Choose ahci mode where it changes. Enable or disable AHCI mode in Windows. Enabling AHCI mode in Windows

Introduction

SSDs are usually faster than magnetic hard drives. Sure, some flash drives have mediocre write speeds, but overall, it is solid state drives that are setting the pace right now, overshadowing the evolution of traditional hard drives.

True, SSD drives are not only faster, but also much more expensive than conventional HDDs. Every gigabyte of SSD is expensive. And if there is an option to free up several gigabytes by disabling unnecessary Windows services and components, then this cannot be neglected.

It is also worth noting that on the forums of computer enthusiasts there are many individuals who claim that a few simple Windows optimizations help to increase productivity. But is it really so?

In this article, we decided to take a closer look at the most popular SSD tweaks and determine, using a test, how they affect system performance. Basically, we only have to answer two simple questions- is it possible, using certain system tweaks, to free up space on the system disk and increase the performance of the computer?

In addition, we plan to test two different solid state drives to see if the effect depends on the specific SSD model, or if these tweaks will work for any drive. It is possible that these tweaks are completely useless and there is no way to make an SSD run faster.

We'll be testing nine of the most popular SSD tweaks for the Windows 7 operating system:

Disable System Restore.
Disable data indexing.
Disable paging file.
Disable hibernation.
Disable prefetching (read ahead).
Disable flushing the Windows entries cache.
Disable SuperFetch and Windows Search.
Disable ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache.
Setting up a power plan.

AHCI Mode and TRIM Command

Before proceeding with subtle system tweaks, you need to make sure that the SATA controller is set to AHCI mode, and the TRIM command is supported by Windows 7. Both of these settings, strictly speaking, cannot be classified as optimizations for SSDs - rather, this is a requirement for the computer configuration that uses a solid state drive.

AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) mode is a specific SATA controller mode that allows hot swapping of SATA drives and Native Command Queuing (NCQ) technology. Using NCQ provides higher performance of the disk subsystem.

This is especially true for flash drives where a multi-channel controller is used: an SSD drive is much better suited to simultaneously executing multiple commands. That is why solid-state drives provide maximum performance at a large queue depth and the benefits from using NCQ can be quite noticeable.

Do not forget about one more important argument in favor of AHCI: only in this mode of controller operation you can use support TRIM commands provided by the Windows 7 operating system. TRIM support is essential for SSD drives, as it helps to maintain high drive performance for a long period of time.

According to Wikipedia, TRIM- a command that allows the operating system to notify the solid-state drive about which data blocks are no longer used and can be cleared by the drive itself. TRIM allows the SSD to reduce the impact garbage collection(garbage collection), which would otherwise result in a decrease in the write speed to the affected sectors in the future. TRIM support provides more stable write speed and also reduces wear and tear on free memory cells.

How to check if a SATA controller is operating in AHCI mode

The AHCI mode of the SATA controller can be set in the BIOS or UEFI settings of your motherboard... Most modern motherboards have it installed by default, but be sure to use the correct BIOS setup follows exactly before installing Windows, not after. If Windows is already installed, you need to check if AHCI mode is enabled:

In the "Start" menu, select "Control Panel".
On the "View" tab, select the "Small icons" display mode.
Select "Device Manager".
In the "Device Manager" we find the branch "IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers", expand it and look for AHCI controllers.
If the AHCI controller is on the list, then the system operates in AHCI mode.
If there are no AHCI controllers in the list, then the system is started without AHCI support.

If Legacy IDE mode is used instead of AHCI, then it is recommended to switch to ACHI mode. However, with the OS installed, this will be a little more difficult. This is described in more detail in Support article on the Microsoft website .

