SSD

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Hi, im going to be getting a 128GB Crucial M4 SSD soon and i have seen people turning something called AHCI on and i was wondering how you do it and what effects does it have? Also, is there anything else i need to do for when i get it?

Thanks
 
AHCI is basically a common interface for SATA hard drives, preventing any driver isues. You can turn it on in the BIOS but chances are it already is.
 
I've a quick question about this very thing! (sorry slight hijack but it's very relevant!)

I've got a setup with many HDDs in it and all are set to IDE at the moment I think.

I am going to be shrinking a Windows 7 install onto an M4 128GB from a 1TB HDD using Paragon software.

How and when should I enable ACHI and what effect would it have on any of my other HDDs?

Thanks. :)
 
TheBigCheese said:
I've a quick question about this very thing! (sorry slight hijack but it's very relevant!)

I've got a setup with many HDDs in it and all are set to IDE at the moment I think.

I am going to be shrinking a Windows 7 install onto an M4 128GB from a 1TB HDD using Paragon software.

How and when should I enable ACHI and what effect would it have on any of my other HDDs?

Thanks. :)
Click to expand...

Well if you do a fresh install, adding other HDDs doesn't affect things if on ACHI. However, if you're copying an install across then I believe there is an ACHI 'fix' somewhere - as if you copy the install and set it to ACHI it won't boot.

I recommend you do a fresh install if you can - not least as Windows picks up that its an SSD and disables various things. IF you do copy it, make sure to turn defrag off and things.
 
Thanks for the reply. :)

A fresh install while preferred isn't really an option as it's a work as well as home machine so I need as little downtime as possible, the amount of stuff I have installed is silly, and I've bought Paragon for the job. :p

Hmmm...what are these various things you speak of...or do you have a useful link I could look at?

Thanks.
 
Excellent, thanks for the posts guys I'll give them a read (and probably come back when I can't understand them!).

You posted your link beejjacobs seconds before I posted my reply so I missed it at first! :D
 
OK...I'm confused!

Those guides are talking about optimisation and also installing Windows 7 on a fresh install on an SSD...I'm simply wanting to clone the HDD install onto the SSD.

I'm a little confused about the AHCI thing...

Looking in the BIOS under intergrated peripherals, it says:
ICH SATA Control Mode [AHCI] - great stuff

Further down the page:
Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrol Mode [IDE] - wut?

Hmmm...do I need to change that to AHCI and what will anything happen to my drives if I do?

*edit* Ah - I understand, it's for the Gigabyte motherboard chip, that can be in IDE or AHCI mode...will it cause any problems if I just change it over to AHCI?
 
Last edited:
TheBigCheese said:
OK...I'm confused!

Those guides are talking about optimisation and also installing Windows 7 on a fresh install on an SSD...I'm simply wanting to clone the HDD install onto the SSD.

I'm a little confused about the AHCI thing...

Looking in the BIOS under intergrated peripherals, it says:
ICH SATA Control Mode [AHCI] - great stuff

Further down the page:
Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrol Mode [IDE] - wut?

Hmmm...do I need to change that to AHCI and what will anything happen to my drives if I do?

*edit* Ah - I understand, it's for the Gigabyte motherboard chip, that can be in IDE or AHCI mode...will it cause any problems if I just change it over to AHCI?
Click to expand...
Yeah, you probably have two SATA controllers on the motherboard which is why you see two options for it.

If you blatantly switch between IDE and AHCI on a drive that already has an OS on it, it'll probably refuse to boot.
 
This was written by Hilbert from Guru3D on one of his reviews,I saved this in notepad one day in case i ever needed it..

Enable AHCI

The last tip we want to give you to gain a little extra performance boost is that you enable AHCI mode. AHCI mode can help out greatly in performance for SSDs. Now, if you swap out an HDD for an SSD with the operating system cloned and THEN enable AHCI in the BIOS, then you'll likely get a boot error / BSOD.

The common question is, is there a solution for this ?

To answer that question (and as we do safely with all modern chipsets) there is a way to safely enable AHCI mode. Here we go:

1. Startup "Regedit"
2. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlset / Services
3. Open msahci
4. In the right field left click on "start" and go to Modify
5. In the value Data field enter "0" and click "ok"
6. exit "Regedit"
7. Reboot Rig and enter BIOS (typically hold "Delete" key while Booting)

In your BIOS select "Integrated Peripherals" and OnChip PATA/SATA Devices. Now change SATA Mode from IDE to AHCI.

You now boot into windows 7 or Vista, and the OS will recognize AHCI and install the devices. Now the system needs one more reboot and voilla ... enjoy the improved SSD performance.

--

I cant verify it works but i do trust Hilbert so its up to u.. hope it helps.
 
Thanks for the posts guys, appreciate it!

I *think* the controller with the boot drive on is already in AHCI mode, I used to have an SSD with Windows on it which went wrong (the M4 is a warranty swap) so I think the chipset with the boot drive on is already on AHCI.

Looking at the regedit from the instructions posted by MyBrains the value is set to 3 rather than 0...I don't know whether that's relevant.

If I enable the other chipset for AHCI would that cause problems with it booting or is it completely separate?
 
I think those instructions are for changing it while in IDE Mode when ur in Windows. I just checked mine that is already in AHCI and it is set to '0'.

If it doesnt work then maybe changing back to IDE in BIOS will bring u back to square one.. if somebody can confirm this?

Not sure how u check which mode its in while in Windows although my Samsung Magician software tells me this.. not sure how Crucial do it.
 
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