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[jmone]

My backup server is a repurposed i7-8700K / 32GB Ram Asus Hero X with a 10GB Intel X520 NW adapter, and Intel 1015 reflash to LSI in IT mode + expander giving me an additional 16 sata port to the 6 on the Mobo.  There is also a 1TB nvme that acts as high speed cache drive infront of the SATA pool.  All the data drives are formatted in ReFS and pooled using DrivePool into one 125TB pool.  It stores both my PC OS backups and also a copy of my media that sits on my MAIN-PC's pool (that gets syced using FreeFile Sync).  The OS drive / Backup OS drive is NTFS.

I've been running various versions of Windows Server for a few years on the box without any HW issues, but decided to reformat to Win 11 Windows for Workstations (to keep ReFS for the data drives) and go to Veeam for PC backup instead of WS2016.

I immediately ran into issues during the Win11 install with the installer failing to create partitions on the targeted OS SDD.  Got a new SSD and the same thing.  Eventually swapped to a different SATA port and it all went as expected from then on.  After the build was done, I installed a 2nd identical & new SDD to enable OS Backup to this drive and while recognized, "Disk Management" could not format the new drive.  Swapped out the SATA cable and it now seemed fine but 10min in, Windows froze and then would not boot till this 2nd drive was removed (and it's been fine ever since).

Question: Before I embark on trying to "clean" the connector (or just ignore the port altogether), is there a way of diagnosing what the issue is on this Sata Port (the rest seems fine)?

Sata Bus #0 - OS SSD
Sata Bus #1 - Issue (but want to use for by OS Backup SSD)
Sata Bus #2 - Spare for Data Drive (in hot swap bay)
Sata Bus #3 - Spare for Data Drive (in hot swap bay)
Sata Bus #4 - Inuse for Data Drive (in hot swap bay)
Sata Bus #5 - Inuse for Data Drive (in hot swap bay)

[zybex]

No easy way to diagnose hardware, short of replacing components one by one (drives->cables->motherboard).

Did you check/replace the power connector?
Most likely outside of that is a failed capacitor on the motherboard causing spikes. It may be an early sign of impending failure.

If you need more ports you can also get a PCIe-SATA controller.

[jmone]

Yeah - I thought I'd double check on any possible diagnostic ideas.  I'll check/change the power connector for that drive as well and give the port a clean..... otherwise I too am guessing a new MOBO and just ignore that port.  The original build was from Oct 2017 so over 5 years old.

FWIW - 22 Sata Ports is ideal for me (It's in a 20 bay case) so up to 20xHDD + 1 x OS + 1 x Backup OS = 22 ports (16 from the SAS and 6 from the Mobo) + 1 x nvme for the cache drive.  Need 2s x PCI-E ports.