Hard Disk running, "ahci mode", or "Ide mode"

Nowadays, Sata hard disks are becoming more and more popular. The latest purchased or assembled computers are basically installed with a new generation of SATA hard disks. Because most of the initial BIOS settings are "Ide mode", Windows XP and Vista systems are installed, there is no "ahci mode" for running to maximize performance ". Is your system running in the "ahci mode "? How do I enable "ahci mode "?

It is easy to figure out whether to "run in ahci mode": first, the motherboard BIOS is set to "ahci mode" instead of "Ide mode" (that is, compatible mode); second, in Device Manager's "Ide ATA/atapi controller", there is a normal "SATA" controller driver, rather than just "ata" or "ide ". The above two points must be both indispensable.

If "ahci mode" is enabled in Windows XP or Windows Vista, there are three or five methods of success, but the difficulty is different. Based on my practical experience over the past few years, I chose the simplest method (practice platform: 1. The computer motherboard is an Intel chipset; 2. Windows XP Professional Edition; 3. Windows Vista flagship edition:

Step 1: If the Windows XP system is used, download sata.rar and unzip the package. Right-click/install "ahciraid ". In Windows Vista, type the Regedit command in "run" and find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ msahci, right-click/"start" in the "name" column/select "modify". In the "value data" box, type "0", "OK", and exit the Registry Editor. Note: If this step fails, a blue screen will appear after the "Step 2" and the system will not be accessible after automatic restart.

Step 2: restart the computer, enter the bios, find the relevant settings, and change "Ide mode" to "ahci mode" (Note: Because the BIOS versions of the motherboard vary, the location of the "mode option" is different from the specific description, so it is difficult to make it clear here. We recommend that you refer to the relevant instructions on the motherboard manufacturer's official website or refer to the attached BIOS-related articles ), press "F10" to save and exit. Note: If this step is incorrect, the "this computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing this software" and the "Exit installation" prompt will appear during the "Step 3.

Step 3: Go to Windows XP or Windows Vista and you will find that the "Find related hardware prompt" appears in the lower right corner of the operating system desktop ". In this case, manually install "Intel matrix Storage Manager" (Please download: Alibaba first); restart your computer to run the "ahci mode" for maximum performance. Open "Device Manager" and you will find that the "SATA" controller driver is added.

Appendix 1: Analysis on "ahci mode"

Ahci is called Serial ATA advanced Host Controller Interface (Serial ATA advanced control interface ). Under the guidance of Intel, ahci is a well-known company (mainly including intel, AMD, Dell, Marvell, maxcompute, Microsoft, Red Hat, Seagate, storagegear, and other famous enterprises) API standards jointly developed. Ahci describes a PCI device that acts as an interface between the system memory and the Serial ATA device, and is applicable to different operating systems and hardware.

Ahci implements native SATA functions through the included PCI bar (base register. Thanks to the successful development of the ahci unified interface, the development of supporting Serial ATA products is greatly simplified, and the operating system and equipment manufacturer do not need to Develop interfaces separately, instead, you can perform operations directly on the unified interface to implement various functions, including ncq (native command queuing. Therefore, as long as the SATA hard disk is configured and the BIOS of the motherboard has the "ahci mode" option, relevant settings should be made.

Change SATA hard drive to Achi mode in Windows 7

If you set the BIOS to ahci before Windows 7 is installed, it is very easy. You can directly add a screenshot driver to Windows 7. After the installation, you cannot enter the system and restart the system automatically.

To enable ahci after installation

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ msahci, change the start value in the right pane to 0, then OK, exit the registry, restart the computer, and enter the BIOS change bit ahci mode, then save and exit. After you restart and enter the system, the ahci driver will be automatically searched and installed. After the installation, the ahci driver will be required to be restarted. Then restart the system and you will be OK.

Select the SATA hard drive mode when installing Windows 7

The hard disks used for computer installation are SATA hard disks, which are different from the existing IDE hard disks on the interface. In the WINXP era, because the system does not have its own SATA driver, you need to set the SATA mode in the BIOS to be compatible with the IDE. It is not the same in Windows 7, because the SATA driver is included in the win7 system CD, you can directly identify the SATA hard disk. But there are still some points to note.

There are usually two SATA modes in BIOS: ahci and compatibility. Ahci can give full play to the advantages of SATA, and access to hard disks will be faster.

Before installing Windows 7, you should first enter the bios, set SATA to ahci, and then start the installation with the Windows 7 system disc. Then, you can automatically install the SATA driver on disk C, after the installation is complete, Windows 7 will be able to use the ahci hard disk. However, if Sata is set to the compatible mode when the system is installed, and the BIOS changes sata to the ahci mode only after the installation is complete, the system will fail to start and a blue screen will appear.

Therefore, we recommend that you set sata to the ahci mode from the very beginning for a new computer that is ready to use Windows 7, so as to avoid the trouble of changing it later. However, this is still a little troublesome. For example, I used to maintain the winpe disc of my computer for a long time and did not have a SATA drive. Therefore, I cannot identify the SATA hard drive in ahci mode after startup. It seems that winpe has to be upgraded.