Modern hard disks connect to motherboard computer devices via the SATA interface, which provides operation, in particular, in IDE and AHCI modes. IDE is an old mode, it is necessary to ensure compatibility with outdated components and programs. The AHCI mode is also not a new development in the IT field, it appeared back in 2004, but it is a current mechanism for connecting hard drives via the SATA II and SATA III interface. AHCI has a number of advantages over IDE:
- the ability to connect more devices to the motherboard;
- operating hard drives at their highest possible speed;
- so-called “hot swapping” of hard drives, that is, disconnecting and connecting without having to turn off the computer;
- support for NCQ technology, which improves hard drive performance under multitasking conditions.
SATA mode is set in the BIOS. On modern laptops, AHCI mode is usually set by default. But new motherboards for PC builds may come with IDE mode active for hardware compatibility purposes. You can change IDE to AHCI (or vice versa) at any time Computer BIOS, supporting both modes. Not all computers support AHCI, but most do, since this mode has been around for 12 years. The minority includes rare vintage devices that were released onto the market, respectively, before the advent of AHCI. But even if the computer is less than 12 years old, if it supports AHCI, switching to this mode may still cause problems due to the lack of the appropriate setting in the outdated BIOS version. In such cases, you must first resolve the issue of updating the BIOS.
1. How to find out which mode – IDE or AHCI – is currently installed
Find out which mode - IDE or AHCI - is active on the computer in this moment, you can in the manager Windows devices. Expanding the thread:
- “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers” in Windows versions 8.1 and 10;
- "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" in Windows 7.
If your computer's hard drives are connected via AHCI mode, the list of devices will include a SATA AHCI controller.
If IDE mode is active on the computer, the list of branches will contain an entry, respectively, about the IDE controller.
Alternative way– using the AS SSD Benchmark utility to test the speed of hard drives. If hard drives can operate in AHCI mode, but the BIOS is set to IDE, the utility will notify you of this with the red value “pciide BAD”.
If the computer is running in AHCI mode, in the utility window we will see the green value “storahci - Ok”.
These two methods will make it possible to understand which mode is currently installed. But to determine whether support for AHCI mode is implemented in the BIOS, you need to enter it and find the option to enable AHCI. Selecting SATA operating modes different versions The BIOS can be located in the “Advanced” or “Main” sections. For example, in the motherboard's UEFI BIOS Asus boards This is the “Advanced” section, in it you need to enter the “SATA Configuration” subsection and expand the options for the “SATA Mode” parameter.
Another example is the BIOS AMI (V17.9) of the motherboard MSI boards, here everything is more complicated, and not everyone will be able to immediately figure out where the AHCI setting is. In the “Integrated Peripherals” section, you must select the “On-Chip ATA Devices” subsection, and in it – “Raid Mode”, which provides a choice of hard drive connection modes.
2. Consequences of switching to AHCI mode for Windows operation
So, you can change the IDE mode to AHCI at any time in the BIOS settings. That's just for Windows operation such a move will not result in a slight delay at startup due to the automatic installation of the necessary drivers, as when replacing some computer components. In this case, even getting rid of the connection to the computer components using the standard one will not help. Windows utilities Sysprep, as in the case of replacing a motherboard or processor. Changing the IDE mode to AHCI leads to serious consequences - Windows simply will not start again. As a result, we get either blue screen death, or a cyclic reboot of Windows with a notification about the incorrect startup of the system.
The fact is that IDE and AHCI modes when installing Windows are registered at the registry level. To operate hard drives in AHCI mode, a special driver is required, which is automatically installed with versions of Windows starting with Vista. Since the AHCI mode appeared later than Windows XP, the AHCI driver must first be integrated into the distribution of this version of the system, taken from the motherboard driver disk or downloaded from the Internet.
Ideally, switching to AHCI mode should be done before installation or Windows reinstallation. But there are ways to activate AHCI without having to reinstall Windows - by starting safe mode or editing system registry. Below we will consider these methods for Windows versions 7, 8.1 and 10.
