SSD AHCI or IDE What is the difference. Ahci or IDE - what is better and what is the difference? Mandatory measures and procedures

What is AHCI mode and why need it? AHCI is a mechanism for working with information storage. For example, with hard disks or SSD discs. This mode has replaced a more outdated IDE mode. The dawn of this "protocol" fell, perhaps, for 2011. At that time, the price of SSD discs became more or less available for home use.

Disclose all technical details about how AHCI mode works, we will not. The usual user will simply know that when AHCI is enabled, the speed of working with the disk and its service life increases. But to feel the beauty of his work in the computer must be installed SSD drive with SATA 6GBIT interface.

On this story about the details of the work of the AHCI regime, we will end and proceed to the consideration of its inclusion in the system.

It is worth noting that the AHCI storage mode must be supported by your motherboard. Fortunately today, we can say with confidence that almost any fee released from 2008 and later has such an opportunity.

Increase the speed of the PC using the AHCI mode

What is the difficulty when switching to AHCI mode? If you are just going to install the operating system, then there will be no problems. You just just enable this mode in your computer's BIOS and then install Windows. Usually enable AHCI You can via BIOS in the Storage Configuration information drives section.

On different models of motherboards, this section may have another, but similar in meaning the name. For example, SATA Configuration, SATA MODE, etc. The search guide will be choosing from the list of the following modes: IDE, AHCI, RAID.

Go to AHCI without reinstalling the operating system

So, with the installation of a clean OS dealt, everything is simple! Now we will analyze the inclusion of AHCI on already working windows. The fact is that when changing modes in the BIOS, the operating system will stop loading from a different kind of errors.

The error data is caused by the lack of the desired driver of the hard disk controller when loading the OS. That is why, before changing the BIOS settings, we will need to prepare the operating system.

To do this, open the registry editor through the menu Start\u003e Run\u003e Regedit And we find the following subsections in it:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\ SYSTEM \\ CURRENTCONTROLSET \\ SERVICES \\ MSAHCI
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\ SYSTEM \\ CURRENTCONTROLSET \\ SERVICES \\ IASTORV

In each of the sections it will be necessary to open the parameter Start. and replace its value to - 0 .

After making changes, you must restart the computer, go to the BIOS, turn on the AHCI mode and save the changes. The operating system when you first start it will install a new driver and will be ready for further work.

As a rule, this method is a worker and suitable for all versions of Windows starting from 7 version and higher. If you did not succeed in dealing with the first way, you can try to enable AHCI mode somewhat different or seek help in our

Maximum performance is achieved when using AHCI mechanism. Therefore, in all new PCs that work running the Windows 7 operating system or older versions of the OS from Microsoft, this option is used. If we are talking about old systems, then you still need to think about using AHCI or IDE. What's better? The answer to this question depends on many factors.

AHCI or IDE - what is better? How to choose the right mode?

Despite the popularity of Windows 7 operating systems 7, 8, 10, many owners of personal computers and laptops continue to use Win XP. OS is distinguished by stability. People comfortably work with it. However, the Windows XP system has a number of significant drawbacks:

official support for Microsoft this OS is completely discontinued;
technologically outdated operating system;
does not support the new versions of DirectX (version 10-12);
safety problems;
no support for the most pressing technologies;
on XP it is impossible to establish many modern programs;
there are no drivers for new equipment.

The list could be continued for a long time. If you consider the question of what better work mode is AHCI or IDE - then it is worthwhile to take into account the fact that Windows XP simply does not support the first option. This, of course, concerns the older versions of the OS from Microsoft. Therefore, here the choice is obvious - only IDE. But if a person belongs to the category of advanced users, it can download special drivers to the system that allow you to use the AHCI mechanism. By default, this mode is not supported.

How the IDE mode works

Accessories that require an ATA interface, use the IDE mechanism to work. This technology is obsolete, but it was widely used in the nineties of the last century and at the beginning of zero. The standard was introduced in IBM PC - the first massive popular computers.