How to check if the TRIM command is enabled

If TRIM support is enabled in Windows 7, the operating system sends appropriate commands to the SSD. Checking if TRIM is working is also pretty straightforward:

In the "Start" menu in the search field, enter cmd.
Click right click mouse on executable file cmd.exe and select "Run as administrator".
In the command line, enter "fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify" (without quotes).
If the computer issues DisableDeleteNotify = 0, TRIM support is enabled.
If DisableDeleteNotify = 1 is displayed, TRIM support is disabled.

Disabling System Restore

Let's move on to describing more subtle system optimizations. The first of these is to disable System Restore, the built-in Windows system rollback (recovery) system that uses the principle of "checkpoints".

Disabling System Restore serves two purposes. First, you reduce the number of writes to the SSD, which increases its longevity. Today there are different opinions as to whether or not to worry about unnecessary write operations on an SSD. The number of write cycles is the main parameter that tells us about the longevity of the memory cells, on the basis of which solid state drives are created. Some users believe that there is no need to worry: you are unlikely to see the day when the memory cells of your SSD drive stop storing data. Other users, on the other hand, do their best to minimize the number of rewrite cycles. There is no definite answer yet which of them is right. But if you do not rely on chance and consider yourself to be someone who does not want to risk it, then disabling System Restore is a good option to reduce the load on memory cells. Let's add that System Restore "checkpoints" are not available for the TRIM command and regular use of this Windows functions has the potential to degrade drive performance over time.

The second reason to skip System Restore is to save money free space on the system drive. Control points created by System Restore are stored on the system disk itself and "eat off" expensive disk space on the SSD. At the same time, they do not always provide a full rollback of the system. As a rule, it is safer to have a complete system image created using a specialized utility (Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image). You can "deploy" such an image to disk in a matter of minutes and you will be confident that you will be able to return to the working system. In addition, you do not need to store such an image on the system drive itself - for these purposes, you can use a regular hard drive or an external drive.

How to disable System Restore

Right-click on the "Computer" icon in the "Start" menu and select "Properties".
Select the "System Protection" tab.
Click on the "Configure" button.
Check the box next to the "Disable system protection" item.

CONTENT

AHCI, how to start and configure it

Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI)- A mechanism used to connect storage devices using the Serial ATA protocol, allowing you to use advanced features such as built-in command sequence (NCQ) and hot swapping. Most importantly, when ANCI mode is enabled, TRIM mode is activated in the SSD. In addition, without ANCI mode enabled, sometimes it is impossible to update the firmware in the SSD (for example, KINGSTON).

The ACHI operating mode allows you to use it to clean up garbage on an SSD.

AHCI is built into Intel chipsets starting from some versions of ICH6 and all chipsets for Core i3 / i5 / i7 platforms. For Core platforms, AHCI has been implemented in the following controllers:

PCHM Intel RAID / AHCI Controller Hub
Intel PCH SATA RAID / AHCI Controller Hub
Intel ICH10R / DO SATA RAID / AHCI Controller Hub
Intel ICH10D SATA AHCI Controller Hub
Intel ICH9M -E SATA RAID / AHCI Controller Hub
Intel ICH9M AHCI Controller Hub
Intel 82801IR / IO Controller Hub (ICH9R / DO) - RAID and AHCI
Intel 82801HEM I / O Controller Hub (ICH8M -E) - RAID and AHCI
Intel 82801HBM I / O Controller Hub (ICH8M) - AHCI only
Intel 82801HR / HH / HO I / O Controller Hub (ICH8R / DH / DO) - RAID and AHCI
Intel 631xESB / 632xESB I / O Controller Hub - RAID and AHCI
Intel 82801GHM I / O Controller Hub (ICH7MDH) - RAID only
Intel 82801GBM I / O Controller Hub (ICH7M) - AHCI only
Intel 82801GR / GH I / O Controller Hub (ICH7R / DH) - RAID and AHCI
Intel 82801FR I / O Controller Hub (ICH6R) - RAID and AHCI
Intel 82801FBM I / O Controller Hub (ICH6M) - AHCI only

How to enable AHCI mode for an already installed operating system.