3. Mandatory measures and procedures
In principle, any experiments with Windows can lead to undesirable results, but methods for adapting the operating system to AHCI mode must be taken with particular seriousness. Because in this case, settings that affect the system's ability to boot will be affected. It is strictly forbidden to proceed with the instructions below without having previously prepared emergency means. You must either write down or create and prepare Windows installation media. Using the latter, you can log in or, as a last resort, start the process of reinstalling Windows.
The procedure is as follows:
- Step 1 – check the AHCI enable setting in the BIOS;
- Step 2 – preparation of emergency means;
- Step 3 - depending on the chosen method, either configure the next system startup in safe mode, or edit the system registry;
- Step 4 – reboot, enter BIOS and enable AHCI mode;
- Step 5 – start the computer.
4. Windows Safe Mode
The first method is designed so that when entering safe mode Windows driver AHCI will be installed automatically. But, unfortunately, this will not work in every case. On a running system, you need to configure the next startup in safe mode, reboot, enter the BIOS and set the AHCI mode. After starting the computer in safe mode, the AHCI driver should in theory be installed. If everything goes well, all that remains is to reboot the system in normal operation.
Universal method enter safe mode the next time you boot Windows for everyone current versions systems - use the msconfig utility, called using the "Run" command.
5. Editing the Windows Registry
If the method with safe mode did not work, you can avoid reinstalling the system by editing its registry. To launch the Registry Editor, in the “Run” command field, enter:
4.1 Editing the registry Windows 8.1 and 10
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
In this branch, look for the “iaStorV” folder, click on it, open the “Start” parameter and set its value to “0”. Click "Ok".
Expand the “iaStorV” folder, select the “StartOverride” subfolder, open the “0” parameter and set its value to “0”. Click "Ok".
We go down alphabetically and find the “storahci” folder. Click on it and open the “ErrorControl” parameter. We remove the preset value “3” and enter “0” instead. Click "Ok".
4.2. Editing the Windows 7 registry
In the Registry Editor window, expand the branch:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services
In the branch we find the “iaStorV” folder, click on it, open the “Start” parameter and set the value to “0”. Click "Ok".
After editing the registry, reboot the computer, go into the BIOS, activate the AHCI mode and start the system.
6. If Windows won't boot
If none of the methods helped adapt Windows to work in AHCI mode, the system will have to be reinstalled. But the current Windows can be started if, for example, you need to remove the settings of installed software or save some in a safe place important files, stored on drive C. To do this, you need to enter the BIOS again and set back the active IDE mode setting.
However, it may also happen that the system will not be able to boot in either AHCI or IDE mode. If there is no blue screen of death, but versions of Windows 8.1 and 10 reboot cyclically, giving a screen that says " Automatic recovery", click " Extra options».
Going to the “Select Action” menu, follow the path indicated in the screenshot below and roll back to the restore point.
If a blue screen of death appears when you start your computer, boot from the installation Windows media and at the system installation stage, select the “System Restore” option at the bottom.
Once in the “Select Action” menu, we follow the steps described above.
Those who have chosen the method Reserve copy using third-party software, respectively, use the bootable media of the backup program.
Have a great day!
There are several operating modes of modern Serial ATA controllers (SATA): IDE, AHCI, RAID.
AHCI mode is usually more productive than IDE.
Sometimes situations arise when installed Windows 7, it is necessary to change the operating mode of the controller without reinstalling the OS, but the system does not want to boot with a different operating mode of the controller. The problem is that Windows OS, when the system starts, only loads necessary drivers, but the drivers for IDE and AHCI mode are different...
The solution to the problem is to include the necessary drivers in the list of loaded ones by modifying the system registry.
