In your 'PS', Terry,you overlooked the RAID 'set-up'...of the SATA having to be configured as either in the 'Stripe' mode, or the 'mirror' mode............when a SATA drive is used on a motherboard with no SATA sockets (ther being no provision made in the BIOS either, to accommodate a SATA 'set-up').
The 'add-in' SATA card (w/the available SATA sockets to gain the end-result...of using SATA drives) is the way, here, yes, but,the RAID 'configuration'......of these SATA drives being used in either 'stripe or mirror' mode may still apply.
Should this be the case, anyone in this situation......should take their computer, to a computer technician.......and, have them set it all up for them, in the correct manner, for their motherboard's set-up......as in the cases where the users have tried themselves to set everything up and their SATA drives are NOT being 'seen'...by the BIOS.
Like you've already stated, they haven't read the Manual properly. They need to. (To fully understand the BIOS 'set-up'.)
And, most people DON'T.....read up, on this very important piece of Information, to understand their computer better.
(If it IS working, when they switch it 'ON'...they feel that they don't have to learn this 'part'...of having a computer. More the pity, as with most who have written in....about their 'SATA problem', have clearly shown.........that they too have not read up on the SATA 'set-up'...or, more plainly, can't be bothered to do so......because the 'techincial aspect' ...of such a task, is just too much for them to get their thinking around. Which is possibly the reason 'why'....they are asking someone else....to do their thinking, for them.)
A 15 minute job, say....by a techinician, will have it all connected for them.....and working 'hassle-free'...in no time at all.
If they have already done it, and it is still not working right.......a trip to their local Computer Technician!.......is still the best option to take.
To have their 'handi-work'....checked out, to find out where they went wrong.
And, they had better take their wallet (along with their Motherboard's Manual, so they technician is NOT chasing up the Information, in their Time/Assets...with them, as the services of a techinician....won't be...for free.
(They may need that 'add-in SATA card'...or those SATA cables you've mentioned. Or they may need a more reliable Power-Supply, who knows what they may need ...to get their computer working, with SATA drives.)
To those who do have problems...with their computers, 'doing it on the cheap'.........is no longer an option.
You want your computer working properly (and, you don't know 'how')......... get it fixed, by a technician, and pay for it. (It's a necessity!)
If I am being too hard on them, Terry, wait till they run into a technician...they get, to fix their 'mistakes', who has an even nastier temper.