Windows XP

To install a driver from installed system Windows XP needs:

This is done as follows.
We go to the device manager and find the IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers in the list.
We update the drivers for the controllers (by default there are 2 of them).
To do this, select the item Update driver => Do not search. I will choose the driver I need.
We indicate the path to the folder on the installation disk to the motherboard.
Uncheck the box "Compatible devices only" and select Intel (R) ICH8R / D0 / DH SATA AHCI Controller from the list. (so for both controllers !!!). If you have ICH10R, then set accordingly for 10R.

Reboot and enter the BIOS.

In the BIOS, enable the AHCI mode for the SATA controller and save (or dancing with a tambourine with the BIOS hack).

During system startup after POST, you will see the SATA AHCI BIOS initialization screen, a list of channels and devices connected to them will be displayed.

A new device is found and Windows will offer to install the drivers automatically - we refuse.

Download the updated driver, run and observe the driver installation.

In Device Manager under IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers now only: ICH9R / DO / DH SATA AHCI Controller, Secondary and Primary IDE, Standard PCI IDE Dual Channel Controller.

Installation complete - Windows XP is now running in AHCI mode.

If Windows XP did not pick up the AHCI driver, you will see BSOD with code 0x0000007b after rebooting.
Disable AHCI mode in BIOS, then the system will boot into working mode and try again.

In fact, for already installed Windows XP connection of AHCI drivers takes place in two stages. The problem is that the Intel driver installer will not work without AHCI mode enabled, and with AHCI mode enabled, Windows XP will not boot.

Therefore, there are two steps:

- manually install the drivers for the controllers, this allows you to load Windows XP after enabling AHCI

- and after downloading we install the full set of drivers through the installer

IMPORTANT for Windows XP

After switch windows XP in ACHI mode, it is almost impossible to return to IDE mode, there are a large number of forums on this topic on the network.
Why go back from AHCI to IDE at all? In AHCI mode, it is not possible to fix Windows XP in recovery mode ( Windows installation XP over configured system, launch installation file from Windows environment XP).

What to do? Everything is lost? Reinstall again (and lose all settings) in case of serious problems?

We carefully read what is written in foreign letters for the controller driver = Intel (R) ICH8R / D0 / DH SATA AHCI Controller. See keyword? No this is not a word AHCI, that's another word - Intel.
Bingo - remember (or read the description for the motherboard) that we have another controller on the board, usually JMicron / Marvell, which only works in IDE mode.

We switch the system disk there and Windows XP boots perfectly in IDE mode (accordingly, in the BIOS we choose to boot from this disk), because we did not install any AHCI drivers for this controller. Then we fix Windows XP in recovery mode, return the SATA wire to the main ICH controller and work calmly on.

Windows 7

There is no need to install drivers before switching to the BIOS (as in Windows XP) - otherwise the system will "brighten up" with a blue screen.

In a nutshell - either run a special utility from MS or nullify the corresponding keys in the registry yourself. After starting Windows 7, it will understand itself that the controller mode has changed and will install the correct drivers (or default drivers).

To fix the problem yourself, enable the AHCI driver in the registry before changing the SATA mode boot disk... To do this, follow these steps:

Close all Windows programs.
Open the menu Start, in the window To start searching type regedit and press Enter.
If a window opens Accounts users, press the button Proceed.
Find and select one of the following registry subkeys (both will need to be changed there and there):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ Msahci

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ IastorV
In the right pane, right-click on Start in column Name and select the command Change.
In field Meaning enter 0 and click OK.
On the menu File select team Output to close Registry Editor.

Summary table for two operating systems (Windows XP and Windows 7)

Windows XP	Windows 7
We set the appropriate standard Intel drivers for the controller	We make changes to the registry (independently or using a utility from MicroSoft)
	After booting, the OS will install the standard Intel drivers
	Installing the necessary drivers from the motherboard
It is impossible to return to IDE mode in almost all cases; we will get BSOD when installing IDE in BIOS. Option - boot through another SATA controller, for example JMicron (only works in IDE mode)	Return to IDE mode - just switch back in BIOS and everything will boot normally

Experiments.

