This says it all -> SATA Expansion Card that Works in UEFI Mode?

Need 6x ports. I'm in New Zealand where there are very few options apart from StarTech. I will probably need to import something.

Here is the one being looked at -> Link

Unfortunately, this card only appears to post using legacy mode, which also means the iGPU is NOT available. As I am trying to use an Intel MB -> I have been told they no longer have a legacy mode (not sure if this is true), so I was looking for a card that does work in UEFI mode if possible.

OR, a current Intel MB that has legacy mode and at least two slots for the addition of some cheap GPU.

The one in the link is a pci-e card, but I have also seen NVme port expansion cards, that may suit the task better, if they do UEFI??

Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated.

9 minutes ago, flambot said:

his says it all -> SATA Expansion Card that Works in UEFI Mode?

I don't understand your problem?

What has a SATA card to do with IGPU and UEFI?

UEFI is only maybe relevant if you plan to boot from a drive attached to the card, UNRAID does not do this.

The card you have in mind looks perfectly, ok, besides the price (160 DOLLAR??? 20$ would be more common)

2 minutes ago, MAM59 said:

(160 DOLLAR??? 20$ would be more common)

Welcome to life in New Zealand -> where businesses ROB you blind!

I'm currently in the position of updating my Unraid server which died last year.
I have a store building it for me. They ran into a problem -> the problem is the SATA card is not recognised by the MB using UEFI mode. It is only recognised when the bios is switched to legacy mode. However, in legacy mode, there is NO integrated graphics, so a GPU has to be installed. Further, the store informed me that modern Intel MB's do NOT have a legacy mode, so the card will NOT work (found this out using the MB that was selected). So I need a card that can be seen by the MB using UEFI mode (if possible)

Look, I don't know all the technical stuff. This is what I have been told.

1 minute ago, flambot said:

Look, I don't know all the technical stuff. This is what I have been told.

Yeah I see, but for UNRAID the legacy mode is not needed at all.

Legacy Mode is only for booting off the card (that contains a BIOS addon for this. BIOS is not used in UEFI anymore, therefore the card is not initialized at boot time. But for UNRAID it does not matter at all!)

Your "store" seems to have no Idea of UNRAID... ?

So, you do not need a new SATA card.

Ignore them and go with the current one. If it gives you grief later, you still can exchange it, but I heavily doubt it.

8 hours ago, flambot said:

I have a store building it for me. They ran into a problem -> the problem is the SATA card is not recognised by the MB using UEFI mode.

They sound like they are treating it as if they are building a regular desktop PC. That's the wrong approach. They should test the components by using a trial of Unraid, booting from a thumb drive as you would.

14 hours ago, MAM59 said:

Legacy Mode is only for booting off the card (that contains a BIOS addon for this. BIOS is not used in UEFI anymore, therefore the card is not initialized at boot time. But for UNRAID it does not matter at all!)

Can you please explain this comment more. I don't understand it?

I have used the term BIOS because that is what I understand, even if the terminology is no longer valid.

I think I understand the booting off the card (you would need this so the HDD attached to it would boot into WINDOZE for instance)
But...what is the bios addon? Is that something inside Unraid?

...therefore the card is not initialized at boot time. But for UNRAID it does not matter at all!) -> SO...what you are saying is that we don't have to see the card in the MB setup (the bios / UEFI) -> that Unraid will see it anyway??

6 hours ago, whipdancer said:

They sound like they are treating it as if they are building a regular desktop PC. That's the wrong approach. They should test the components by using a trial of Unraid, booting from a thumb drive as you would.

They ARE using a trial of Unraid on a USB. I have seen it boot into the Unraid login panel and trial screen.
However, it DOES NOT appear the trial is activated? From the sound of it, this could be the problem??
I have seen the SATA expansion card is not recognised by the MB.

They tell me you have to use legacy mode for the card to be recognized (This is a setting in the MB bios -> NOT Unraid legacy mode). Once the MB is switched to legacy mode in the bios, the integrated graphics is no longer available as it only works in UEFI mode (so I'm told).
Here is the thing I am NOT clear on. The MB they are using ( ASUS B760M-AYW WIFI ) only has one slot, which is taken by the SATA expansion card. So how are they seeing it is recognised once in legacy mode as they no longer have any graphics output for the screen?

