Installed the card in my system which uses an MSI B450 Tomahawk Max motherboard. I bought this to add an internal DVD-ROM to my system, which was out of SATA connections; and for future expandability. Giving 2-stars due to easy install and no need for drivers on Windows 10, but I’ve had too many issues to recommend it as even mediocre. See below for details.
THE GOOD: Easy install and Windows 10 recognized card with no driver install required.
THE BAD: Installing the card had a massively negative impact on my system boot time. My boot time increased by at least 4 times in length. Most of the time it seemed to take closer to 6-8 times as long as without the card installed. Basically, installing the card caused a very fast booting system to now boot very slowly. Additionally, the read speeds from my DVD-ROM (which I had in a previous system) seemed noticeably slower when connected to this card than in the past.
THE UGLY: Once the card was installed it interfered with or otherwise impacted the current SATA controller on my motherboard in such a way that one of my current hard drives stopped being recognized. Since this was my data drive, with the card installed I lost all access to my personal files and data.
THE TAKEAWAY: I may continue trying different connection options to see if I can get everything to work correctly, but at the moment I’m leaning towards returning this card if I can and trying to find an option from a brand I’m familiar with. But I wanted to share my experience since it seemed to be different than many other reviewers.
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