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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:50 am 
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I've got a home-built WHS that also has a 4-slot external eSATA case with drives in it connected through the eSATA port on the motherboard. Going through this build was an interesting experience because I learned by accident about the requirement of Port Multiplier so a multi-bay, external eSATA case like the one I purchased would actually work. I was lucky in that the motherboard I used had a second JMicron JMB36X SATA chip on it (in addition to the NForce controller chip handling the drives in the main case) that supported Port Multiplier. I've had discussions with a few other people that have been burned by this before, not realizing the eSATA port they were planning on using did not support Port Multiplier and, thus, their external drive case didn't work for more than a single drive. I've looked around the site at some other threads hitting on this subject but I'm wondering if it would be helpful to start a single thread that lists chips, cards, external cases and motherboards that we've verified support Port Multiplier so people doing builds in the future know what they need to look for and what we know works. For my setup I'm using the following:

1. ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe motherboard JMicron JMB36X external eSATA port (I'm told some revisions of this motherboard actually have a different chip than the JMicron that does NOT supprot Port Multiplier but I have not verified this personally)
2. Mediasonic HF2-SU2S2 4-bay USB/eSATA enclosure

I didn't see another specific thread like this, but if there is one and I just missed it let me know and I'll delete this post and add on to the existing thread.


Last edited by Nougat on Fri Jan 15, 2010 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:39 pm 
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Nougat wrote:
I've got a home-built WHS that also has a 4-slot external eSATA case with drives in it connected through the eSATA port on the motherboard. Going through this build was an interesting experience because I learned by accident about the requirement of Port Multiplier so a multi-bay, external eSATA case like the one I purchased would actually work. I was lucky in that the motherboard I used had a second JMicron JMB36X SATA chip on it (in addition to the NForce controller chip handling the drives in the main case) that supported Port Multiplier. I've had discussions with a few other people that have been burned by this before, not realizing the eSATA port they were planning on using did not support Port Multiplier and, thus, their external drive case didn't work for more than a single drive. I've looked around the site at some other threads hitting on this subject but I'm wondering if it would be helpful to start a single thread that lists chips, cards, external cases and motherboards that we've verified support Port Multiplier so people doing builds in the future know what they need to look for and what we know works. For my setup I'm using the following:

1. ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard JMicron JMB36X external eSATA port (I'm told some revisions of this motherboard actually have a different chip than the JMicron that does NOT supprot Port Multiplier but I have not verified this personally)
2. Mediasonic HF2-SU2S2 4-bay USB/eSATA enclosure

I didn't see another specific thread like this, but if there is one and I just missed it let me know and I'll delete this post and add on to the existing thread.


Excellent idea, when I have a minute I will test out my TR4M with eSATA card to confirm if it is port multiplier aware (it better be :mrgreen: )

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:27 pm 
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I can verify the following:

1. My primary win 7 pro workstation uses a 2 port StarTech eSATA PCI-E (model number PEXESATA2) card whith the SansDigital 5 bay Port Multiplyer Box (TR5M) and all 5 drives are recognized.

2. I use the very same eSATA card in my "semi DIY" WHS box with the Roswell/Sans Digital Model Number RSV-S4 4 bay Port Multiplyer and all 4 drives are recognized. Tip: when I pulled the 2 drives out of the storage pool and installed them in the 4 bay, the first time I booted WHS I recieved a bunch of file warnings and notice of a corrupted BU. I just ignored this, powered down, powered up and everyone is a happy camper.

I would suspect that with respect to a compliant card, its the fact that the card uses the Silicon Image 3132 chip. I would never use software RAID on a workstation and Iv'e never even bothered installing the cards which come with the SansDigital boxes.

HTH and thanks for raising an important issue. :)


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