Storage Solutions Change from IDE to AHCI

[Dex@ter]

hi
i got a couple of 1 TB WD Black HDD and i was looking at ways to optimize
then i saw in BIOS , the setting is set to IDE and not AHCI
Will changing to AHCI impact the data in the partitions in any way ?
Also does it make much of a difference to change to AHCI

 

[ranjan2001]

Depending on the sata interface & rpm of hdd you can gain the speed with AHCI, as far as I know you will not be able to boot with OS if you switch from IDE to AHCI unless you either reinstall the OS in AHCI mode or install AHCI drivers bcoz because Windows disables drivers it does not require in your case AHCI must have been disabled since you selected IDE while installing. I once did this what you are wanting to do & I had to boot from windows 7 dvd then follow a procedure to install AHCI drivers but I dont remember as its almost 3 yrs old when windows 7 was launched.

This link should help
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

found a method listed here which works
http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/9...o-ahci-without-repairingreinstalling-windows/

 

[Striker10]

When I tried switching to ahci on the go and installing ahci drivers I had issues. Windows(XP) would boot slowly and certain tasks were slower than expected so I decided to go back to ide.
Would recommend you to install a fresh setup with ahci drivers so that way you would not have any issues from the start

 

[Dex@ter]

my most important concern is does it anyway impact the exiting partitions and data in the hard drives .
there are lots of issues of partitions going missing and data being lost
so was worries in this aspect ...

 

[topgear]

switching to AHCI mode does not have any impact on the exiting partitions and data in the hard drives. One more thing si depending on the chipset and just by changing registry values you can switch between AHCI and IDE mode without re-installing windows.

 

[imkaush]

switching to AHCI mode does not have any impact on the exiting partitions and data in the hard drives. One more thing si depending on the chipset and just by changing registry values you can switch between AHCI and IDE mode without re-installing windows.

^+1...I did it on my WinXP/Win7/Ubuntu setup Ubuntu/Win7 needed no changes/driver installations...
But in WinXP had to install AHCI drivers and IIRC also did the registry value fix....