i just got one of these cards, in fact only last week i pointed it out to someone looking for the same thing, it's a PCI (not PCI-express) card that has one IDE/PATA/ATA133 socket that should be able to take two IDE devices and it has 3 SATA150 ports, although only two can be used at once as one is "mirrored" so that you can either use 2 ports internally or one internally and one externally. strangely the external port is a standard SATA port rather than eSATA (the internals of the cable are the same, just the ending is different). fortunately i had a PCI-e card with 2 ports, one internal and one external, and i was using the external port with an internal drive, thus had an eSATA to SATA cable running from outside the case back internally.
anyway, whilst i understand i can only use 2 of the SATA ports at once, i believed i could use 2 SATA ports plus the IDE port, thus a total of 3 (or 4 if two devices were connected via IDE) things working at once, although for bandwidth reasons, not supplying data all at once. i connected one SATA drive and one IDE drive, and it all works fine, but when i connect an external eSATA drive it doesn't work and hangs. i know the device works as if i disconnect and reconnect to the PCI-e SATA card it works
what i'm wondering, is if anyone has experience with these cards, and is is possible that you may be only able to use 2 devices at once, ie. either 2 SATA or 1 SATA and 1 PATA? i've not systematically went through unplugging and replugging yet as i only just got it (that's my next step), but on the card there is the external SATA port and and internal one opposite it and one to the side. i presumed the one to the side of the external port (ie. the closest) would mirror the external one, so used the one opposite/further away to conenct an internal SATA drive, and then connected one IDE drive. perhaps the ports opposite each other are the mirrored ports and the one on the side is independant. it's easy enough to open everything back up again and recheck, just a bit of a pain due to the location of the PC and all the cables running into it
does anyone know for sure? the instructions are a one sheet peice of paper that just tell you to install the drivers on the disc, and online i can't find much help. i downloaded two sets of other drivers and tried one but it didn't change anything. it's not the end of the world if i can't use the other external SATA along with the internal one, but it's handy as i have 3 external SATA drives. the card was only £8.44 delivered and it was easy to install and get working, so no complaints there
any help or input is appreciated, thanks. i'll post my findings if i get it to work as it might help out someone else, as i couldn't find anything by googling
VIA VT6421A 3 PORT SATA SERIAL ATA + 1 ATA PCI CONTROLLER CARD
http://www.amazon.co.uk/VT6421A-PORT.../dp/B000MR7SNS