The 5 Best External Sata controllers (2023 reviews)

Date : May 26, 2023
Categories : Network Io Port Cards

It is important to have the well suited external sata controller. In the following post, we will help you to select the best external sata controllers.

Our review process:

Our Top Picks:

Best Overall:

Buy: IO Crest External Sata Controller

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Best For adding extra Storage With incredible Speed:

Buy: Startech External Sata Controller

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Best With Microsoft modern speaker:

Buy: Febsmart External Sata Controller

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Best With PCIE:

Buy: LSI External Sata Controller

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Best For Professional administrators:

Buy: Highpoint technologies External Sata Controller

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Best Overall: IO Crest External Sata Controller

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Not everyone likes to purchase controller for their regular usage, but the io crest external sata controller would be an anomoly. This card (marvell 88SE9230 chipset) supports RAID 0 and RAID. It does support sata iii (roman numerals for 3) which runs up to 6.0gbps. With a PCIe 2.0 x 1 slot on your m/b, this card will boost the max throughput by about 1/3, not double it as an SATA III 6.0Gbps m/b socket would do. It can work with any OS.Server 12 supports the Marvell 88SE9215 controller.

This card has a built in raid controller offering raid 1 and 0 capability. It is recognized at the bios level, so it is perfectly bootable too.

Why We Like This:

Auto-detected by ms windows 8.1 os with no driver install required
Works fine with other raid controllers
Added to a new system build for spinning hdds
Automatically recognized by both, no configuration or extra steps required

Best For adding extra Storage With incredible Speed: Startech External Sata Controller

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The startech external sata controller is capable of outshining several other controller featured in this list in overall features for the price point. The SATA M.2 drives are powered by the pci-e bus which is a supremely clever way of retrofitting m.2 drives to older workstations. It allows multiple nvme or ssd m-key that require you to plug a ribbon cable from the card to the motherboard. The chip onboard this PCIe card quickly finds the drives when booting the server.

The chipsets of the RAID controllers must be the same in order for a set of RAID drives to be recognized when moving them from one controller to another. The card features on board jumper selection, which enables you to configure the card to provide 2 internal or external sata iii ports, or one of each, as needed. It's tough enough finding an esata controller that handles a port multiplier on both ports. If you just want it for some additional, really freakin' fast storage, then it will probably be pretty awesome.

Why We Like This:

Software prevents booting from a raid drive
New and hot release

Best With Microsoft modern speaker: Febsmart External Sata Controller

Buy on Amazon

If you often find yourself scrambling for convenient and suitable controller, febsmart external sata controller is your end point. If you are simply looking for a USB C charger, it’s cheaper to go with a simple transformer. It's a USB expansion card, so there isn't a whole lot to be negative or positive about it. It is a cost-affective way to add 2x 10gbps usb-c ports on desktop pcs, working stations, and mac pros for high power consumption. It does provide enough power for the non-powered SSD and the phone will charge, but just not quick-charge.

The card fits in a pcie slot on a desktop motherboard. It has 1/2 height and full height plates. It is compatible with usb 3.1 gen2 specification revision 1.0 and extensible host controller interface revision 1. It is easy to install in mac pro 7,.

Why We Like This:

Easily installed and configured on any windows 10 based computer with available pcie connector
Easy to install add in card
Include the thunderbolt dp and pcie features

Best With PCIE: LSI External Sata Controller

Buy on Amazon

If you often find yourself scrambling for convenient and suitable controller, lsi external sata controller should be your first option for buying. It is the LSA version of the hp h221 8-port external sas card. It presents each drive in the enclosure as an individual device. It is perfect for your use, assuming your tape drive is SAS and you have a matching SAS cable. This card has no hardware RAID function. It’s perfect for people that are using FreeNAS or ZFS for the RAID.

Why We Like This:

Handles 1024 hard drives, dual ported external was ports perfect for connecting jbods
Good brand reputation

Best For Professional administrators: Highpoint technologies External Sata Controller

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The highpoint technologies external sata controller is satisfactory and appropriate and fits well with your daily purpose. It is a great raid controller for the owc thunderbay 8 flex. It features that enable administrators to easily check the status of each individual drive and schedule verification sessions to ensure the health of hosted raid configurations. In general, the RR3720C can support up to 4 RAID arrays, with each array using 2 drives. It comes with the sas/sata cable. There are also enclosures to hold the drives which may have specialized cables.

This is ideal for customers who are new to raid technology. It is designed to maximize the uptime and accessibility of raid storage.

Why We Like This: