Any problems with using IDE over AHCI?

Megalith

Megalith

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Ever since I built my Windows 8 system, I've had countless unexplained BSODs, all dealing with hal.dll and ntoskrnl.dll. I knew it was a driver problem, but whatever I installed always made things worse.

I finally decided to try running my drives in IDE mode, and all my problems suddenly went away. So I'm definitely staying away from AHCI for the time being.

But are there any dangers in running a drive in IDE mode nowadays---specifically, SSDs? I am using a Samsung 830. Performance is supposedly better in AHCI, but is that even perceivable?
 
Just a little bit slower performance and possibly losing the ability to hot swap.
 
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I'd fix the problem instead of band-aiding it. It's 2013 almost - IDE's dead.
 
Even if it's behaving in IDE mode, it's still no reason not to find the actual cause of the problem. AHCI should be used no matter what - especially with a modern SSD and OS. Look into event log, see if it is complaining about a controller error. If not, try using a different onboard SATA port - intel vs. marvell. Sometimes there is compatibility issues inbetween here, other times not. Drives can strongly impact this as well.
 
I never checked my event logs when I was running in AHCI, so I don't know if there was a controller error. Wouldn't something like that show up with an exclamation in the Device Manager? If so, everything appeared fine.

Basically, my system liked to BSOD during restart (IIRC, all were labeled as "watchdog" errors). Shutting down the system also took forever. I tried installing Intel's Rapid Storage Technology (which includes Intel's AHCI drivers) package, but after doing so, my system would hang for no reason at all. I couldn't even update my LAN drivers; running the installation package would crash my system.

One thing I didn't try but would have if switching to IDE didn't work was to load up Intel's AHCI drivers (F6 disk/usb) on the Windows 8 install menu before writing the OS to my SSD. (But can the AHCI drivers that come with Windows be *that* bad?) I've re-installed the OS so many times that I'm sick of it, though, and could live with IDE so long as doing so wouldn't harm the drive in any way.
 
Megalith said:
I never checked my event logs when I was running in AHCI, so I don't know if there was a controller error. Wouldn't something like that show up with an exclamation in the Device Manager? If so, everything appeared fine.

Basically, my system liked to BSOD during restart (IIRC, all were labeled as "watchdog" errors). Shutting down the system also took forever. I tried installing Intel's Rapid Storage Technology (which includes Intel's AHCI drivers) package, but after doing so, my system would hang for no reason at all. I couldn't even update my LAN drivers; running the installation package would crash my system.

One thing I didn't try but would have if switching to IDE didn't work was to load up Intel's AHCI drivers (F6 disk/usb) on the Windows 8 install menu before writing the OS to my SSD. (But can the AHCI drivers that come with Windows be *that* bad?) I've re-installed the OS so many times that I'm sick of it, though, and could live with IDE so long as doing so wouldn't harm the drive in any way.
Click to expand...

One problem with AHCI is chipset support - it's spotty in older chipsets; the worst offender is (surprisingly) Intel chipsets. While Intel's old dating-back-to-AGP 8xx series mostly supports AHCI (if your southbridge is at least ICH5), G3x (Bear Lake) has spotty support, and G41 (Eagle Lake) doesn't support AHCI at all.

What chipset is the motherboard in question? Also, was the install migrated from an older motherboard that was in IDE mode? The best way to configure AHCI is via a clean install (which all versions of Windows since Vista, and all x64 versions of Windows, directly support).
 
AHCI performance is better.

I recently built an Ubuntu HTPC/NAS with 5x 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s drives (and a SSD boot drive). I quickly noticed that my drive performance (with the 2TB drives) sucked! I was getting anywhere between 20MB/s to 40MB/s throughput. After checking the bios, I noticed that the SATA settings defaulted to IDE. I changed the mode to AHCI but was still getting the 20-40MB/s transfer rate. After a bit of research I decided to blow the OS away and reinstall Ubuntu. I'm now getting between 160-190MB/s throughput.

To the OP: Set the bios to AHCI, then install Windows. Make sure you install any manufacturer drivers and your system should be more stable.
 
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