The IDE mechanism (parallel drive interface) provided data transmission at a speed of 150 Mbps. He did not allow the use of some technological solutions at that time. So, it was impossible to make a hot extract from a hard disk or CD drive system without shutting down or rebooting the system. Similar features were added by engineers after some time, but only part of the computers received their support. Knowing the prehistory of the development of interfaces, you can easily answer a number of questions: AHCI or IDE - what is better for a specific operating system, which scheme provides faster work?

The active use of Parallel ATA interfaces ended in about 2006, when the new SATA standard began to play the main role. However, even after 10 years, IDE is still in the ranks, although it is used much less. The mechanism is applied in almost all old computers and laptops, active even in systems supporting work with AHCI.

Features AHCI mode

The appearance of the new SATA interface, which possessed more powerful capabilities in comparison with the previous PATA technology, has created a need for a new mechanism for working with the system. So the AHCI mode appeared. He allowed to use the resources of the newly emerged interface at full power. Today, this mechanism is supported by all modern system boards.

Using the AHCI mode allows you to transmit information at the maximum possible speed and use any actual technological solutions. All currently relevant operating systems have devices drivers operating this protocol. So choose now, IDE or AHCI? What is better for a modern computer? In most cases, the choice should be done in favor of the second option.

Advantages of the AHCI mechanism

Modern actuators with the SATA interface are fully compatible with the new mode. What advantages have this mechanism? Still, choose IDE or AHCI - what is better? Windows 7 and newer versions from Microsoft are able to work with two above-mentioned protocols. But the second one is better to use for new systems.

Benefits that the user receives when using AHCI:

high data transfer rate;
excellent performance;
full compatibility with modern operating systems;
the ability to carry out the "hot" replacement of hard drives;
nCQ technology support (improves HDD).

Knowing all the advantages and minuses of solutions, it is easy to make a choice, put in the AHCI or IDE settings. What will be better for a modern computer? If it is not equipped with PATA drives, it is better to install a new mode.

What mode to set in the BIOS settings

Despite the fact that the IDE mode has long been outdated, its support is still carried out by manufacturers of motherboards. Even in the newest models there is an opportunity to use this interface. In the BIOS settings, in the appropriate section, you can change one mode to another. By default, AHCI mechanism is usually installed. You can run into an exception, but it is extremely rare.

If you take a typical situation when the user is trying to install the Windows 7 operating system on the computer, then it does not even have to make any changes to the BIOS to use a new scheme. Perhaps someone will seem familiar to work with the old interface. So still, IDE or AHCI - what is better? Windows 7 After all, it allows you to use both modes.

If a hard disk or other drive is connected to the motherboard via the SATA interface, you should leave the AHCI mode specified by default. Complete support for this mechanism is provided in Windows 7, 8, 10, Ubuntu 16.04 operating systems and others. Only with a new mode is the stable operation of the OS data.

What to do if after switching on the AHCI mode stops loading the system

This situation may occur if the user has Windows XP or an old version of Linux. There is no question, prefer the AHCI or IDE. What will be better for the old OS? Perhaps it is preferable to set IDE mode. You can try to install additional drivers to the system that provide support for the new standard. However, there is no guarantee that after this procedure OS will work correctly.

In some cases, the computer that has successfully worked for a long time running the Windows XP system, one day stops loading. At the same time, the user has not changed the operation of the drives in the BIOS. This situation may arise due to errors in the work of the basic I / O system. In this case, the settings are reset, AHCI mode is activated. The user must be installed in the BIOS settings support the IDE mechanism.

Modern hard drives are connected to the Motherboard of computer devices using the SATA interface providing for operation, in particular, in IDE and AHCI modes. IDE is an old mode, it is necessary to ensure compatibility with outdated components and programs. AHCI mode is also not a new work in the field of IT, it appeared in 2004, but this is currently currently the mechanism for connecting hard disks by the SATA II and SATA III interface. AHCI in front of IDE has a number of advantages:

the ability to connect to the motherboard a larger number of devices;
work hard drives at their maximum possible speed;
the so-called "hot replacement" of hard drives, i.e. shutdown and connect without the need to turn off the computer;
support NCQ technology that improves hard disk performance in multitasking conditions.

