StarTech.com M2 PCIe SSD Adapter - x4 PCIe 3.0 NVMe / AHCI / NGFF / M-Key - Low Profile and Full Profile - SSD PCIe M.2 Adapter , TAA (PEX4M2E1)

I used this to hook up two external SATA drive enclosures to my new computer. The card fit perfectly in my computer. I installed it and plugged in my drives and started up my machine. I then installed the latest driver from the startech.com site (nice site, BTW). Some of my drives were not recognized. I had to go into Windows Disk Management, where they were listed as Foreign Disks. Once they were "imported" Windows read the disks just fine.Everything seemed to work fine. But then, after working on the computer for about 15 minutes, got a blue screen of death. The error shown as DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. After rebooting, got another BSOD, and another, and another. Every 15 minutes or so. This on a brand new computer.So I figured it must have something to do with the card since that was the only thing I had changed about the computer. I decided to walk it backwards one step at a time. I didn't want to uninstall the whole thing and start all over. So I went to the driver in Device Manger and just disabled it, then rebooted. Hmm, no more BSOD! What happens if I re-enable the driver now. Will the BSOD come back? It did not. So it seems like disable/enable the driver solved the issue.In retrospect, I should have installed the card, turned on the computer, installed the driver, then reboot. Then, shut down the computer, hook up the drives, and turn the computer on. I did these two steps as one. I highly recommend that you take it one small step at a time. Easier to sleuth problems that way. Other than that, this card has worked perfectly.

At first, I got this card just for the 2 on-board M.2 slots, as they would provide a very clean interface to add some M.2 SSD blades I happened to have lying around. Then I realized that this card has a really neat feature called HyperDuo that combines a HDD with (most likely) the 2 M.2 SSDs, to give the best of both worlds; the capacity of a HDD, and the speed of SSDs. I've been using that feature on an old PC for a while to give it some new life.But as all good things must come to an end, that PC died. So I had to find a new home for this card and decided to give it a try on a 2019 Mac Pro, since this machine has an internal HDD (installed for mass storage) that could use a little speed boost. This is where it gets complicated. Although the product description says the card works on a Mac, it doesn't. At least not in my case on a 2019 Mac Pro. Once installed, the computer doesn't boot, only giving out indicator lights complaining about a problem with one of the PCIe cards, which could be troubleshooted only by removing this card. I also went as far as flashing this card with a UEFI ROM (provided by StarTech themselves) but to no avail; it just won't work on a 2019 Mac Pro. I guess the new Mac Pro works differently from the old 2006-2012 Mac Pros. So Startech, please make this point clear that this card works on "older" Macs only. If it is supposed to work on a 2019, please help me how to get it working.

I can confirm this will support multiple drives over the Esata connector on Windows 11.Download the latest driver from the Startech Website, instead of using the CD. The CD likely has a much older driver that may not support this. this is always the recommended thing to do with any sort of computer component. Drivers on CDs are always outdated.The card is smaller than I expected and even though it was right underneath my GPU, I didn't feel like it restricted the airflow in any meaningful way.I installed four Western digital 8TB drives into an external enclosure, and I was able to format, partition and use all four drives over a single Esata link with this card.Trying to copy data to more than one drive at a time seemed flaky and was slower than copying data to just a single drive.I don't know if this is an issue with the card, the enclosure, Windows or something else. your mileage may vary.This card has two external eSata connectors and two internal SATA connectors. You may only use any two connectors at once, and you select them with jumpers on the card.Great value for adding SATA connectors to your PC or connecting A direct attached storage device.

Here's the thing. This product is supposed to be compatible with Windows. And it is, just not the way it should be. Port multiplier which is the main reason I imagine most people by this product is flawed in Windows 10 and 11. By flawed meaning several of the drives refused to show. I've tried every configuration you can think of in the drives are just not present.And I know it's not the card It's the driver for Windows. That's right The driver is flawedHow do I know it's the driver for windows?Because when the computer boots up all drives show.I have mine configured to use one external port, one internal port.After reading I came to learn that when it comes to the esada each side supports and eight drive Bay, eachThe external port is for an 8-Bay eSATA enclosure.The internal is for a internal drive.However and oddly enoughThe operating system that it claims to not support is the one operating system that port multiplier operates perfectly in, in fact all features of the device operate perfectly in this operating system and that operating system is Linux.That's right in Linux the driver is installed automatically no need for the CD or nothing additionally all drives in my media Sonic 8 Bay enclosure loads right up via eSata and internal.No fuss no muss. So perhaps StarTech needs to update their data to reflect that this card is indeed proper for Linux.They may not support it for Linux, But it works so perfectly What support does it need for Linux.I am using mine to power a plex media server, and might I say it runs solid as a rock in Linux that is