BIOS setup for X58A-UD5 Rev 2.0

[Swiso]

Hello !

I would like to ask You for how to optimize the settings of the BIOS of my new PC.
I have 4 HDD that I have mounted alone, not in RAID.

1 Corsair Force SSD for the OS ( Win 7 Ultimate 64bit )
2 WD Caviar Black SATA2
1 Seagate Barracuda XT SATA3
1 DVDRW SATA2
1 Blu Ray SATA2

On the UD5 I saw that there are different controllers for SATA devices...Intel ICH10R, Gigabyte, Micron JMB362, Marvell 9128
I would like to know if there is some suggestions as to which controller is best suited for what device...
Right now when the PC boot I see on the IDE device listing , only the Segate HD...then on the Gigabyte SATA controller screen only one WD HD.
Is this normal ?
I must say that on the Control Panel of Win 7 I see all the HDD...so there is no problem so far.
Another thing I would like to know is the difference between, a MASTER and a SLAVE IDE channel on the BIOS Standard CMOS Features.

Should I set the SATA operating mode to  Native IDE or Legacy IDe mode ?

I read on internet that for SSD drives should be activated the AHCI mode to make them work best under Win 7, it is correct ?
Basically, I would like know how to setting up the SATA drives on the BIOS.

Thanks
Best Regards
AA

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

Right well I would suggest putting your SSD on the first Intel ICH10 southbridge port SATA2_0, follow that by thre rest of your hard drives on any of the same series of ports.

Set these up for AHCI and enable Native IDE in the BIOS.

The optical drives I would advise putting on the Marvell 9128 SATA3 ports  and configure that to IDE mode.

Also change your HPET in the BIOS to 64 bit.

Disable your floppy drive.

Make your SSD  the primary boot device. Use F12 when you want to boot from the optical drive.

There is no Master/Slave designation on SATA devices.

[Swiso]

Hello Dark Mantis, thank You for the help.

A couple of things...
Can I put the optical drives on the SATA 3 even if they are SATA 2 ?
I must connect the Seagate Barracuda Xt SATA 3 to an SATA2_ port as You suggest or is better put it to a SATA 3 port, since he is SATA3 compliant ?

Thanks !

Best regards
AA

[Dark Mantis]

You can put any SATA device on any SATA port as they are all backwards compatible. You will only be able to use the slowest speed between them though.

The SATA3 drive normally I would advise putting on the SATA3 port but as this is controlled by the Marvell 9128 controller which never lived up to expectations the fastest ports are the Intel ICH10 controlled (Southbridge) ports.

[Swiso]

Understood.

Thank You very much !
Very helpful

Best Regards
AA

[Dark Mantis]

You're very welcome and glad to be of service.