Review on 💾 MZHOU 16 Port SATA PCle Expansion Card - Boost your Storage with 6 SATA 3.0 Devices and 16 Cables! by Daionte Simpson

I have an 8 port SATA PCIe card. Right at the beginning after I put it in my motherboard the board wouldn't boot. I am using an Asus ROG Strix B550-F Wifi Board with the latest firmware (Version 2006 Build 2021/04/08). The motherboard would display the UEFI BIOS splash screen and then sit there forever without being able to proceed or boot into an OS or even open BIOS pages. and set the PCIe slot modes from "Auto" to "GEN1/GEN2/GEN3" and then reinsert the card; I tried that but it didn't seem to work. Finally, I read the paper instructions very carefully and noticed that they talk about connecting your devices before inserting the board. So I connected a SATA hard drive to the SATA 1 port (as listed in the paper guide; the one closest to the case mount) and still nothing. I then replaced the SATA cable by plugging it into the third port and the computer magically booted up, went through the UEFI BIOS and booted into Windows 10 as normal. Surprisingly, the hard drive even showed up in Windows without installing any drivers. It didn't take long though because I quickly (not that quickly actually, spent a lot of time troubleshooting) realized that only one SATA device was showing up in Windows. After many cable changes, I finally gave up and decided to try installing the drivers. Now the installation of the drivers requires serious attention, since they are on a mini-disc in the box. It's 2021 and I haven't bought or built a computer with a CD drive in over 10 years. Luckily I had a USB DVD drive in my closet that was gathering dust that I could use and get the drivers from the disc. Following the instructions, I installed the files specified in the paper guide, and Windows 10 immediately recognized another hard drive connected to the device. It was like magic. I'll update this review if I run into any issues, but for now it works with two SATA devices connected to ports 3 and 4 of the card. Overall, I can't help but feel that this whole process was pretty ridiculous. , I've never come across a PC component before that won't even boot my motherboard, and the requirement for a CD to install drivers (no website to download) is just ridiculous. If I didn't already have an optical drive, I'd be stuck. Most hardware these days just "works" plug and play style, even on Linux (which I haven't tried this card in yet. Don't look forward to it), so I expect a better installation experience.