Do i need the AHCI driver

_Jimlad_ · 17 Dec 2009 at 15:19

OK i wonder if anyone can clear this up for me, my last shuttle pc did not have a AHCI driver for windows7 so i just installed and all seems to work OK.

I have just ordered a new Shuttle and on the web site an AHCI Windows7 driver exists, so what do i do with it? is it for before i install windows or for afterwards?

advice welcome

rpstewart · 17 Dec 2009 at 15:56

The idea of AHCI is that it's a common command set which a drive controller supports and therefore shouldn't need hardware specific drivers. I doubt you'll be able to tell the difference between the ones in 7 and the manufacturer's own.

_Jimlad_ · 17 Dec 2009 at 16:14

ok thanks mate, i was a little confused as i said in my first post i did not need it, so for the record do you install first or after win7?

rpstewart · 17 Dec 2009 at 16:38

Doesn't really matter when you install it. If you add it during the install then it'll be used from then on. If you add it later then Windows will install using the built in driver which will be replaced by the Shuttle driver when that's installed.

_Jimlad_ · 17 Dec 2009 at 16:50

thanks for the advice, always wondered

djkav · 17 Dec 2009 at 17:30

It all depends on if you enable AHCI in the BIOS.

Windows 7 will automatically install the AHCI drivers during install. All other windows require you to manually install the AHCI drivers for the board chipset via floppy during setup.

AHCI is a must if you want to utilise the advance features of SATA drives like command queuing etc.

ChileanLlama · 17 Dec 2009 at 17:36

_Jimlad_ said:
OK i wonder if anyone can clear this up for me, my last shuttle pc did not have a AHCI driver for windows7 so i just installed and all seems to work OK.

I have just ordered a new Shuttle and on the web site an AHCI Windows7 driver exists, so what do i do with it? is it for before i install windows or for afterwards?

advice welcome

You've not installed these non-MS drivers on the machine with your SSD have you? If so you've just disabled your TRIM functionality. It only works with the standard MS drivers that ship with Windows 7.

The other recommendation I'd give is that if you ever need drivers for your chipset, drive controllers etc is to go to the chipset manufacturer, Intel, nVidia, AMD etc and use their drivers. The ones provided by the system manufactuer, e.g. Shuttle in this case, can be quite out of date, especially as the system goes EOL, and are rarely customised anyway.

_Jimlad_ · 17 Dec 2009 at 17:43

sweet! thanks for the heads up, no i have not installed yet the shuttle comes tomorrow, right will leave the AHCI's for good then!

ChileanLlama · 17 Dec 2009 at 17:52

NP

Just to avoid any confusion though...

You're ok to set your BIOS to AHCI, and install Windows on it, in fact I'd recommend it.

Not sure what chipset/controller the shuttle has, but Windows 7 will almost certainly have AHCI drivers for it built in. So just install Windows 7 from the DVD, and don't load any AHCI drivers during the setup, or after Windows has finished installing

_Jimlad_ · 17 Dec 2009 at 18:32

ChileanLlama said:
NP Just to avoid any confusion though...

You're ok to set your BIOS to AHCI, and install Windows on it, in fact I'd recommend it.

Not sure what chipset/controller the shuttle has, but Windows 7 will almost certainly have AHCI drivers for it built in. So just install Windows 7 from the DVD, and don't load any AHCI drivers during the setup, or after Windows has finished installing

loud and clear buddy, i don't wanna **** up my SSD, although i only installed win7 on it last week! but got a good price on a new shuttle and went for it.