We look at the hardware configuration in the Device Manager.

We see the ICH8 controller (there are two of them), but without the letter index, it is not yet clear whether there is support for AHCI, we will check.

If there was ICH8E or ICH8R, then there is definitely ACHI.

The drivers can be downloaded from the Intel website (we are looking for Intel Matrix Storage Manager), and from the official website of the motherboard manufacturer. For example, the budget MSI P965 Neo-F V2. The spec and tech support states that the board does not support AHCI mode. Indeed, the BIOS only has IDE mode and no AHCI selection. We will continue to experiment, see below about the BIOS hack.

SATAII controller integrated in ICH8- SATA controller has AHCI support

and on the drivers page we see - On-Board SATA AHCI / RAID Drivers(even there are drivers)

We carry out all experiments:

- budget motherboard MSI P965 neo-f V2, SATA 2 (4 Intel ICH8 connectors and 1 MARVELL 88SE6111 connector)

- SSD Kingston 140 GB SATA 3

Experiment 1... The ability to enable AHCI is in the BIOS (we do not have it)

AHCI mode must be turned on before installing the operating system (for Windows 7 and higher systems everything will be by itself, for Windows XP you need a floppy disk with F6 drivers. If there is no floppy drive at all, you need to set it in IDE mode or search Windows assembly with the ACHI drivers already installed). If you enable it after installing the OS, then there will be a blue BSOD screen. The system does not know that the controller is now operating in a different mode.

What needs to be done for an already installed system.

Return the IDE mode to the BIOS and make adjustments in Windows, then reboot and re-enable AHCI mode in the BIOS.

Experiment 2... Intel controllers support AHCI mode (our controller is on the list), but there is no way to switch to AHCI in the BIOS.

What to do? Let's do a (light) BIOS hack. ...

We go into the BIOS. To make the controller work in AHCI mode, after flashing it in the BIOS, make Load Setup Defaults - otherwise everything will be loaded in the same IDE mode. And the main thing is not to go to the Configure SATA as menu - it gets lost on the IDE - if you go in ... Which by the way is useful for returning to IDE mode.

Attention!

First, let's carry out the last experiment on the presence of the AHCI mode in the controllers! We do not touch Windows (drivers for AHCI) yet. The folder with the AMI BIOS files must be saved on the C: (it may happen after experiments that only this disk will be available)

If, after restarting the BIOS, all the disks disappear from it (i.e., the BIOS sees only the floppy drive), then you are out of luck, the board really does not support AHCI. If you cannot switch back to IDE mode through BIOS, you need a prepared floppy disk with MS DOS, AFUDOS and the original ROM file. Then we boot from the floppy disk into MS DOS and fill in the original firmware into the BIOS (and then also do Load Setup Defaults). Anyone who has an additional SATA MARVELL controller on the board can switch the Windows disk there and boot. And already from under Windows, fill in the original firmware.

If all the disks are available - return the IDE - make all changes in Windows by drivers (as indicated above) - once again fill in the firmware with AHCI - reboot.

Experiment 3: What else is on the motherboard?

Remember the scary message

Adapter 1.

Disks Information: No hard disk is detected!

It is the Marvell controller that reports its work and that the disk is not connected to it. The controller is activated from the general AMI BIOS, parameter OnBoard IDE Controller, you have to guess that this is Marvell. Nothing, you guessed it, they named it correctly through the ROM Marvell IDE Controller... Yes, if you turn it off, the message No hard disk is detected! will no longer appear.

In our case, this is Marvell 88SE6111, here it is on the motherboard (1 SATA port and 1 IDE port)

He's in the device manager

We try to turn on our SSD there (the message changes at startup) and boot, see what is in speed.

