Recent content by Phil3

I am looking for a reasonably quick and reliable external hard drive that is 500GB - 1TB in size and can use USB 3.0. It does not matter if it needs an external power supply or not, but the absence of one would be nice. Auto-backup is also a plus. Portability is not that important. Most...

I had understood that Windows 7 does have a AHCI driver, eliminating any need for me to go out and try to find it. I also had understood that Windows will not load that driver unless the BIOS tells Windows AHCI is selected. When I get home, I will check as you said to see if the AHCI driver is...

On a reinstall of Windows 7, do I need to delete SSD partitions (which I presume will wipe out existing Windows 7 and other apps), or...? I just want to be sure on what to do when I get to the drive section of the Windows install with Windows already on the machine. - Phil

If all else fails, will do the fresh install of Win7. How can I be sure the AHCI driver on the Win7 disk is installed during the fresh install? By ensuring the BIOS is set to AHCI? Nothing more? I am so certain I did this to start with, but guess not since the BIOS now says IDE, unless the...

Thank you. I am at work now, but will perform your steps when I get home. I did try disconnecting the 2nd HDD, but SSD was on SATA_1, which is a SATA3 connector. The SSD is also SATA3. I do not believe the Marvell controller was disabled, so will do that. I can make the other BIOS changes...

It is a Crucial M4 64GB SSD. - Phil

This modifies the registry, which I already did. That has not worked. I do not what else can be done, except to change the BIOS to AHCI and reinstall Windows? Will this just overwrite the existing Windows 7 and data, or...? I am fuzzy on "reinstalls". - Phil

I think it will be necessary to reinstall Windows 7 on my SSD since it appears that it was installed without AHCI drivers. I was positive I set the BIOS to AHCI before doing loading Win7, but it says IDE and the system will not boot with BIOS set to AHCI, even with a registry edit. So, now...

I changed HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\System\CurrentControlSet\services\msachi in the Registry. I changed the "start" value from 3 to 0, per instructions I found on the Internet. Rebooted and changed the BIOS to AHCI and let it reboot with the change. Still same problem. Says "Loading Operating...

I built a new system and was positive I switched the "PCH SATA Control Mode" on my Gigabyte GA-Z68-UD3-BS motherboard to ACHI. And all worked fine and Windows boots quick. I then added a second mechanical hard drive and it did not show in Windows. Explored the BIOS and found that the "PCH...

I bought this MB with G.Skills Sniper (2 x 4GB) memory from NewEgg. I am a novice, but it works fine. I have not tried to overclock anything (new to me). - Phil

Given responses here, I decided to order a Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5TB. For $79.99, I figured I could hardly go wrong. It will replace the 74GB Raptor. - Phil

I have an old 74GB WD Raptor drive from about 2005 - 2006. I can still use, but wondered how it might fare performance wise to something like a WD Caviar Black? Has the old Raptor fallen behind the times or can I get better performance with something like the Caviar Black? The drive will...