Can BIOS drive controller interface setting effect sata drives connected to USB port

[wpshooter]

Can the BIOS setting for drive controller interface setting (i.e. legacy (PATA) or AHCI) effect a SATA drive that is connected via the computers USB port(s) ? In order words, will a SATA drive connected via USB port work any better if the BIOS is set to AHCI instead of PATA ?

Let me know if you need more specific info.

Thanks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Simple answer: "NO".

Technical answer: Protocol over USB port is either USB Mass Storage Device, or UASP.

 

[George P]

More specifically:

1. Any type of storage connected via USB is using a USB protocol.
2. There are several USB protocols that have been introduced over the years, from the early USB 1, then 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, and most recently 3.2. There have also been various bus power revisions; for more info, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB
3. Any storage connected to a USB port will only be as fast as the protocol implemented in the storage device itself (a Hard Drive Dock, a thumb drive, etc.) If your dock or thumb drive has a 2.0 chip (implementation), it will only transfer at 2.0 speed even if connected to a 3.0 USB port.
4. Some newer motherboards might have BIOS settings that affect the USB speed and / or protocol, but that has nothing to do with PATA, AHCI, RAID, etc.
5. The USB types and protocols are overlapping & complex. A short and inexact summary: USB 2 and earlier use USB Mass Storage Device protocol (though 2.0 can use UASP in some case - see wiki articles); 3.0 added the UASP protocol, but can also use the earlier one. Windows 8.1 is the first Windows OS to have native 3.0 and UASP support (Windows 7 can only use UASP and / or 3.0 to full potential with an add-on driver; the motherboard chipset & driver might also limit use of 3.0 at 'super-speed and the UASP protocol - I have an ASUS board that came with UASP drivers for two of the USB 3 ports to work with Windows 7, but this is not common and can be difficult to implement). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_Attached_SCSI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_3.0#USB_3.1
6. One thing (aside from USB protocol) that might affect maximum transfer rate is the motherboard driver (and resources) for the USB buss(es). USB ports on a Southbridge that already has high resource allocation / usage from other components might be slower, and a poorly written motherboard driver can also affect performance. I saw this once when swapping a motherboard from one manufacturer with one from a different manufacturer but with the same chipset; the 'new' board was more responsive.
7. Some external 'Backup' Hard Drives rely on the built in chipset to communicate with the OS - i.e. they may be formatted as NTFS or HFS+ (or whatever the recent Mac format is); the plus side is the drive can be used with both Mac & Windows; the negative is you might not be able to use the drive directly in the computer without the external circuit board unless you reformat it (this happened to me - the HDD to USB section of the backup drive fried & I couldn't access the info from my Windows machine).

 

[PliotronX]

The chipset in the adapter is the controller, it is not affected by BIOS settings (only on the USB side with something like downgrading a SS port to HS).