Thanks for the suggestion. I connected my drive enclosure via my USB3 -> esata adapter and the server booted in seconds (it runs off of an SSD), instead of minutes. I guess something with the driver in the esata card was affecting more than the BSOD. I ordered a card with the above chip set and and will test the difference between the adapter and the card. With the USB3 -> esata adapter I can transfer files on/off the pool at about 130mb/s, which is ok for my needs. I'd imagine not having to go through the additional conversion will speed things up. I'll update this post so others can learn from my experience.