IDE or AHCI ??

[dimmy32]

I notice when i start my computer, I get a message from Gigabyte, before windows starts...asking if i wanna go AHCI ....
instead of IDE.

no idea what this means , and if I should say yes or no.

??

thanks! 

[w_tanoto]

I'd go with AHCI, but there is some kind of problem. That is, if you don't connect it to Intel controller or if you don't install the drivers from Gigabyte.
The drive would appear in "Safely Remove". I found this quite annoying. (I connected two of my HDD into SATA 6 ports which are not controlled by intel controller - so I created a .bat file to override it everytime i re-install my computer. The command can be found from microsoft.com. My other HDD which is connected to Intel Controller is removed from Safely remove after installing drivers from gigabyte).

[absic]

Hi there,

If you have already installed your Operating System then the chances are it has installed in IDE Mode so you want to say no to this screen.

If you still haven't put your system together and installed the OS then you might prefer to install in AHCI mode as this offers a few minor things such as Hot-Swap which can be useful if you want to swap HDD's whilst the system is running.

In most cases the read/write speeds between IDE and AHCI Mode are negligible, However, if you are using and SSD then you do need to install in AHCI Mode.

[dimmy32]

Thanks absic ,

I already have win7 installed. and am running regular hard drives.

question - can I try AHCI first , then switch back to IDE in the BIOS menu, if it doesnt work ?

[Dark Mantis]

I am afraid it is not quite as simple as that. When you install Windows it is different on iDE mode to AHCI and requires registry hacking as well as changing the mode in the BIOS.

Unless you need HotSwap ability  etc I would just leave it to the standard IDE mode.

[Lsdmeasap]

What is the operating system?   And what motherboard too actually, because I'd like to know if maybe you are seeing the AHCI screen and just thinking it's asking to switch to AHCI, or does it actually ask?

If you are using windows 7 or Vista you can easily switch to AHCI if you installed in IDE Mode, you must be using one of those operating systems, and you must be using the Intel ports.   Then all you have to do is make the following registry changes, then reboot to the BIOS and set AHCI and then save/apply

Enable switching between all IDE/AHCI/RAID modes by changing "Start" Values in these keys to 0 (Win 7 / Vista ONLY)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci\Start
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Pciide\Start 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iaStorV\Start

[dimmy32]

thanks guys, it is windows 7 and the motherboard is a GA-H67A-UD3H-B3

in the BIOS it does give me the option to choose IDE or AHCI.

I'm seriously considering buying a SSD anyways...the hard drive in there is over 5 years old and has seen a lot of action.

I am comfortable doing regediting, it's pretty easy.

[Dark Mantis]

If you are installing a SSD then you will probably want to do a fresh install of Windows anyway so you won't need to edit the registry. All you need to do is select AHCI mode in the BIOS and any other little tweaks that you want.

[dimmy32]

well,when I run the system file check, it finds some corrupt files , which cannot be fixed.
Windows 7 seems to run ok however.

Would you recommend a SSD ? I can get a 120 gig one for around 200 $ ....

[Dark Mantis]

Chances are if the program is finding corrupt files and the drive is quite old probably the drive has had it. Ideally if you can afford it the best way to go is a SSD drive for the boot and then a large SATA magnetic drive for data storage.

Can't comment on the price though as I wouldn't know if that is good or not for your region.

[dimmy32]

thats ok, I live in Canada. Things are different here.

I game a lot, and I guess the best solution would be to get a SSD for windows 7, and put my games on a second regular hard drive.
I'm assuming the second hard drive will also run in AHCI as well ??

thanks again for all the help

[Dark Mantis]

Yes any decent hard drive will run on AHCI. If you are going to be using it for games as well as data storage I would suggest a Western Digital Black or Samsung F3 or something similar as they are performance drives.

[dimmy32]

I have a second hard drive on my current system - a seagate barracuda 7200 X. - its 300 GB.
I guess I would use that.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes as long as it is in good condition it should be fine. I would advise formatting and checking first just to make sure.

[dimmy32]

thanks for all the advice, I installed a new SSD today...switched over to AHCI, re-installed windows 7.
everything working flawlessly !!

awesome