The whole thing makes my head spin. This is the reason I used a store. However, I can only pass on what they are telling me.

Edited October 15, 2025Oct 15 by flambot

13 hours ago, whipdancer said:

the problem is the SATA card is not recognised by the MB using UEFI mode

You should provide the diagnostic file for legacy & UEFI mode, so others may found out why problem happen. You shouldn't jump to conclude the controller ( ASM1166 ) work in legacy mode only. In general, storage controller will work with Unraid if Unraid have their driver, you no need care about booting in lagacy or UEFI . And no need care does during POST or BIOS showing the disk.

Unraid OS are store in USB disk, you only need care about does USB disk success booting.

Below are one of long thread which talking about what controller support.

6 hours ago, flambot said:

they no longer have any graphics output for the screen?

Unraid would work without GPU ( of course you can't check / change BIOS setting ). After Unraid boot-up, you can manage remotely.

Edited October 16, 2025Oct 16 by Vr2Io

6 hours ago, flambot said:

But...what is the bios addon? Is that something inside Unraid?

BIOS is the thing (program) that is used to start the computer. Its main purpose is to find and initialize Hardware and finally to boot a real OS from one of the found devices.

To be able to do this, BIOS has to know about ANY card and has to contain a piece of code that can handle this particular card.

Obviously it is not possible to add code for every possible card, even those that have not been invented yet.

Therefor the cards themself contain a chip with a program that contains the needed code and a signature "I AM A BIOS ADDON, RUN ME!".

At initialisation time BIOS looked for these signatures and started those programs.

So it was able to detect Devices even an normally "unknown" cards and finally boot from them

UEFI is "the next BIOS", it does the same but needs other addons for security reasons.

Today's cards contain a signature for BIOS and for UEFI.

So they can be used for both of them at the same time.

Older cards like yours only have the BIOS parts and therefor are ignored by UEFI. They are simply not seen and so are the attached devices.

This just means you cannot boot from them.

But the booted OS (like UNRAID) does its own search and initialisation, if it contains a driver for this card, it will use it and the attached devices become available.

Most if not all current computers contain a BIOS/UEFI that can be switched. "Legacy mode" means: "use the old BIOS version".

Microsoft pushes UEFI, current Windows already demands to be started in UEFI mode only, next step (and there are boards for this already) is to prohibit and delete BIOS mode completely.

For security reasons they say, but it is not clear who's security they have in mind. Its more to protect their own licence scheme because UEFI allows hidden security keys to be checked at boot time already.

UEFI simply does not load any unsigned OS anymore. And guess, who is the "Master of signed keys" ? :-)

And they IGPU stuff is totally nonsense. As you can see yourself, video output works in both modes.

They are partly correct because if you want to watch crypted streams like Netflix & Co with this card, Intel demands UEFI mode (for the same reason as above).

But for normal computer usage, it is totally unneeded.

One commenter above is right, your shop only knows Windows and wants you to build a computer that fulfills the demands of current Windows 11.

if your asking is there a pcie device, that will also show additional disk within the bios/UEFI screen. This is entirely dependent on the manufacture and the mother board.

You can add additional disk slots using pcei addon cards but most of these cards will have an adational boot sequence to enter and configure the disk.

I usually go with HBA and look for things in IT mode.

Thanks very muchly for all the replies. It has been very helpful.

1 hour ago, MAM59 said:

But the booted OS (like UNRAID) does its own search and initialisation, if it contains a driver for this card, it will use it and the attached devices become available.

I did not know this, nor obviously does the store. After reading your first post, I figured out in my own mind this is what you meant.

I tried to tell them via an email this morning, but I got shut down. Appears they don't like customers telling them anything (or one's trying to help).