Open the registry editor, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\ and then change the startup mode for the required drivers:
Changing the controller operating mode from "IDE" to "AHCI" (shown if there is a modern screw with NCQ support)
You need to change the value of the "Start" parameter (Type: REG_DWORD) to "0" (see figure below) for drivers "msahci", "Iastor" or "IastorV"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Iastor
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV
Attention! This sequence of actions must be performed BEFORE enabling AHCI in the BIOS settings, otherwise the system will stop booting!
- Open Registry Editor by typing RegEdit in the Start panel.
- To the UAC request “Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer?”, we respond Yes.
- In Registry Editor, navigate to the following branch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci
- In the right pane, select the key Start and edit it ( Modify).
5. Set the “Start” parameter to 0 , and click OK.
6. Default value (ACHI support disabled): 3
7. Close Registry Editor.
8. Restart your computer.
9. Go to BIOS, enable AHCI support on your motherboard. Save your changes and restart your computer again.
10. After downloading, Windows 7 will automatically install AHCI device drivers. After installation is complete, Windows will reboot one more time.
11. After the system boots, the hard drives will support the AHCI standard.
Additionally:
Iastor & IastorV - Intel Matrix Storage Manager drivers.
Changing the controller operating mode from "AHCI" to "IDE" (shown if the hard drive in AHCI mode operates in the very slow "Multi-Word DMA Mode 2" DMA mode)
You need to change the value of the "Start" parameter (Type: REG_DWORD) to "0" (see figure below) for the "pciide" driver
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\pciide (there was also a case that needed to be changed in the sectionHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\intelide)
After this, in the BIOS you can change the controller operating mode from “AHCI” to “IDE”.
P.S. In my case, enabling autoloading for this driver helped solve the problem with "Multi-Word DMA Mode 2" without changing the mode to IDE, and now you can honestly enjoy your work hard drives in "Ultra DMA Mode 5" mode.
Remember that the list of controllers and their drivers is much wider and perhaps in your case you need to enable some other driver; carefully study the list of drivers in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services section
How to check if it is enabledAHCI inWindows
If you are not sure whether AHCI support is enabled or not in your Windows 7, then following these instructions you can determine this fact.
- Open Device Manager (from the Start menu, type DeviceManager).
- When the UAC request appears “Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer?” answer Yes.
- Open section IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers .
- If the AHCI driver is installed on Windows, then the list of devices will contain something like Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller or Intel(R) 5 Series 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller.
If you cannot find anything about AHCI Controller, then you should assume that AHCI support is disabled on your system. And you can activate AHCI in Windows (following the instructions above), and after that enable AHCI in the BIOS.
Technology Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is the standard proposed by Intel, which allows you to increase the speed of reading/writing operations from hard drives connected via the SATA protocol by using advanced features of SATA technology, such as integrated command queuing (NCQ), in addition, the standard supports hot swap technology for hard drives. In operating rooms Windows systems 7 and Windows Vista It is already possible to support AHCI, and if during the installation of Windows 7 the system detects that the computer supports AHCI, the AHCI driver is installed automatically.
In older models motherboards, despite the fact that the chipset supports AHCI technology, its support is disabled at the BIOS level. Therefore, if, when installing Windows 7 / Vista, the installer did not determine the presence of ACHI support on the chipset, then the AHCI device driver will not be installed. As a result, if in such a system, after installing Windows, you activate ACHI support in the BIOS, the system may stop booting or will crash into a blue BSOD screen.
Therefore, if after installing Windows 7, you find that your motherboard supports AHCI mode, but this function is disabled in the BIOS, then this instruction will help you activate AHCPI support in Windows 7/Vista.
Attention! This sequence of actions must be performed BEFORE enabling AHCI in the BIOS settings, otherwise the system will stop booting!
How to check if it is enabledAHCI inWindows
If you are not sure whether AHCI support is enabled or not in your Windows 7, then following these instructions you can determine this fact.
- Open Device Manager (from the Start menu, type DeviceManager).
- When the UAC request appears “Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer?” answer Yes.
- Open section IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers .
