SSD question

[Cris1]

I just installed a SSD (Samsung 850 EVO) on my motherboard and my friends are telling me to switch to AHCI mode to get more performance in my SSD, Will this really help? My bios is running on it's default settings atm.

 

[Layback Bear]

I would also suggest AHCI.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Kind of scary it wasn't already as default :/

 

[Cris1]

I had only a hard drive before, maybe it's the reason why isn't it at default?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

It's a quick switch to move to AHCI, but if you didn't know you weren't using AHCI, it's unlikely you'd ever complain about poor performance.

 

[DavidE]

Read the tutorial below if you haven't already, so you know what you have to do to change from IDE to ACHI.

To know for sure if it makes a difference for you, run some utilities such as Samsung Magician and other disk performance programs, now with IDE, and save the results.
Then run these programs after changing to AHCI and compare the results.

Personally, I would switch to AHCI, but make sure you have a backup/recovery plan before making any changes in case you run into problems.

Here is the tutorial:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/61869-ahci-enable-windows-7-vista.html

 

[Cris1]

When ever I boot up my system after the Gigabyte bootscreen there's this message that displays thisIt's in AHCI mode)
Serial ATA AHCI BIOS, Version iSrc 1.Z0E
Copyright Intel Corp
**This version supports only Hard Disk and CDROM drives*
Controller Bus#00, Device#1F, Function#02: 06 Ports, 03 Devices
Port-00: No device detected
Port-01: Hard Disk, Samsung SSD 850 EVO 120 GB
Port-02: No device detected
Port-03: CDROM, HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GHZ24LS70
Port-04: No device detected
Port-05: Hard Disk, ST31000524AS
AHCI BIOS installed

This doesn't happen when my BIOS isn't in AHCI mode.

 

[DavidE]

Did you read the tutorial i linked in Post#6 ?

That tutorial has instructions for what needs to be changed in Windows before making the BIOS change and restarting Windows.

 

[Cris1]

I forgot to mention, I already changed it to AHCI I followed a guy from youtube on how to do it. It included the reg changes but not the iaStorV one. What should I do now?

 

[DavidE]

To be sure i understand correctly,

Now you can't start Windows if the BIOS set to IDE or AHCI, neither setting works now for the new SSD.
You need to make one registry change to the iaStorV key to use AHCI.

You could try booting the PC with a W7 install disc or System Repair disc.
From there run Command Prompt, and manually edit the registry using the reg command.
Here's a couple of links that might help with this:
How To Delete And Add Registry Keys From The Command Line - gHacks Tech News
https://social.technet.microsoft.co...very-console-or-dos?forum=itprovistadesktopui
I've never done this before.

You don't have a backup such as a System Image backup from before making the registry changes, right ?

Did you transfer the OS from the old HD to the new SSD using cloning or imaging, or did you do a Clean Install on the SSD ?

If you can't manually fix the registry running a command prompt, you might need to redo the transfer or Clean Install to fix this.

 

[Cris1]

I can still boot to Windows, there's just that message which wasn't there before when I was in IDE(Default). I didn't transfer the OS from HDD to SDD, clean install using Win 7 Home Prem Disc.

 

[AddRAM]

You should reinstall windows, making sure the bios is set to AHCI first.

 

[Cris1]

I just did it, no difference the message still displays after Gigabyte boot screen.

 

[DavidE]

Look in Device Manager and see if there are any errors.

I did some searching and found a couple of threads you can read.
It might be a problem with the Intel SATA controller.
Gigabyte GA-H67A-UD3H (Rev 1.0). "No Device Detected" for SATA2 ports
boot - How to reset the Intel SATA controller ROM? - Super User

Check if your BIOS is the latest version.
There is an Intel SATA Preinstall driver (For AHCI / RAID Mode) available from Gigabyte at this site:
GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1155 - GA-Z68AP-D3 (rev. 1.0)

You could contact Gigabyte support and see if they have any suggestions.
Your easiest solution might be to just use IDE with that motherboard.