Marvell 88SE61xx Adapter. BIOS Version 1.1.0.L64

Adapter 1.

Disks Information:

Disk name Size Speed

Kingston SV300S37A240G 240 Gb SATA II

Yes, not very good. The read speed is higher than the HDD, and the write speed is even lower than the HDD.

HDD via SATA Intel ICH8	SSD over SATA Intel ICH8	SSD via SATA Marvell 88SE61111 on standard driver

In general, the Marvell controller can only be used for an optical drive.

By the way, this information can be used to select a motherboard. We can increase the frequency, voltage, change the processor and memory, but we cannot do anything with the built-in SATA-AHCI controller. For example, for SATA II and the same SSD:

Intel ICH10 - 350 MB / s

Intel Z87 - 530 MB / s

those. you need to look at the current tests of the controllers and then look for the motherboard on the chipset, which gave the maximum performance of the SSD.

Experiment 4 PCI-e

Yes, we also have PCI-e v1.0a connectors on the board, let's try to use them

One / both directions, Gbit / s

	x1	x2	x4	x8	x12	x16	x32
	Connections
PCIe 1.0	2/4	4/8	8/16	16/32	24/48	32/64	64/128
PCIe 2.0	4/8	8/16	16/32	32/64	48/96	64/128	128/256
PCIe 3.0	8/16	16/32	32/64	64/128	96/192	128/256	256/512

PCI-e x16 for a video card, google, for the PCI-e x4 option (there you need a second PCI-e version) there is an option

Manufacturers hard drives are constantly looking for ways to speed up their products. Comparatively recently, storage disks for computers worked in a rather slow mode and their development concerned only the increase in the total volume of the storage medium. Then the developers invented a completely new type of SATA interface, which allowed access to the latest types of hard drive acceleration.

The main innovations are the following 3 functions:

NCQ (Native Command Queuing) - Built-in maintenance of the order of execution of commands. This function is designed to speed up the operation of the HDD. But the essential performance turns out to be hard drives SSD (Solid State Drive) types, which are known for their high performance due to fast processing of command execution order.
Hot Plug - translated from English means "hot plug", which should be understood as replacing the hard drive without turning off the computer. You just need to disconnect the disk programmatically (like a USB flash drive). This feature may be of interest to users who are constantly working with multiple media at the same time. This will allow you to quickly change hard drives without interrupting your work on the computer.
TRIM - translated from English as "trim", that is, this function allows you to delete files or format HDD without causing harm. As you know, during such operations, the disk wears out faster. This technology is relevant for modern SSD media, since it was created in order to compete with conventional HDDs. SSD media with this feature has excellent performance and durability.

But in order for all these features to become available, you will need to configure the SATA interface to a special AHCI mode in the BIOS.

What is AHCI?

AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) is a development by Intel, which is intended to replace the interface of the long-obsolete ATA controller. The main reason for replacement is its inability to maintain command queuing and hot-swap functionality.

Not all motherboard chips support AHCI. In some cases, the motherboard chip provides for AHCI support, but it may not be implemented in the BIOS itself and will simply be unavailable. This problem can be solved by updating BIOS firmware... In addition, you can try to update the BIOS unofficial firmware, but this is done at your own peril and risk, as there is a possibility of damaging the motherboard.

Until now, the main problem of changing the interface from ATA to AHCI (Blue Screen Of Death - abbreviated BSOD). At the same time, at the very bottom of the BSOD, the inscription STOP 0x0000007B, INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE was displayed. It was possible to eliminate the blue screen only by canceling all previous actions in the BIOS or reinstalling the Windows operating system. Later it turned out that the reason for this was the lack of drivers that are required for the functioning of AHCI.

Switching the SATA interface to AHCI mode before installing the OS

Selecting the SATA operating mode in BIOS from Phoenix

Before, it is necessary to change the SATA configuration in the motherboard BIOS. This can be done by pressing the F2 / Del key after turning on the computer. Usually the SATA Configuration option is located in the Advanced section, but its name may differ depending on the BIOS. You need to find it and enable the AHCI controller mode. Save the settings (Save and Exit) and restart the computer.