- If the AHCI driver is installed on Windows, then the list of devices will contain something like Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller or Intel(R) 5 Series 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller.
If you cannot find anything about AHCI Controller, then you should assume that AHCI support is disabled on your system. And you can activate AHCI in Windows (following the instructions above), and after that enable AHCI in the BIOS.
Before you start searching and thoroughly studying information on how to enable AHCI in Windows 10, it is important to understand what AHCI is, why you need to connect such a technology, and whether all users, regardless of any other circumstances, need to subject their PC to such manipulations.
AHCI allows reorganization disk space to improve productivity
Take the time and read a little theoretical information regarding the emergence of such a new mode as AHCI in the computer environment.
The specified theoretical knowledge will allow you to correctly make a responsible decision related to enabling this mode on your personal computer.
Focus of new technologies
If you are a prominent representative of PC users who cannot imagine performing work tasks without computer equipment, if you are trying to find time in the evening to “wander” around world wide web and get acquainted with the latest news, play cool games, you have certainly heard that over the past years, developers have been directing their efforts to modernize disk space.
AHCI mode allows you to increase hardware performance
Over time, the hard drive has grown in size, so it was very important to find ways to increase the performance of the disk subsystem.
Only after he appeared new interface and the SATA standard, the user was offered three unique technologies.
The first “Hot Plug” technology allows the PC user to instantly perform actions with the drive, including turning it off without turning off the electronic computer itself.
Yes, this technology is only useful to those who have several hard drives installed on their computer. New technology significantly saves time on performing these tasks.
The second technology “NCQ” is responsible for the order of execution of service tasks. It is this that helps increase the performance of hard drives. This technology also speeds up the SSD, which also helps to quickly solve problems associated with an incredibly huge queue of incoming commands.
The third technology "TRIM" is focused only on modern SSD drives. It contributes to significant acceleration, as well as an increase in the service life of SSDs.
But specifically AHCI is aimed at using the capabilities of SSD, SATA and HDD. To experience the incredible speed increase, it is important that the SATA controller operates in AHCI mode.
Checking for AHCI
Having plunged headlong into a theoretical vacuum, convinced that AHCI mode for Windows 10 is important, many will express a desire to enable it as soon as possible.
It is important to understand that new computer equipment on which Windows 7 or 10 is installed is already accompanied not only automatic connection mode, but also by automatic installation of drivers. If you still have doubts as to whether the specified mode is supported, whether it is installed on your PC or not, you can use useful tips and find the answer to this question yourself.
Mode checking algorithm
Checking AHCI mode in Windows 7 or 10 is easy. Initially, you need to open the “Device Manager”, you can do this in two ways.
First of all, click on the “Start” menu and go to the “Control Panel” menu. In the window that opens, in the first rows of the general list there will be such an important “Device Manager” for you.
You can also open it by entering the phrase “Device Manager” in the search bar.
In the “Device Manager” that opens, you can easily find the line IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Click on it so that this section opens and displays its contents.
If the AHCI mode in Windows 7 or 10 is installed, and the corresponding drivers are installed at the same time, in the sublist that opens you can find something resembling one of the entries:
- Standard AHCI1.0 Serial ATA Controller;
- Intel(R)5 Series6 Port SATA AHCI Controller.
Note that the key in both of these entries is the presence of the word "AHCI" itself. Unfortunately, the absence of this word indicates that this mode is disabled and not installed.
In particular, if the word “IDE” flashes in this line, it means that you can confirm that the desired mode is not installed; you will have to work hard to remove “IDE” and install AHCI.
If you really want to change everything, then direct your efforts to familiarize yourself with how to enable AHCI mode in Windows 7 or 10.
Enabling the mode
If on your smart car Windows OS is already installed, you will have to make important changes to the registry of the system itself. By following the recommendations of experienced users, you will definitely succeed and be crowned with great success.
The main thing is not to make your own fantasy adjustments, especially in cases where you are little familiar with this kind of manipulation.
