How important is ACHI?

andy85wsm · 3 May 2012 at 22:28

Hi guys,

first off - christ SSDs are fast! Definitely one of those things you believe people about but even better seeing it in the flesh.

But onto ACHI. I was told to set my bios to this before installing windows but I forgot. Before I go loading everything onto my computer so I need to go back and reinstall Windows again?

Surveyor · 3 May 2012 at 22:39

Use the Microsoft Fix it.

Run the Fix it, restart PC, go straight into the BIOS and switch to AHCI mode, save settings and restart, AHCI drivers will be installed.

andy85wsm · 3 May 2012 at 22:44

Cheers boss.

Another quickie. I've got my SSD plugged in which I installed Windows on and then plugged the HDD in with the same connectors into the same socket on the motherboard but Windows isn't showing it up.

Any ideas?

*edit* is the difference between ACHI and not-ACHI big?

craarc · 3 May 2012 at 22:45

ok i have now read conflicting reports on it some say yes do it some say dont bother

i cant use it cause if i do it messes up my multi boot and my ssd is fast as hell anyway so rather than configure all my drives or risk messing the multi boot mines in ide mode and its not sufferng that i can notice.

i guess most will say run it in ACHI mode tho its just i cant

Surveyor · 3 May 2012 at 22:58

andy85wsm said:
Cheers boss.

Another quickie. I've got my SSD plugged in which I installed Windows on and then plugged the HDD in with the same connectors into the same socket on the motherboard but Windows isn't showing it up.

Any ideas?

No problem.

You need to go into Disk Management (Right click Computer, select Manage and then select Disk Management), right click on the unallocated space and create a simple volume.

andy85wsm said:
*edit* is the difference between ACHI and not-ACHI big?

From what I've read AHCI mode gives the best performance.

Essexraptor · 3 May 2012 at 23:07

OR

the SSD is scorching quick in both IDE and/or AHCI mode

it's just from benchmark tests - AHCI will give you the BETTER overall performance.

don't lose loads of sleep over it

Lastly ..... ENJOY !!!!

andy85wsm · 3 May 2012 at 23:08

Surveyor said:
No problem.

You need to go into Disk Management (Right click Computer, select Manage and then select Disk Management), right click on the unallocated space and create a simple volume.

What if the create simple volume part is blanked out and unclickable?

Surveyor · 3 May 2012 at 23:18

andy85wsm said:
What if the create simple volume part is blanked out and unclickable?

Is the drive already formatted with stuff on it?

andy85wsm · 3 May 2012 at 23:19

Surveyor said:
Is the drive already formatted with stuff on it?

It's brand new so shouldn't have anything on it. Not sure if they come already formatted? Assume they do

andy85wsm · 3 May 2012 at 23:21

Nevermind. Think I've got it going now.

Essexraptor · 3 May 2012 at 23:49

glad you have it sorted

andy85wsm · 4 May 2012 at 00:10

Thanks for the help!

Surveyor · 4 May 2012 at 00:17

You're welcome

passey89 · 4 May 2012 at 06:45

yeh AHCI is deffo better.

I did what you did and tried to swap it in windows after but it made my boot times really slow. So last night i formatted my SSD and re-installed windows as i had a new mobo and gpu as well so thought i had better.

Windows index in IDE was 7.5, when i swapped it to AHCI it is now 7.9

andy85wsm · 4 May 2012 at 09:22

Mines 7.9 without ACHI. Wondering if it's really worth changing.

Essexraptor · 4 May 2012 at 10:58

Ignore Windows Index scores

you'll find that they can and do change with updates from MS. Not a very good way to guage performance of your rig IMO

wazza300 · 4 May 2012 at 11:15

for ssd's id always use ahci,for hdd's you wont see or notice any difference from ide

craarc · 4 May 2012 at 17:50

i think its fine on a single boot system to make them AHCI then that would be a yes

but its not working on a mutli boot system i think you need to keep them in ide modes or you lose the other drives from regitering for some reason well i do i need to mess with it and find out why