SATA mode is installed in the BIOS. On modern laptops, AHCI mode is usually set by default. But new motherboards for PC assemblies can be supplied with an active IDE mode for equipment compatibility. You can change the IDE on AHCI (or vice versa) at any time in the BIOS of computers supporting the operation of both modes. Not all computers support AHCI, but most of them, since this mode has been for 12 years. The minority includes rare rare devices released to the market, respectively, before AHCI appears. But even if a computer is less than 12 years old, if it supports AHCI, problems can still be switched to this mode due to the lack of appropriate settings in the outdated version of the BIOS. In such cases, it is necessary to resolve the issue with updating BIOS.

1. How to find out what mode - IDE or AHCI - installed now

To find out which of the modes - IDE or AHCI is currently active on the computer at the moment, you can in Windows Device Manager. Reveal the branch:

"IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers" in Windows 8.1 and 10 versions;
IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers in Windows 7.

If the hard drives of the computer are connected via the AHCI mode, the SATA AHCI controller will be present in the list of devices.

If the IDE mode is active, the branch list will contain a record, respectively about the IDE controller.

Alternative way - using the AS SSD Benchmark utility for testing hard disk speed. If hard drives can work in AHCI mode, but an IDE is displayed in the BIOS, the utility will notify the red "PCIIDE BAD" value.

If the computer works in AHCI mode, in the Utility window we will see the value of the green "Storahci - OK".

These two ways will make it possible to understand which mode is currently set. But to determine whether the support of the AHCI mode is implemented in the BIOS, it is necessary to enter it and find the possibility of using AHCI. The selection of SATA modes in different versions of the BIOS may be in the "Advanced" or "Main" sections. For example, in the BIOS UEFI of the ASUS motherboard, this is the "Advanced" section, it is necessary to enter the "SATA Configuration" subsection and disclose the options of the SATA MODE parameter (SATA mode).

Another example is the BIOS AMI (V17.9) MSI motherboard, everything is more complicated here, and not everyone can figure out where the AHCI setting. In the "Integrated Peripherals" section, you must select the "On-Chip ATA Devices" subsection, and in it - "RAID MODE" (RAID mode), which provides for the selection of hard disk connection modes.

2. Consequences of switching to AHCI mode for Windows

So, change IDE mode on AHCI can be at any time in the BIOS settings. That's just for Windows work, such a move will not have a consequence of a minor delay when started due to the automatic installation of the necessary drivers, as when replacing some computer components. In this case, even getting rid of the binding to the computer components using the Windows Sysprep regular utility, as in the case of the replacement of the motherboard or processor. Changing the IDE mode on AHCI leads to serious consequences - Windows is simply no longer starts. As a result, we obtain either a blue screen of death, or a cyclic Windows restart with the notification of the incorrect start of the system.

The fact is that IDE and AHCI modes when installing Windows are prescribed at the registry level. For hard drives in AHCI mode, a special driver is required, which is automatically installed with Windows versions, starting with Vista. Since the AHCI mode appears later Windows XP, the AHCI driver in the distribution of this version of the system must be previously integrated by taking it from a disk with the motherboard drivers or downloading from the Internet.

Ideally, switching to AHCI mode must be carried out before installing or reinstalling Windows. But there are ways to activate AHCI without the need to reinstall Windows - using the start of the safe mode or edit the system registry. Below will consider these methods for versions of Windows 7, 8.1 and 10.

3. Mandatory measures and procedures

In principle, any experiments with Windows can lead to undesirable results, but to the methods of adapting the operating system to the AHCI mode, it is necessary to take a special seriousness. Since in this case the settings affect the ability of the system will be touched. It is strictly forbidden to start executing the instructions outlined below without pre-prepared emergencies. You must either write down, or create and prepare the Windows installation media. Using the latter, you can log in or in the extreme case, start the Windows Resetting Process.

The procedure for action is:

Step 1 - Checking the AHCI switching settings in the BIOS;
Step 2 - Preparation of emergency tools;
Step 3 - depending on the selected method or configure the next system launch in safe mode, or edit the system registry;
Step 4 - reboot, input to the BIOS and turning on the AHCI mode;
Step 5 - Starting a computer.

