These days, ASM1061-based designs are, to my knowledge, the only affordable (i.e. <$100) PCIe cards for direct-attached eSATA storage on Macs. There has been no need for additional drivers, and they work seamlessly on vanilla OSX86 systems. Thunderbolt and USB-C are still quite expensive and flakey (on hacks).
The only issue is their behavior regarding port-multiplier-aware enclosures: only one disk is recognized (usually the one on the top bay), rendering the box useless.
This, however, can easily be fixed (on Sierra, onwards to High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina) by applying a AppleAHCIPort kext patch in Clover, as follows:
Find --> 40600200 Replace --> 00000000 AppleAHCIPort
This can be implemented by including this kext patch on Clover’s config.plist:
<key>KextsToPatch</key>
<array>
<dict> <key>Comment</key> <string>ALPM IO Error AppleAHCIPort</string> <key>Disabled</key> <false/> <key>Find</key> <data>QGACAA==</data> <key>InfoPlistPatch</key> <false/> <key>Name</key> <string>AppleAHCIPort</string> <key>Replace</key> <data>AAAAAA==</data> </dict>
</array>
</dict>
Don’t forget to use “10.14.x” (or a blank string) for Mojave, though, or it won’t work!
(thanks to vit9696 for this; more information can be found on insanelymac.com, toward the bottom of the page).
Mar 08, 2020 @ 17:58:09
Can you link to a pcie eSATA card that works in a cMP 5,1 running Mojave? I can’t find any documentation on this.
Mar 08, 2020 @ 20:12:19
https://www.delock.com/produkte/1117_SATA—eSATA/89389/merkmale.html
If you’re based in the Eurozone, Delock carries these affordable cards. I’ve been using a couple of those (on Mojave and Catalina) for years. If, however, I was to start afresh, I would probably opt for the USB-C cards/enclosures.
Mar 08, 2020 @ 21:13:26
That looks hopeful, thanks! The link takes me to a USB + internal SATA card. Do you have one of the external SATA (eSATA) cards running under Mojave?
Apr 06, 2020 @ 17:24:32
Yes – both my Delock “combo” cards I’ve been using as eSATA, connected to Icybox and Sharkoon RAID enclosures (with port-multiplication). No stability/incompatibility problems in Snow Leopard onwards to Catalina.