I was emailed by them late today and told they have a new card (not sure from where yet) that they say is fully exposed in the bios and the bios is seeing all 8x HDD's in my case.
It must work in UEFI mode as there is NO gpu (only integrated), which is disabled in legacy mode so I am told.

I'm going in tomorrow to have a look. They have had the server a week (was meant to happen all on the same day). What a drama!

When I was last in there they did have a USB booting into the Unraid option panel, but it did not appear to have the trial version activated. If they had, perhaps they would have seen all HDD's attached, even if it wasn't seen in the bios?? I'll never know.

I also have NOT seen my own USB stick boot. When I was last in, it wouldn't boot the system like their trial USB. Not sure why that is?? Might have to set it up from scratch again.
I am really hoping to does when I'm in tomorrow, but I plan to get a copy of their USB while I'm there.

I'll let you know how I go.

I've got old since I built this thing in 2007. Not up with the latest in tech (not even close). Server has been dead for about 18 months so my memory of things is rather vague and I have found the experience extremely stressful.

So I really do appreciate all your replies and help. Thanks again so very much.

7 minutes ago, flambot said:

I also have NOT seen my own USB stick boot. When I was last in, it wouldn't boot the system like their trial USB.

I would guess, your old stick is still "legacy only".

To allow UEFI you need to put the stick in some other (working) computer and rename the toplevel directory "EFI-" to "EFI"

Then it will boot.

14 hours ago, MAM59 said:

I would guess, your old stick is still "legacy only".

To allow UEFI you need to put the stick in some other (working) computer and rename the toplevel directory "EFI-" to "EFI"

Then it will boot.

Actually...I did this before taking it into the store...and it STILL didn't boot.
Does a USB that has used the make-bootable.bat file make any difference to this?

I have setup one of my USB's as a new install to see if it will boot. I'm hoping it will, then I can just copy my config across.

I have been using legacy ever since I set the server up. Wasn't called legacy then. So I have no experience with this EFI thing.

In fact, I didn't know you could even boot into the GUI on the connected server monitor, until I saw this on the replacement build. I've always just connected via a network.

I haven't messed with it much over the years. mainly because I was worried I would stuff something up and wouldn't be able to fix it.

Having access to, and watching my media has always been more important that playing with a server.

I had everything I needed sorted out over that time...but unfortunately, age related issues now make these memories difficult to retrieve and cognitive function is in the decline.

SO...YES...compared to many of you here I am very backward 😁 -> even though I have been using Unraid and this forum for 18 years.

I'm in to the store today to see how things are currently. The plan is to try and boot into the actual GUI (hopefully with one of my USB's) and see what we can see. I sure hope the HDD's have faired well in that time. I'll let you know.

Thanks again.

3 hours ago, flambot said:

Actually...I did this before taking it into the store...and it STILL didn't boot.
Does a USB that has used the make-bootable.bat file make any difference to this?

I have setup one of my USB's as a new install to see if it will boot. I'm hoping it will, then I can just copy my config across.

I have been using legacy ever since I set the server up. Wasn't called legacy then. So I have no experience with this EFI thing.

In fact, I didn't know you could even boot into the GUI on the connected server monitor, until I saw this on the replacement build. I've always just connected via a network.

I haven't messed with it much over the years. mainly because I was worried I would stuff something up and wouldn't be able to fix it.

Having access to, and watching my media has always been more important that playing with a server.

I had everything I needed sorted out over that time...but unfortunately, age related issues now make these memories difficult to retrieve and cognitive function is in the decline.

SO...YES...compared to many of you here I am very backward 😁 -> even though I have been using Unraid and this forum for 18 years.

I'm in to the store today to see how things are currently. The plan is to try and boot into the actual GUI (hopefully with one of my USB's) and see what we can see. I sure hope the HDD's have faired well in that time. I'll let you know.

Thanks again.

by default unraid make boot and other script format and use the usb disk labled UNRAID and marks syslinux and teh boot flag.
By default it is not setup for UEFI mode.

which you can change latter in the unraid web ui


UEFI supports legacy boot.

You may need to turn off secure boot and enable CSM and boot to the USB via CSM legacy...

