 17, 2006.

  1. Darncrazy Newcomer, in training

    I have an ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe motherboard with only two SATA 150 ports. I already have 2 sata hard drives, one 200GB Seagate and another 300GB and want to add another drive but I don’t have any more open ports.

    I have a Promise FastTrak 378 SATA RAID controller card built into the motherboard and I heard from another post that you cannot have two of the same type of SATA card (http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-10218-SATA-QUESTIONS-onboard-amp-PCI-card.html). So I have a few questions about SATA 150/300 cards.

    If I were to buy a non Promise sata card, let say a 2 port SATA 150/300 card, would I still be able to use the two onboard SATA 150 ports or would I need to buy a 4 port non Promise card?

    I could also use some suggestions on SATA cards too. I don't plan on using any RAID features, I just want to use SATA hard drives. So if anyone can recommend what to buy or what not to buy, that would be awesome.

    Thanks in advance
    -DarnCrazy
  2. Nodsu Newcomer, in training Posts: 9,431

    Uhm.. Your motherboard has a normal SATA controller and a SATA RAID controller, giving you total of 4 SATA ports. The RAID controller is capable of working with non-RAIDed drives too.

    Of course both of the controllers work simultaneously. Why would they put two of them on the motherboard if they didn't?
  3. Darncrazy Newcomer, in training

    Honest to God I thought you could only use one or the other. Well I feel stupid now. *sigh* Oh well, thanks for clearing up my misconception of not being able to use it.