4. Safe Windows Mode

The first method is designed to ensure that when entering the secure Windows mode, the AHCI driver will be installed automatically. But, unfortunately, it will work not in each case. In a working system, you must configure the next start in safe mode, perform a reboot, log in to the BIOS and set the AHCI mode. After starting the computer in secure mode, the AHCI driver must be installed in the idea. If everything goes successfully, it will only remain to restart the system in the usual mode of operation.

Universal way to enter the secure mode when Windows is then loaded for all current versions of the system - the use of the MSCONFIG utility called using the "Run" command.

5. Edit Registry Windows

If the method with a safe mode did not work, it is possible to avoid reinstalling the system by editing its registry. To start the registry editor in the Run command field, enter:

4.1 Edit Registry Windows 8.1 and 10

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\ SYSTEM \\ CURRENTCONTROLSET \\ SERVICES

In this branch, we are looking for the "IASTORV" folder, we make click on it, open the "Start" parameter and set it to "0". Click "OK".

We reveal the "IASTORV" folder, select the "StartOverride" subfolder, open the "0" parameter and set it to "0". Click "OK".

Sunday below alphabetically and find the folder "Storahci". We make a click on it, open the parameter "ErrorControl". We remove the preset value "3" and instead fit "0". Click "OK".

4.2. Edit Registry Windows 7

In the registry editor window, we reveal the branch:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\ SYSTEM \\ CURRENTCONTROLSET \\ SERVICES

In the branch we find the "IASTORV" folder, make the click on it, open the "Start" parameter and set the value "0". Click "OK".

After registry edits, we restart the computer, go to the BIOS, activate the AHCI mode and run the system.

6. If Windows does not load

If none of the ways helped adapt Windows to work in AHCI mode, the system will have to reinstall. But the current Windows can be started if, for example, it is necessary to remove the settings of the installed software or save in a safe place some important files stored on the disk of C. To do this, log in to the BIOS and set back to setting the active IDE mode.

However, it can also happen that the system will not be able to boot in any AHCI mode or in the IDE. If there is no blue screen of death, but the versions of Windows 8.1 and 10 are cyclically reboot, giving out the screen with the inscription "Automatic Recovery", click "Additional Parameters".

Going in the "Select Action" menu, we pass the path specified in the screenshot below, and roll back to the recovery point.

If a blue screen of death appears when the computer starts, you load from the Windows installation media and select the "Restore System" option at the system setting step.

Once in the "Selecting action" menu, we do the steps described above.

Selectable backup method using third-party software are used, respectively, the bootable beacher software carrier.

Excellent day!

Almost all modern HDDs operate through the SATA interface (Serial ATA). This controller is present in most relatively new system boards and allows you to work in several modes, each of which has its own features. The most innovative currently is AHCI. We'll tell you more about it further.

The SATA interface potential is completely disclosed with AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface). It interacts correctly only in the latest versions of the OS, for example, in Windows XP, the technology is not supported. The main advantage of the superstructure under consideration is to increase the reading speed and write files. Let's dwell on the merits and talk more about them.

Advantages of AHCI mode

There are factors that make AHCI better than IDE or RAID. We would like to allocate several main points:

As already mentioned above, the speed of reading and writing files increases. Thanks to this, the overall performance of the computer is improved. Sometimes the increase is not very noticeable, but for certain processes, even minor changes increase the speed of tasks.
Best work with new HDD models. IDE mode does not allow to fully disclose the potential of modern drives, since the technology is fairly enough and you may not even feel the difference when involving a weak and top hard disk. AHCI is designed specifically for interacting with fresh models.
Effective SSD work with SATA form factor is achieved only with AHCI activated superstructure. However, it is worth noting that solid-state drives with another interface are not related to the technology under consideration, therefore its activation will not give any effect at all.
In addition, Advanced Host Controller Interface allows you to connect and disconnect hard drives or SSD on a system board without pre-shutdown PC.