Switching the SATA interface to AHCI mode on an existing OS

On already running Windows 7 it is necessary to close all applications and run the "Run" command by simultaneously pressing the Win + R keys (the Win key is usually labeled Windows logo). In the window that appears, type the regedit command to open it and click OK. A registry window will appear in which you need to open the section along the path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ services \ msahci.

In the opened directory, change the value opposite Start to 0 and save the registry settings. Then restart your computer and enable AHCI mode via BIOS, as described in the previous paragraph. After Windows boots, you need to reinstall the SATA drivers, which are usually found on the disk that came with your motherboard or laptop. If everything is done correctly, Windows will detect new hardware and install it.

Along with the above features, you get the full SATA III bandwidth of 6 Gb / s.

Automatic transition of Windows 7 and 8 to AHCI or RAID mode

Due to the fact that the transition to the AHCI mode caused many problems for Windows users, Microsoft has developed a special utility that allows you to prepare the operating system to change the mode to AHCI or RAID. It can be downloaded from the official Microsoft website. After starting the utility itself will perform all the necessary actions. It will only be necessary to restart the system, simultaneously switching to the AHCI mode in the BIOS. In the future, Windows itself will install the necessary AHCI drivers for operation.

In Windows 8, it is enough to switch to AHCI mode in the BIOS and boot the OS in safe mode. If you were unable to start the system in safe mode, you can open the "Run" window with Win + R and enter the msconfig command. In the "Download" section, check the "Safe Mode" item, while choosing the "Minimum" option. After that, the system will boot in the desired mode and install the AHCI drivers.

It is worth enabling and configuring the AHCI mode for every user who wants to improve and expand the capabilities of the computer in working with hard SATA drives and especially SSD.

The mode allows you to increase the speed of the computer due to the increased speed of accessing data, and to activate it, you need to perform just a few simple steps.

Before considering the options for enabling the mode, you should first familiarize yourself with its features and the principle of operation.

What is AHCI

The interface of modern SATA hard drives supporting data transfer rates from 1.5 Gb / s to 6 Gb / s is capable of operating in two modes:

AHCI.

The first provides compatibility with older devices (drives manufactured in 2000). The speed of even the most productive disks in this mode is not much different from those of the very outdated models. The more modern AHCI mode allows you to take full advantage of the SATA interface. For example, by disconnecting and connecting drives to the motherboard "on the fly", without shutting down the computer, or with the possibility of minimal movement of the drive heads to increase the operating speed.

By activating the mode, the user speeds up the launch of files, reading and writing information on disks and increases the overall performance of the computer. And, although the increase may not be as significant (within 20%), for some tasks, such an improvement may be important. If you have SATA SSD drives in your work, this option is the only option for efficient operation of the device.

IMPORTANT: Should you enable AHCI on your SSD?

When using the AHCI mode on an SSD, you will only get the result if you have a SATA II / III interface, otherwise there will be no improvement.

How to check if the mode is enabled

If you are planning to enable AHCI mode, make sure that it is not already in use on your computer. If you are not running high-performance applications, you have powerful processor and a sufficient amount of memory, you may simply not notice in which mode you are working.

You can check whether AHCI is enabled or not enabled in this way:

First, go to the properties of the computer (the "Start" menu, the "Computer" item, the "Properties" sub-item in the context menu);
Open the device manager;
Open the IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers section;
If there is a device with AHCI in its name, the mode works. If there is no such disk in the list (and you do not have an outdated IDE hard drive, but a more modern one), you will have to enable the mode yourself.

The second way to check if AHCI is working is to restart the computer and go to the BIOS menu (using one of the available options- for different motherboards and laptops, it is slightly different, although most often it consists in pressing the function keys - from Esc to F12).

