Switch from Raid to AHCI


  1. Posts : 429
    Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
       #1

    Switch from Raid to AHCI


    Is there a way to switch from Raid to AHCI without losing everything and having to reinstall Windows again?
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 809
    Win10
       #2

    1. Run MSCONFIG
    2. Enable Safe Boot (minimal)
    3. Reboot into UEFI/BIOS and change to AHCI
    4. Boot up into safe mode
    5. Run MSCONFIG and disable Safe Boot.
    6. Reboot
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 41,412
    windows 10 professional version 1607 build 14393.969 64 bit
       #3

    Download: Intel Rapid storage technology:
    Downloads for IntelĀ® Rapid Storage Technology (IntelĀ® RST)
    Post images into the thread of status, manage, and performance tabs
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 429
    Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    PolarNettles said:
    1. Run MSCONFIG
    2. Enable Safe Boot (minimal)
    3. Reboot into UEFI/BIOS and change to AHCI
    4. Boot up into safe mode
    5. Run MSCONFIG and disable Safe Boot.
    6. Reboot
    Thanks! I'll try tomorrow.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 13,896
    Win10 Version 22H2 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home
       #5

    And do be sure you have a copy elsewhere of anything you don't want to lose, that exists nowhere else. Any time working with drives one risks possibility of something failing at the worst time.
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 429
    Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Is there any advantage to switching to AHCI?
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 809
    Win10
       #7

    I'm assuming you're talking about Intel RST when referring to RAID. In theory, if you don't enable any RAID features then there should be no difference - Intel RST sits on top of AHCI so if you don't have RAID configured then all drive commands should just pass through the RST layer to the AHCI driver.

    Indirectly, there may be some marginal performance difference depending on whether you use the RST or AHCI driver - Forum - Performance of the Intel RST/RSTe AHCI/RAID Drivers

    Another thing I can think of is that boot may be slightly faster in AHCI mode since the UEFI won't have to load the RAID driver. But I haven't verified if this is noticeable.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 429
    Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    PolarNettles said:
    1. Run MSCONFIG
    2. Enable Safe Boot (minimal)
    3. Reboot into UEFI/BIOS and change to AHCI
    4. Boot up into safe mode
    5. Run MSCONFIG and disable Safe Boot.
    6. Reboot
    Thanks PolarNettles, That worked perfect. The only thing that I had to do was assign my DVD drive a new drive letter. I had it as X:.
    I think it starts faster and is a little more snappy now. Thanks Berton for your input. I'm marking this as solved.
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 4
    win 10
       #9

    Clint said:
    Is there any advantage to switching to AHCI?
    That may depend on the system (hardware and drivers).

    On my Dell Latitude e6230, repeated CrystalDiskMark speed tests on my 500GB Evo 860 done before switching from RAID, in AHCI mode (default MS driver), and after switching back to RAID showed:

    Sequential read/write speeds 0.4%/1.3% slower in RAID mode
    Random 512KB read/write speeds 0.3%/0.3% slower in RAID mode
    These differences are within measurement error, since individual runs in a given mode varied by much more than that.

    However, when it came to 4KB random read/writes, things were reversed
    for QD=1, the RAID mode was 8.3%/4.5% faster
    For QD=32, the RAID mode was 3.6%/12% faster
    Most of those figures are larger than the min/max difference between runs within a given mode, which suggests the RAID mode may have some small edge over the AHCI one (possibly driver-related), though it could still be down to chance.

    So, unless there's some other need to switch, it may not be worth bothering, and if small performance gains are of interest, it's probably worth doing before/after tests with one or more piece of benchmarking software.

    If doing that, it's probably worth leaving things to quieten down for a while before benchmarking, as for some reason, after the switch to and back from AHCI, various system processes (search indexing, etc) seemed to dribble along in the background making disk accesses for some time before the system got nicely idle.
      My Computer


 

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 10 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 10" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:51.
Find Us




Windows 10 Forums