I have a MB that lets me change the SATA Type.
The options are:
Native IDE
RAID
AHCI
It is set to Native IDE now. I don’t want to run a raid configuration.
What is AHCI.
What does it do?
Is there an advantage in switching to AHCI?
Thanks
Sven
The IDE and AHCI are two different ways of how the motherboard speaks to the hard disk (different set of input/output commands). The old, legacy one is IDE (Integrated Development Environment) which was also used for IDE/ATAPI disks. It is used for compatibility with older Windows versions such as XP and with old hardware. The newer AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) is used in newer hardware and Windows versions and has some features not implemented in the IDE mode. It is also faster under certain conditions. The problem is that the two are not compatible, so once you have set the hard disk to one and have installed Windows, you cannot normally switch to the other or you will get a blue screen of death (BSOD). If you have a rather new PC and you are going to clean-install Windows, you can set the disk in AHCI mode for better performance (although I have hardly seen any difference) and then install Windows. But then you cannot change it back to IDE. Some troubleshooting CD-ROMs such as Hiren's Boot CD use legacy applications (DOS) so the disk might not be detected or be readable in AHCI mode. In this case, I change it temporarily to IDE mode, so I can test it and troubleshoot it with these tools and then I set it back to AHCI for normal use. The last mode, RAID (Redundant Array of Identical Disks) is when you combine two or more disks in various configurations. The most two common of them are to extend the disk capacity by adding them (Stripe) or to copy one's data on the other as backup (Mirror). Usually RAID requires two identical disks (same capacity and speed) but in other configurations different disks may be used.
Summary: IDE and AHCI are different ways the motherboard communicates with the hard disk. Don't change it once Windows are installed or you will get an error. Before you install Windows AHCI should give better performance (at least in theory), so you can set it to AHCI before a new Windows installation. Once set to AHCI or IDE, don't change it!
Thank you very much for the explanation.
I will keep it as is.
Sven
You can change from IDE to AHCI but it requires a registry edit prior to changing the option in the BIOS. If you simply change the BIOS setting without the registry tweak the OS will try to load the wrong controller driver and will not boot.
Here's a link to the tutorial on how to do it: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...tallation.html
Thanks,
from what I read in other posts, there is not much of a difference, short of hot plugging.
I will stay with IDE for now.
Thanks again
Sven
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