Going into BIOS (or UEFI), make sure in which mode SATA works by finding the item SATA Mode or SATA Configuration.

Tip: When the IDE mode is installed, you should not immediately switch it to AHCI and save - especially if you have Windows 7.

How to enable AHCI mode

Enabling this mode on a computer can be done directly from the BIOS.

At the same time, if you have Windows 7, after trying to boot the system on the screen, most likely, an inscription like 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE will appear, indicating the impossibility of working with the disk. Sometimes the same situation occurs with Windows 8 and 10, but the probability of the message appearing is less - most often the computer starts up or starts to reboot constantly.

A completely different situation will be if you select AHCI mode before installing the system. This will make it possible software with installation disk recognize the parameters of the HDD or SSD during the launch of the installer, and there will be no problems with starting the mode.

Difficulties begin only if the system is already installed on the drive, and the user is going to change the IDE parameter to SATA and enable NCQ (Native Command Queuing, an extension of the SATA protocol that significantly increases the speed of working with information by optimizing the order in which commands are received). In this case, you will have to use either the Registry Editor or Safe Mode, depending on the operating system. If none of these actions provide the desired result, all that remains is to enable AHCI and reinstall the system.

For Windows 7

One of the most popular operating systems at present, Windows 7, requires the use of a registry or a special utility to switch to AHCI mode. The first option includes the following steps:

Launch the registry editor (Win + R to call the Run menu, enter the regedit command and confirm the changes);

Go to the section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ services \ msahci;
Go to the Start item, the default value of which is 3, and change it to zero;

Going in the same subsection from msahci to IastorV and searching for the Start parameter;
Change of three to zero;
Closing the editor.

Now it remains to restart the computer and turn on desired mode AHCI in the BIOS menu. After booting the system, Windows 7 will start to automatically install drivers for all drives connected to the motherboard, and then it will require another reboot to make changes. The last step in configuring the mode is to check if the write caching mode is enabled in the disk properties. If it is not enabled, the function should be started.

Another option is the Microsoft Fix it utility, which allows you to get rid of errors after turning on the new mode (you can download it from the official Microsoft website). Once you run and select the appropriate troubleshooting action, the application will automatically make any necessary changes and the error message will no longer appear.

For Windows 8 and 8.1

If Windows 8 or 8.1 is already installed on your computer, you can use Safe Mode to configure AHCI mode. To do this, if an error occurs, you should:

Return IDE mode to BIOS;
to restart a computer;
Run command line on behalf of the administrator ("Start" / "All programs" / "Standard");
Enter the command bcdedit / set (current) safeboot minimal

Press the enter button;
Restart your PC and enter BIOS;
Enable AHCI mode;
Run the command line again;
Enter the bcdedit / deletevalue (current) safeboot command;
Reboot the system again, after which Windows should stop giving an error message.

If your system is running on an Intel processor, there is an additional option to enable AHCI using a utility from this manufacturer (for AMD, this method does not work).

To use it, you should:

Download the f6flpy file (mode driver) from the Intel official website by choosing the appropriate version (x32 or x64);
Download the SetupRST.exe file from the same resource;
Open the device manager and in the properties of your hard disk manually install the new f6 AHCI driver instead of SATA;
Restart the PC and enable AHCI in BIOS (UEFI);
Run SetupRST.exe, which should automatically fix the problem.

For Windows 10

Windows 10 also allows you to use the Intel Processor Utility, System Reinstallation, and Safe Mode to fix the mode switch error. But most effective option will use a registry editor, which is slightly different from the similar method in Windows 7.

In order to use this method you need:

Log in to the system as an administrator;
Start Registry Editor with one of the available ways(the easiest way is through the "Run" window and the regedit command);
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ iaStorV and find its Start parameter, changing its value to 0;
Find the parameter named 0 in the adjacent subsection Services \ iaStorAV \ StartOverride, setting the value to zero for it too;
Go to the Services \ storahci subsection, reset the Start parameter;
In the Services \ storahci \ StartOverride subsection, set the value to zero for parameter 0.
Close the editor and restart the computer;
Enter BIOS at boot time and enable AHCI mode.

