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Is it possible to make this kind of 1-to-5 port multiplier work standalone, without a regular PC motherboard? If so, what kind of adapter would be necessary to access its SATA port through USB? Is there such adapter at all?

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What about this?

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In the following page: https://www.addonics.com/products/ad5sahpm-ea.php, there is an eSATA to USB adapter. Could that kind of adapter be used with the first card above?

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Given that eSATA is electrically identical to SATA, you can just purchase a cable to connect this board to an eSATA port on your PC or NAS.

However, be aware that many common controllers do not support port multipliers.

For this reason, it is quite unlikely that a cheap USB to SATA adapter will function correctly with this device, and even if you connect this device to an eSATA port, you may not get it to work... even though you may be able to electrically connect the components together in a valid chain, they will likely not function correctly.

The best way to verifiy compatibility is to check the manual for your existing equipment - NAS / PC / Motherboard / Chipset / etc... Failing that, if you're willing to take a chance, then purchase one, plug it in and see if it works.

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You need a SATA controller to drive a port multiplier it can't work "standalone". You can get SATA to eSATA cables. USB is more generic than SATA, so there is such a thing as USB to SATA adapters, but there is no such thing as a SATA to USB adapter.

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I have done this with a similar device, the AD5SAHPM-EA - 5 x 1 eSATA Port Mulitplier. I connected it to my Raspberry Pi.

I had to struggle to fund a USB to eSATA adapter that supports port-multiplier, but I found one; this one on eBay worked just fine. However you will need an eSATA to SATA cable, but those are easy to find; here is an example.

Keep in mind you will need to power the drives; in my case they were SSD drives, so I was able to use the 5v 2a power supply that is used to power a Raspberry Pi. I just had to make a Micro-USB to 4-pin Molex adapter.

port multipler: http://www.pcssl.co.nz/productdetails.aspx?cmd=702-46.
USB adapter: https://www.ebay.com/itm/184850999948.
SATA cable: https://www.ebay.com/itm/393403882604

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  • I actually need to replace a similar adapter as the AD5SAHPM-EA - 5 x 1 eSATA Port Mulitplier. This kind of adapters is not made anymore.
    – mike
    Dec 8, 2022 at 7:25
  • This would be a great solution for adding cheap USB based SATA ports to connect a large number of drives cheaply to a machine, IF NOT FOR the fact that those USB adapters you linked to are USB2 ! Good lord, USB2 is not even fast enough for one hard drive, nevermind 5 hard drives! It's a shame nobody makes a single board with everything built in, so it would look like a USB hub but the "output" ports would all be SATA. That would be such a useful product for so many different projects.
    – l008com
    Oct 10, 2023 at 2:07

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