Thanks for the continuing help.

Got the server back home today after seeing it booted to the tower login at the cmd while at the store.

Thankfully, it was using my original USB, so it is booting using UEFI.

I asked to see the webgui, but they were NOT interested in plugging it into their network. WHAT! 😱 You would think they'd have a laptop or something.

The other issue is my USB would NOT boot into the gui when using that selection at the boot prompt.

I tried a fresh install on one of my USB sticks and it booted to the password prompt. So I guess that worked, but when I copied my config over to that USB, it still would NOT boot the GUI. Something in there it doesn't like I guess.

I finally got it plugged in at home tonight, only to find no network connection. There are NO lights at the nic on the back. Not sure how to proceed, because I do NOT know the commands for checking the network if I log into unraid at the cmd prompt, and I can't access the GUI for whatever reason.

I can see my IP at the cmd when unraid boots and I know the network cable / connection is good because I was using it for our laptop. However, the new server does not have any lights or anything. I sure hope it's NOT a faulty nic.

How should I proceed?

Seems nothing ever goes right for me when computers are involved! 🤔😕

7 minutes ago, flambot said:

However, the new server does not have any lights or anything. I sure hope it's NOT a faulty nic.

How should I proceed?

The problem will be, I guess, your very old and outdated UNRAID.

Of course, you need current drivers for your LAN card and there is a really big chance that they are not available in your old version now. The same might be true for the graphics mode, Text mode is global, but graphics needs a recent driver to work.

Create a new stick with current UNRAID and a trial license. Boot it up and see, if LAN is working then.

Also test if if works in graphics mode.

Report back and then we can discuss further actions (that need to be planned ahead and carefully to prevent your stick & license)

Addon: it might happen, that even the new UNRAID does not have a valid driver for your LAN card, don't panic! Try and report.

Addon2: I have checked the (new) motherboard, they only talk about "Realtek 2.5G" LAN, not telling WHICH chip they are using. There are known issues with certain Realtek 2,5G chips, you might run into troubles are not able to install the needed driver. But again, don't panic! (I LOVE that "hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" stuff, LOOOL).

If things really are getting bad, you will need to buy a simple and cheap (LESS then 10 normal $!) Realtek 1G PCIe1x card and put it into one of the free slots. But afterwards you will not need it anymore, so maybe ask a friend if he can give you one for a day or so. You could also use a USB-LAN Card (1G only!!!) for this experiment.

(AND DONT BELIEVE THE PRICES OF YOUR "SHOP" :-) )

Edited October 17, 2025Oct 17 by MAM59

35 minutes ago, flambot said:

I finally got it plugged in at home tonight, only to find no network connection. There are NO lights at the nic on the back. Not sure how to proceed,

Type diagnostics in the CLI, that will save them to the flash drive /logs folder, then attach that zip here.

SUCCESS! 😁

I said to my wife last night..." I bet my config / Unraid version is too old for the network driver" (or whatever the correct terms are!)

After reading your comments as well, I set about configuring my second license USB with Unraid 7.1.4 and copied my license file across and my network settings.
Plugged the USB in and this time I used the blue boot panel to select GUI and after a lot of stuff posting, the GUI fired up and there was my setup in ALL it's glory!

I was so happy...then I spotted the network interface in the Dashboard showing movement -> looked at the NIC port and there be lights there! Yay!!! Buzzing even more.

Even more of a buzz was seeing "Healthy" on all the disks.

So! Next problem -> I need to get the array started.

How do I get my config over to the new setup? I already tired just copying the whole config folder, but that didn't work with both the GUI and network.
So I think I will need to copy specific files -> is this possible??
I have noticed there are quite a few differences between the two (my original USB) and the new setup.
Not really keen on setting up the entire server from scratch again. There have been some changes in the interface since my version and I have had a look through all the tabs and pages and there is SO much I don't remember. I find it rather scary.

I have a large number of networks place on my old pc that point to various locations on the server. Like -> Movies, TV Shows, Disk 1 + etc etc.

I did this so long ago I don't remember what I did to set it all up.

