SSD on Sata3 problems. Does moving to Sata2 need fresh install?

Triggaaar · 1 Jan 2012 at 12:56

SSD on Sata3 problems. Does moving to Sata2 need fresh install?

My motherboard is the Asus P6x58D-E, which has 2 Marvell 6bgs sata 3 ports. They're not very good, and I may have to give up on them and move my SSD to a Sata 2 port. Will I have to change my Bios from AHCI back to IDE, and disable ACPI 2? And will I then need to re-install Win 7 or not?

And is my Sata 3 problem likely to be a problem for the operating system/SSD only, so can I use it for a standard HDD? (because I have 1 SSD, 4HDDs, 1 DVD and the case drives, so I could do with using the Sata3 ports.

Thanks

Orcvader · 1 Jan 2012 at 13:02

Marvell controllers are never good for SATA 3. You can use them for normal HDDs though. Stick the SSD onto a native SATA 2 port. If you installed Windows in AHCI mode then leave it at AHCI mode, otherwise it will BSOD.

Triggaaar · 1 Jan 2012 at 14:37

Thanks for the reply.

Orcvader said:
Marvell controllers are never good for SATA 3. You can use them for normal HDDs though.

Ok cool, so worst case, I'll have my SSD on sata 2 port.

Stick the SSD onto a native SATA 2 port.

I haven't completely given up on Sata 3, as I think some people have got it to work (with my MB). But I'm not sure which Bios and Driver is best. But while I wait to see what my stability is like etc, I don't know whether to install everything I want, or if I'll have to re-install Win7 once I've finally settled on a config (eg, if I move SSD to sata2).

If you installed Windows in AHCI mode then leave it at AHCI mode, otherwise it will BSOD.

Thanks. I did install in AHCI, as was the advice here. But is that advice because I was using Sata3, or advice because I'm using an SSD? So if I switch to sata2, am I better switching to IDE and re-installing windows, or keeping it as AHCI?

Thanks again.

Triggaaar · 2 Jan 2012 at 03:04

Only problem at the moment is that my system (motherboard) can't always see my SSD when I boot. The workaround is to reboot until it does see it.

When I'm in my Bios, it's using Marvell controller v1.0.0.1019
but once Windows is up, it's using v1.0.0.1045 (which I installed).
Once Windows is up, it's been stable so far. Should I try and flash the later version of the Marvell driver to the Motherboard so that my SSD is always detected on startup?

wazza300 · 2 Jan 2012 at 03:13

using latest mb bios?,i have that mb and using latest bios only using mechanical hdd though

drunkenmaster · 2 Jan 2012 at 10:57

You should install using AHCI over not because, AHCI has been better for ever, HDD's use NCQ and will work marginally better under AHCI anyway, it also offers more features for hotplugging and the like, there is no reason to not use AHCI at all. SSD, sata 1/2/3/74, hdd, AHCI is the way to go. You won't need to install switching between sata 2/3.

The main issue is making sure that both the Marvell AND the intel ports are set to AHCI, as this almost always a different option in the bios and switching between them might not work right.

Anyway, I wouldn't be too bothered, as always, the difference between hdd's and ssd performance, sequentials are higher, they are also largely irrelevant, the best hdd vs ssd, sequential read/writes are you're looking at 2-3 times higher. Random read writes of small files you're looking at something along the lines of 20-40 times faster read/writes depending on the ssd, and access time is several thousand times better.

Ignore the sequentials, a sata 1 controller will show a ssd to be MASSIVELY faster and massively more responsive than ANY hdd out there. There isn't any reason to limit an ssd, but be aware the crucial performance difference is all in the 0-50mb/s range anyway, and access time is for all intents and purposes, interface independant as the access time happens inside the drive itself.

Triggaaar · 2 Jan 2012 at 19:07

wazza300 said:
using latest mb bios?,i have that mb and using latest bios only using mechanical hdd though

You should have those plugged into the sata2 ports, and they're not a problem.

drunkenmaster said:
You should install using AHCI over not because, AHCI has been better for ever, HDD's use NCQ and will work marginally better under AHCI anyway, it also offers more features for hotplugging and the like, there is no reason to not use AHCI at all. SSD, sata 1/2/3/74, hdd, AHCI is the way to go. You won't need to install switching between sata 2/3.

Thanks

The main issue is making sure that both the Marvell AND the intel ports are set to AHCI, as this almost always a different option in the bios and switching between them might not work right.

I'll double check, but I think I'm all set to AHCI.

Anyway, I wouldn't be too bothered, as always, the difference between hdd's and ssd performance, sequentials are higher, they are also largely irrelevant, the best hdd vs ssd, sequential read/writes are you're looking at 2-3 times higher. Random read writes of small files you're looking at something along the lines of 20-40 times faster read/writes depending on the ssd, and access time is several thousand times better.

Ignore the sequentials, a sata 1 controller will show a ssd to be MASSIVELY faster and massively more responsive than ANY hdd out there. There isn't any reason to limit an ssd, but be aware the crucial performance difference is all in the 0-50mb/s range anyway, and access time is for all intents and purposes, interface independant as the access time happens inside the drive itself.

Yes I'm sure you're right. Plugging your SSD into a sata3 just seems like the right thing to do though, and the benchmarks are good enough. I'll wait until I get another problem, then either try the sata2 connection (and benchmark it) or try another driver.