Tip: It is recommended to complete the first Windows startup 10 in safe mode, for which this option is enabled using the Run menu (Win + R) and entering the msconfig command to display the system configuration window. Here you need to select the "Download" tab and put a tick on the item safe mode by specifying the "Minimum" option.

Fig. 9. Switching the mode in the UEFI interface

For the standard BIOS interface, you can go to its settings by clicking the corresponding function key... For example, F2 or F12, depending on the motherboard or laptop model, if the setting is made for it.

After the first Windows downloads 10 will install everything required drivers to work with AHCI, and will not generate any errors in the future. At the same time, the speed of working with data should increase - especially if the disk has a SATA III interface.

Other features of the mode

For the outdated Windows XP OS, there is no possibility to set the AHCI mode. During its development, such an option was not even assumed. If you really want to, the required driver can be easily found on the network and built into the system. Process instructions can also be found online, but we do not recommend doing this. First of all, because the processor and the whole computer, which only supports Windows system XP, setting the AHCI mode is unlikely to noticeably help speed up. Second, significant differences between drivers increase the likelihood of an error, after which data from the disk may be lost.

For Windows Vista, the process of enabling the mode is the same as for the 7th version of the system - that is, using the registry or utility. And Windows NT can be configured similarly to the recommendations for XP. There are driver options for other systems - from Unix to MacOS, since ssd drives and SATA are gaining popularity among users of any system.

conclusions

In most cases, after performing the appropriate action on the system, the AHCI mode starts working normally, and the system runs a little faster. If no results are achieved, you can try reinstalling the system after changing the mode - this may take more time, but it guarantees the result.

To improve the performance of hard drives and SSDs, a special one is used. It has many useful features, such as hot plugging and plugging of disks, NCQ, and more. In the previous article, we considered, in the operating room Windows system 10 discusses the method of inclusion through the registry.

If you are just reinstalling the system, and you have IDE mode in the BIOS, then it is recommended to rearrange it to AHCI. In modern laptops and computers this mode usually enabled by default, if you are using AHCI is only a plus.

Beginners should be taken very seriously when using this manual, as unnecessary steps and inattention may result in the system not starting up. You should be able to use BIOS and UEFI and be able to fix problems that have arisen due to your fault.

Before starting the process, you need to find out if the AHCI mode is enabled, maybe you won't need this article now. You can view it in the BIOS or from Windows.

Go to Device Manager (you can go by right-clicking on the Start menu) and open the tab « IDE controllers ATA / ATAPI ", if there is the word AHCI, then the mode is enabled, if IDE, then this mode is used.

So, if AHCI is not active, then let's start enabling it.

How to enable AHCI on Windows 10 through the registry?

We launch, for this we press the hotkeys Win + R and enter the command regedit .

As in the previous article, we need to go to the iaStorV section: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ iaStorV... On the right side of the window, find the Start option and double-click on it. Change the value to 0, click OK.

In the Services section, find the section iaStorAV open it, there should be a section StartOverride... Find parameter 0 on the right, double-click on it and change the value to 0.

We are looking for in the section Services chapter storahci, in which the value of the Start parameter is changed to 0.

Finishing touch. The storahci section should have a section StartOverride, we change the value of the parameter 0 to 0.

You can close the registry editor. Restart your computer and enter BIOS. Better, of course, to hold. This can be done if you open the Run window and enter the command msconfig, where go to the "Download" tab and check the "Safe Mode" checkbox.

When you go to BIOS you need to find SATA parameters and select AHCI mode there.

As soon as you save the changes and exit the BIOS, the installation of the drivers will begin. The computer needs to be restarted again.