Yes, it's me ProjectVRD... not a spam bot. If you want to speed up your PC then follow these instructions very carefully. For ADVANCED users only, if you are unsure... bug out now in case you mess up your system and ask someone you know who is competent to do this for you. ACHI - Advanced Host Controller Interface Today the bottleneck in all PCs and Laptops is usually the Hard Disk Drive, often referred to as the Hard Drive or H.D.D., with moving parts it is the slowest required part of the PC. Intel started to address this issue by redesigning the Host Controller, this is a 'thing' (leymans) that allows your Hard Disk Drive to communicate with the rest of the computer and thus move all that data you have built up to the processor and memory blocks, such as games or Microsoft Office, even the Windows operating system. Originally the Host Controller worked on a standard called IDE, it is old, clapped out, slow as hell and way past it's due date. However the extreme majority of computer manufacturers still set it as default which means you PC runs slow from the moment your first buy it. At this point, Google you PC/Laptop model name and see if it is AHCI compatible, if you are struggling to find out then try the manufacturers forums or if you bought it built to order with expensive parts then ask the online store that built your rig. If the Motherboard inside your computer does not support AHCI then leave this thread now, sorry. Okay, so if you get here you have determined your Motherboard does do AHCI. Here is the painful bit, you will have to reinstall Windows to get this working stable and that is because changing Windows from IDE to AHCI can be messy and can stop it working properly, on my first try Audio devices no longer worked because I did not do a new Windows install. Let's get started: Back Up the data you want to keep Find your windows key (Magic Jellybean can help with this if you have lost it) Find your Windows Install Disk Enter your BIOS after restarting the PC Change any and all reference to SATA that states IDE to AHCI where applicable, not all SATA options will have these Reinstall Windows making sure you format the hard drives! All of them! That is it, it will take a while because installing Windows just is a slow process running from the DVD. You can exploit AHCI even futher by investing in an SSD, Solid State Drive, to replace your Hard Disk Drive. They are extremely fast and if like me, you use AHCI and SSD in combination then you to can start Windows 8 in about three seconds... with loads of start up programs. Yup, I clokced my PC loading Windows Professional in just three seconds. Catch you later lads.
I was thinking of adding an ssd to my computer to boot windows with, if people going in this direction get at least a 256gb , and buy a quality drive. Will do it when next I format my drive to get rid of the crap. I do recommend that you do that once a year, my favourite time is the week between Christmas and the New Year.
With Windows 7 and Vista you do not have to reinstall to enable AHCI. Follow these steps: 1. Exit all Windows-based programs. 2. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER. 3. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue. 4. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - System - Current Control Set - Services - msahci 5. In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify. 6. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK. 7. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor. 8. Reboot machine, go into BIOS and enable AHCI. http://www.neowin.net/news/neowin-guide-how-to-change-from-ide-to-ahci-without-reinstalling-windows
Jager, with AHCI and two SSD's I am transferring big files at about 500 MB/s... and it's stable, doesn't slow down like a HHD does after a few minutes or so. Both SSD and AHCI worth it because most people think they need a whole new PC or Laptop, they don't, they only need to sort out their drive. I have one 256GB SSD as my main system drive with Windows on it, and the other is a 512GB SSD which goes into an ejectable drive that I bought for £12. They are SATA 3 and that 512GB SSD, with the 512GB then going into a USB Caddy it is now a hybrid PC/USB drive.
You shouldn't put SSD drives in a RAID configuration. Firstly new SSD drives are on the +side of 500 mb/s. Secondly, SATA3 can only move data at 600 mb/s. So SSD are already pushing the upper cap. So you can't really improve the speed much by going RAID. At the same time, if either drive fails then all data is lost, whereby you doubled the risk of losing your data. And you really shouldn't buy a SSD if your mb is not AHCI compatible.
No, don't do it. I did exactly that and it is messy mate. I lost the ability to use Audio IO's which meant I never get them back. AHCI changes the way IO instructions are queued and the Audio IO gets lost and cannot be reassigned. Whilst mine was audio, it could be any IO assigned aspect of the Windows system including Data Handlers and then you are really screwed because it can corrupt the data you may have wanted to back up.
Correct, which is why AHCI is the perfect solution, it isn't RAID configured. But in IDE mode an SSD is unlikely to ever go above 150MB/s and sustain it for more than a few minutes before slowing down a bit and stabalising no matter what speed it is. Alot of modern boardfs are now AHCI compatible, especially Winsows Pre-Installed machines... Microsoft only allow AHCI boards to carry the Windows 8 logo on the PC/Laptop case. And still the manufacturers put them into IDE mode lol
Hmm. I have done it without issues, and it is the official advice on how to do it. But as we know, we are dealing with a PC, and we all know they have been invented so that you shouldn't be happy all day long.
Did you also change the GSATA values in the BIOS, they should be further down the Peripheral menu? Be very careful with what you do now in the BIOS, consider backing things up and have your key uploaded onto SkyDrive, you are prepared if something goes wrong then mate. .
The problem with my system is space, I need loads of it because of my business. I have about 3tb at the moment and a lot is used up. I need to invest some money into a decent NAS storage device about 20tb should be enough.
My job involves a lot of images, and scanned paperwork. So I can't just delete these once I'm done. I do have a lot of music and films stored as well. Getting a NAS drive of that size is a problem, also as its probably a raid drive I lose at least a third depending which one I use. My problem is that It costs over a grand, the wife would not be happy
This thread lost me with the words 'Spam Bot' in #1 but has now got me back with 'Debbie does Dallas' in #15 - like the way this thread is now going!