The damn blood pressure has taken a hike today! 😐

17 hours ago, MAM59 said:

(AND DONT BELIEVE THE PRICES OF YOUR "SHOP" :-) )

YEP! Really sad. 😓

Good news again for your blood pressure :-)

All settings / shares will come back once you either transfer your license to the new stick or alternatively copy the new unraid os back to your old stick (which is still activated).

(or buy a new license for the new stick, but I guess this is not really senseful, your old is "lifetime" the new ones you can buy are only "free updates for 1 year" anymore).

Which direction would you like to go?

32 minutes ago, MAM59 said:

Good news again for your blood pressure :-)

All settings / shares will come back once you either transfer your license to the new stick or alternatively copy the new unraid os back to your old stick (which is still activated).

(or buy a new license for the new stick, but I guess this is not really senseful, your old is "lifetime" the new ones you can buy are only "free updates for 1 year" anymore).

Which direction would you like to go?

Yes...the licences are Lifetime.

I have two licenses, so the USB I setup as new (Unraid-2) is working as you would expect. No need for a trial one.

I do know my original USB that was in the server when it died (Unraid-1) has old files on it from previous versions. Be nice to start with a fresh install.

Is it easier to copy to the old files to the fresh version USB, or the other way around?

Part of me thinks copying Unraid-1 (old) to Unraid-2 (new) is the way to go, but...

I don't know which files to copy? (Copying the whole config folder on to the new USB -> DOES NOT work).

My old USB has 99 files, while the new one only has 56. I noticed there are a couple of extra folders on the new one as well.

So...what do I do?

I see I can probably alter the disk.cfg file so the array doesn't start when booting the new USB with the old files copied across.

That way I can check all the disk assignments before the array is started.

I don't really have anything tricky on the server.

Just a few plugins (I think the fix.common.problems one has been removed)

Essentially, it is just a NAS with user shares and passwords.

There are probably docs somewhere that state what each file does, but I haven't found it.

The help is greatly appreciated.

2 minutes ago, flambot said:

I have two licenses, so the USB I setup as new (Unraid-2) is working as you would expect. No need for a trial one.

The question is: has this stick been activated with the license, or not (yet) ?

Usually it is easier to copy the old config to the new stick.

Copy all files BUT THE *.key ones from /config the new stick.

Dont worry about any plugins, most of them are outdated or even deprecated now.

Boot from the new stick and see if you can start the array.

If it refuses, most likely its the not-yet-transfered stick. Look into this forum how to transfer and activate it.

In your case I guess you will need to contact Limetech support to do it for you.

Once the stick has been activated, the array will start and all old shares should be available again (and passwords and so on).

You just need to add the plugins you want. Community Apps are now build in, Tips & Tweaks and Cache Dirs are just 2 clicks away.

2 minutes ago, MAM59 said:

The question is: has this stick been activated with the license, or not (yet) ?

YES...the USB stick has been activated. I can view the GUI (both on the server monitor and across the network)

I have tried to copy all the files across -> copied the WHOLE config folder, but it didn't work.
Will try it again -> probably tomorrow now.

1 minute ago, flambot said:

ES...the USB stick has been activated. I can view the GUI (both on the server monitor and across the network)

This means nothing, sorry.

The license check is done if you try to "start the array".

copying the WHOLE folder will kill the license of the stick. It will contain the key from the old stick then (which is surely not activated then)

copy all but the *.key files

(but then, I am afraid the mess already has happened)

I never copied the Unraid-1.key (old) to the new USB (Unraid-2) -> it already had it's own Unraid-2.key.

I'll try it again tomorrow and see what happens.

21 minutes ago, MAM59 said:

Community Apps are now build in

This ISN"T in the plugin folder? Should it be?

Thanks

1 minute ago, flambot said:

I'll try it again tomorrow and see what happens.

Yeah, time for breakfast... finally wife rolled herself out of the bed....

1 minute ago, MAM59 said:

Yeah, time for breakfast... finally wife rolled herself out of the bed....

I'm on the other end. Almost time to go to bed.