Other features of Ahci

In addition to the advantages, the technology under consideration has its own characteristics that sometimes cause problems for some users. Among everything you can select the following:

We have already mentioned that AHCI is incompatible with the Windows XP operating system, however, there are often third-party drivers on the Internet, allowing you to activate technology. Even if after installation, the switch will be successful, you are unlikely to increase the speed of the disks. In addition, errors often arise that lead to the removal of information from the drives.
Switching the superstructure in other versions of Windows is also not easy, especially if the OS is already installed on the PC. Then you need to start a special utility, activate the driver or manually rule the registry. More information about this we will tell below.

Quite often there are questions arising from connection and configuration. Especially often - when installing the operating system on an SSD disk.

Basically, the difficulty of users occurs when the hard disk is selected - AHCI, RAID or IDE. Since the RAID parameter for a regular user is not interesting because it implies the creation of a software or physical disk array and is intended mainly for servers, we will not consider it, but we will limit ourselves to the parameters AHCI MODE or IDE MODE.

First of all, it is necessary to remember that AHCI mode, you can not include not on all motherboards and not with all the disks. Therefore, before connecting, you must carefully examine the instruction manual for the appropriate devices.

IDE Mode.

IDE mode is almost always enabled by default and provides compatibility with all types of "Computer Iron". This is one of the oldest ways to communicate any type of drives with a motherboard - even the drive of optical disks, even tough. Connection over the IDE bus is carried out using an 80-core flat cable. The big advantage of using the IDE interface is the ability to parallel connecting two devices per interface, such as hard disk and CD or DVD ROM. To power the device in this case, a 4-pin Molex type connector is used.

Important: When using a disc IDE or IDE of a loop (via an adapter) when the hard disk is connected, the AHCI mode will not work! Trying to switch will result in an error and the appearance of the "Death Screen"!

Ahci Mode.

AHCI mode is designed to work only with hard drives connected using the SATA interface, regardless of its implementation. This type of connection has been developed to provide higher data exchange rates and hot replacement and hot disk connection capabilities.

Higher access to the disk is provided with NCQ technology, which allows you to rebuild the order of reading files from the surface of the hard disk depending on their location. For a simpler understanding, the process can be described as follows: First, closer data is read, and then the reading head moves to a more far-sided files on the surface of the sided disk. And the order of receipt of commands on reading is ignored by the system. It should also be noted that the performance gains is noticeable at the work of the resource-intensive applications (for example, games), and for more efficient operation, the hard disk must have a good cachem.

"Hot" connection or replacement of a hard disk is a certain plus use of AHCI mode. When the SATA disk is connected with AHCI activated in the BIOS mode, the drive is determined instantly and after the power is ready to work. Practically, as the flash drive installed in the USB port is determined.

First of all, it is necessary to note the use of solid-state disks (SSD) to install the operating system - in this case there are no connection mode options - only AHCI.

In the event that the hard disk is used in the system connected using the SATA interface, and the motherboard has the ability to switch to AHCI mode, its activation is preferred, as it will raise the performance of the system as a whole.

The only condition for activating the AHCI mode with the already installed Windows system is the need to install drivers and making changes to the registry.

How to switch AHCI on IDE in bios?

To switch the mode to the BIOS, you must find the "Controller Mode" item or the like that is possible to select IDE, AHCI, RAID or Compatibility mode. Although, depending on the BIOS manufacturer, this parameter may be in various menus.

Switching AHCI and IDE modes - Option 1

Switching AHCI and IDE modes - option 2

Switching modes AHCI and IDE - Option 3

Switching AHCI and IDE modes - option 4

Switching AHCI and IDE modes - option 5

As can be seen from all described above, the AHCI mode is preferred to work with disks connected using the SATA interface and having a sufficient cache. Big plus Using this mode when replacing or testing hard drives - a constant reboot is required. A good tone is the default AHCI mode in gaming computers and using resource-intensive applications to work.

IDE mode does not require any special manipulations with a connection or setting, and the speed of accessing the hard disk when using a computer to perform standard tasks is quite sufficient, despite the outdated protocol.