Mode connection algorithm
First of all, you must understand that the AHCI mode must be enabled before installing the operating system, otherwise the operating system simply will not boot upon a subsequent reboot.
Launch registry editor, to do this you can also type the phrase “RegEdit” in the search bar.
In the registry that opens, you will have to carefully review all available branches to find “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci”.
WITH right side open window you will find the “Start” key, which you will have to edit; accordingly, click on the “Modify” parameter.
A new window will open in front of you again, in which you will need to set a numeric parameter. Most often, by default, when the mode is disabled, you will be able to find the number 3 there, and you should change it to 0.
This completes the work with the registry, close all windows and restart your PC.
When the operating system starts, call BIOS. This needs to be done to make some changes to enable AHCI on the motherboard.
It’s not difficult to figure out how to change the BIOS IDE to AHCI. Right after BIOS boot go to the “Advanced” tab, and then in the list that opens, find the line “SATA Configuration”, click on it. A small window will immediately pop up with only two choices: IDE and AHCI. Select the second option.
If you have done everything as prescribed by the algorithm, then when you start the operating system will detect new equipment and carry out automatic installation drivers.
There are times when the user has to do the opposite, look for ways to disable AHCI in the BIOS.
It’s easy to guess that to implement your plan, you will have to go the same way as described above, only in reverse order. It is advisable to start by switching the new mode to IDE in the BIOS, and then making all the changes to the registry. So, you can easily figure out how to disable AHCI even on your own.
So, the desire to enable AHCI mode is justified by the emergence of new successful opportunities and technologies. It is not difficult to carry out these actions if you have patience, attention and the appropriate algorithm for how to do it all.
What is AHCI mode and why should it be enabled? AHCI is a mechanism for working with information storage devices. For example, with hard drives or SSD drives. This mode replaces the more outdated IDE mode. The dawn of this “protocol” came, perhaps, in 2011. At that time, prices for SSD drives became more or less affordable for home use.
We will not disclose all the technical details about how the AHCI mode works. For a regular user It will be enough to know that with AHCI enabled, the speed of working with the disk and its service life increase. But to experience the beauty of its work, you must have it installed on your computer. SSD drive with SATA 6Gbit interface.
This is where we will finish the story about the details of the operation of the AHCI mode and move on to considering the issue of enabling it in the system.
It’s worth mentioning right away that the connection mode for AHCI drives must be supported by your motherboard. Fortunately today, we can confidently say that almost any motherboard released from 2008 onwards has this capability.
Increase PC speed using AHCI mode
What is the difficulty when switching to AHCI mode? If you are just going to install the operating system, then no problems will arise. All you have to do is turn it on this mode in the BIOS of your computer and only then carry out Windows installation. Usually enable AHCI it is possible through the BIOS in the section on working with storage devices Storage Configuration.
On different models For motherboards, this section may have a different but similar name. For example, SATA Configuration, SATA Mode, etc. The guideline for your search will be the ability to select from a list of the following modes: IDE, AHCI, RAID.
Switching to AHCI without reinstalling the operating system
So, we figured out installing a clean OS, everything is simple! Now let's look at the situation of turning on AHCI for already working Windows . The fact is that when you change modes in the BIOS, the operating system will stop loading with various types of errors.
These errors are caused by the lack of the required driver controller hard drive when loading the OS. That is why before changing BIOS settings we will need to prepare the operating system.
To do this, open the Registry Editor through the menu Start > Run > Regedit and we will find the following subsections in it:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV
In each section you will need to open the parameter Start and replace its value with - 0 .
After making changes, you need to restart the computer, go into the BIOS, enable AHCI mode and save the changes. operating system At the first start, it will install a new driver and will be ready for further work.
Usually this method is working and suitable for all versions of Windows from version 7 and higher. If you were unable to figure it out with the first method, then you can try to enable AHCI mode a little differently or contact our team for help.