SATA Question

[Salvador]

I'm new to SATA hdd's and have a question about setup. Do I have to enable anything in the BIOS to optimize SATA or is everything automatically configured? I thought that I remember reading something about enabling SATA RAID even if you use one drive? This doesn't sound right to me.

 

[renethx]

You don't need to choose RAID mode. But AHCI mode support NCQ and may (or may not) improve disk performance. To enable it, choose AHCI mode in BIOS before installing OS (the default is IDE mode).

 

[Salvador]

Originally posted by: renethx
You don't need to choose RAID mode. But AHCI mode support NCQ and may (or may not) improve disk performance. To enable it, choose AHCI mode in BIOS before installing OS (the default is IDE mode).

Thanks for the reply. I have no need for AHCI mode. The reason why I asked is because my SATA drive shows up as an IDE drive in the BIOS and I'm wondering if the system is dumbing it down to PATA speeds.

When I installed Windows XP on the drive, I installed Windows like I always have. I don't remember having any option to set up my SATA drive any differently.

Is it worth reinstalling Windows to get any extra speed out of the drive?

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: SalvadorIs it worth reinstalling Windows to get any extra speed out of the drive?

Perhaps not.

BTW reinstalling OS with F6 should enable AHCI.

 

[Paperdoc]

A lot of the new mobo's handle the SATA drive by making it appear as a PATA drive to the OS. That way it's easy and there is no need to install software drivers for the new interface. Don't worry about "dumbing down" - this technique does not appear to harm the speed or capabilities.

When I set up my system I configured for AHCI in BIOS, but then Win XP Pro could not find the drive to install onto. I used the utility CD that come with my Seagate drive to partition and format my drives, but that software did not allow me to exceed the 137 GB barrier because it had no knowledge of the OS to come. The XP still could not install. Eventually I switched off AHCI and presto! XP installed just fine. Then I had to play around to re-partition to full HDD capacity in one volume.

Maybe I just missed out on the proper way to get XP to recognize an AHCI drive during install.

SATA does not need RAID, as you suspect. I found some mobo manuals spend so much time explaining the special needs of RAIDs that it is hard to find how to not do that and just go the plain-Jane route.