BIOS Setting For New Solid State Drive
I just installed a Crucial MX300 275GB SATA 2.5" 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal SSD in a Dell Precision M4800. Should the BIOS setting under System Configuration/SATA Operation be ATA, AHCI, or RAID On? If I change this setting will I have to reinstall Windows 7 Pro?
Thanks,
cja
Thanks,
cja
John
Base on how Lenovo works, you can update the SSD firmware and not reinstall Windows.
If you change it you will have to reinstall the OS, so I would leave it alone. Default is AHCI.
ASKER
Adam
Will AHCI be faster than RAID if I'm not using RAID?
Will AHCI be faster than RAID if I'm not using RAID?
ASKER
Adam
System is a little slow for it's specs, has 32 GB of RAM and a 2 GB video card. BIOS is set to RAID, would that make it a little slower? Sometimes it lags when opening a Word doc or printing. I'm going to change to AHCi and then reinstall OS.
System is a little slow for it's specs, has 32 GB of RAM and a 2 GB video card. BIOS is set to RAID, would that make it a little slower? Sometimes it lags when opening a Word doc or printing. I'm going to change to AHCi and then reinstall OS.
AHCI is faster than ATA, that is for sure. RAID would be faster if you have it setup as RAID-0 as read and writes would be spread over 2 disks (RAID-0 requires 2 disks). However, if you lose a disk you lose all data with RAID-0. I would leave it on AHCI if that's what it's set to. If it's ATA, then I would backup your data and reinstall Windows. Technically, you can change ATA to AHCI without a reinstall, but it's very tricky:
http://blog.jahnstek.com/2011/04/switch-from-ata-to-ahci-in-windows-7.html:
Switch from ATA to AHCI in Windows 7
I've been upgrading quite a few machines from Windows XP to Windows 7 lately, and for some reason, almost every time, I forget to change the SATA Operation setting in the BIOS from ATA to AHCI after wiping the drive and before installing Windows 7.
AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) is a new interface specification that allows the SATA controller driver to support advanced features that can give better performance out of SATA hard drives, especially in Windows Vista/7.
After two or three times of restarting the Windows 7 installation process after changing the SATA Operation to AHCI in the BIOS, I thought their must be a way to make this change without having to reinstall Windows. After a little digging, I found out their is a simple registry change that can be made that will allow for the SATA Operation change. Here's what you can do:
Start "regedit.exe"
Browse to HKLM\System\CurrentControl
Change the DWord value named "Start" from "3" (ATA) to "0" (AHCI)
Shutdown the computer
Power the computer back on, making sure to enter the BIOS and change the SATA Operation to AHCI
Save the change
http://blog.jahnstek.com/2011/04/switch-from-ata-to-ahci-in-windows-7.html:
Switch from ATA to AHCI in Windows 7
I've been upgrading quite a few machines from Windows XP to Windows 7 lately, and for some reason, almost every time, I forget to change the SATA Operation setting in the BIOS from ATA to AHCI after wiping the drive and before installing Windows 7.
AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) is a new interface specification that allows the SATA controller driver to support advanced features that can give better performance out of SATA hard drives, especially in Windows Vista/7.
After two or three times of restarting the Windows 7 installation process after changing the SATA Operation to AHCI in the BIOS, I thought their must be a way to make this change without having to reinstall Windows. After a little digging, I found out their is a simple registry change that can be made that will allow for the SATA Operation change. Here's what you can do:
Start "regedit.exe"
Browse to HKLM\System\CurrentControl
Change the DWord value named "Start" from "3" (ATA) to "0" (AHCI)
Shutdown the computer
Power the computer back on, making sure to enter the BIOS and change the SATA Operation to AHCI
Save the change
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