Best SATA Expansion Cards for a DIY NAS: A Comprehensive Guide

You’ve maxed out the available SATA ports on your motherboard, but your storage needs keep growing. Whether you’re adding more hard drives for backups, media storage, or expanding your RAID array, a SATA expansion card is the easiest way to increase your drive capacity. However, not all SATA expansion cards are created equal. This guide will help you navigate the options and choose the best card for your DIY NAS.

Comparing Popular SATA Expansion Card Chipsets

Chipset	Ports	Interface	Performance	Considerations
ASMedia ASM1166	6 SATA 6Gbps	PCIe 3.0 x2	Stable with good driver support	Best choice for DIY NAS and home server. However, sometimes requires firmware updates for ASPM power management
JMicron JMB585	5 SATA 6Gbps	PCIe 3.0 x2	Works well but has power management issues	powertop --auto-tune can cause system instability
Marvell 88SE9215	4 SATA 6Gbps	PCIe 2.0 x1	Suitable for small builds	Reports of instability with TrueNAS
LSI SAS9207-8i	8 SATA/SAS 6Gbps	PCIe 3.0 x8	Enterprise-grade reliability, High speed	Expensive. Higher power consumption (~10W)

Power Efficiency Considerations for Low Power NAS Builds

If energy efficiency is a priority, be cautious when using JMicron-based cards, as they tend to have issues when power-saving features are aggressively tuned. If you plan to use powertop --auto-tune, consider an ASMedia or LSI-based card, as they tend to handle power-saving optimizations better.

Finding the Best SATA Expansion Card for Your Needs

When choosing a SATA expansion card, balance the number of ports, chipset reliability, power efficiency, and compatibility with your NAS software. For the most stable and high-performing option, LSI controllers are recommended, while ASM1166 provides a cost-effective and energy-efficient choice for smaller NAS setups.

To see a complete breakdown of recommended hardware components, visit our Hardware Components Guide and select the best SATA expansion card for your DIY NAS build.