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    Vista problems changing from AHCI to IDE mode

    Discussion in 'HP' started by 0.0, Dec 4, 2008.

  1. 0.0

    0.0 Notebook Consultant

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    I am using an HP CQ45-107TX and would like to switch from AHCI to IDE mode. I'm expecting some problems with Vista and Ubuntu which were installed under AHCI. Are there any fast and easy fix ups without reinstalling, particularly with VHP32 SP1?
     
    0.0, Dec 4, 2008
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    0.0 Notebook Consultant

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    Well the result was unexpected, Vista booted up in IDE mode with no problems except for asking for a reboot, to install the IDE drivers I guess. I tried going back to AHCI, booting Vista and back to IDE and booting Vista once again and it didn't even ask for a reboot this time. So I didn't need to do anything, well done Vista.

    As for Ubuntu, it booted up normally as if nothing had changed. Even better.

    I'm not seeing any performance differences between using IDE mode vs AHCI mode, in fact HDTune reports the IDE mode as being faster than AHCI (only a little though). Maybe I'm not thrashing my disks enough. :cool:


    Samsung HD250HJ on eSata in AHCI mode with VHP SP1.

    [​IMG]



    Samsung HD250HJ on eSata in IDE mode with VHP SP1.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]​



    I also tried XP with the IDE setup (no slip streamed AHCI drivers :p )

    Samsung HD250HJ on eSata in IDE mode with XP.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]​

    Note the UDMA modes in XP reported by HDTune.


    On a separate test, writing 1GB (953 MiBs) to the hard disk took 11.7 seconds with AHCI and 12.1 seconds with IDE which shows AHCI faster (again only a small difference) 85.5MB/s vs 82.5 MB/s.


    Now I've seen some posts about not having hot plugging with IDE mode as a reason for using AHCI. At least with the ICH9M I've found you can do the following while in IDE mode and using Vista / XP.

    1. Plug in your eSata drive.

    2. Open the device manger and expand 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers'.

    3. Right click the channel your eSata drive is on and select 'Scan for hardware changes'.

    Vista or XP should now see your drive, if it's the first time the OS has seen the drive it might 'install new hardware'. If you want to disconnect the drive without shutting down then

    1. