Had to Switch to AHCI to Do Clean Install/Re-partition, Switch Back?


  1. Posts : 5
    win 10 pro x64
       #1

    Had to Switch to AHCI to Do Clean Install/Re-partition, Switch Back?


    I just got an alienware 13 r3 laptop w/ win 10 pro pre-installed. The hard drive is one 500gb ssd drive. I wanted to partition the drive so that my OS was on a 140gb partition, and then the remaining volume for a media drive.

    I wasn't able to shrink the original install volume down enough so I had to do a clean install. I used the media creation tool to create a bootable usb drive. The usb drive was bootable and setup would load but at the media selection page there were no drives visible.

    After some research and whatnot I was able to determine that disabling Secure Boot and switching the sata mode to AHCI from RAID did the trick. I was able to re-partition and install win 10 pro.

    I have turned Secure Boot back on and I got a warning when I made the change do but the system still boots fine. I haven't changed the sata mode back to RAID because I get a similar warning message and I'm not sure if it will have any effect.

    Do I need to? Does it matter? Will it cause a problem? It's a laptop with one drive, does raid even matter in that situation?


    This is for UEFI boot systems not legacy BIOS but it may still apply. I don't know.

    Thanks for your help.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #2

    I don't see any reason to use RAID if it has only one drive. Maybe I am missing something, though. I would leave it on AHCI.

    The way you would change it, though, would be to boot into Windows in safe mode. Delete the device manager entry from the AHCI drive controller. Reboot the computer into UEFI settings and change the mode to RAID. Reboot the computer back into Windows safe mode. Turn off safe mode, reboot the computer back into normal Windows and hope for the best.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 7,254
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
       #3

    It is better to use AHCI for SSDs.
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #4

    And you might want to look at the disk controller driver in Windows. Using the proper Intel or AMD drive controller for your chipset will improve performance, but you will have to load it manually.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 5
    win 10 pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    NavyLCDR said:
    I don't see any reason to use RAID if it has only one drive. Maybe I am missing something, though. I would leave it on AHCI.The way you would change it, though, would be to boot into Windows in safe mode. Delete the device manager entry from the AHCI drive controller. Reboot the computer into UEFI settings and change the mode to RAID. Reboot the computer back into Windows safe mode. Turn off safe mode, reboot the computer back into normal Windows and hope for the best.
    Thanks. That's what I thought.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 5
    win 10 pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #6

    NavyLCDR said:
    And you might want to look at the disk controller driver in Windows. Using the proper Intel or AMD drive controller for your chipset will improve performance, but you will have to load it manually.
    Okay. Dell has all those drivers available for download from their support site.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 5
    win 10 pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #7

    swarfega said:
    It is better to use AHCI for SSDs.
    That's good to know.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 366
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #8

    hyjinx80 said:
    Okay. Dell has all those drivers available for download from their support site.
    I made a similar change to my Dell Precision M4800 (specs listed under second system in My System Specs). If anything Ive noticed a performance improvement (albeit slight) after changing to AHCI mode from RAID. With only one drive, RAID is rather pointless unless there is a reason for it that I am unaware of. So unless you have a real reason for wanting to use RAID, I would leave it as AHCI.
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 459
    Windows 8&10
       #9

    Dell uses RAID on systems with M.2 PCIe SSD drives so they can run them using the SATA controller. Basically, if the SATA is set to AHCI the system may, if able, boot to the PCIe device. If set to RAID it stays as SATA.

    Installing Ubuntu requires those systems to be set as AHCI or it won't see a PCIe drive.
      My Computer


 

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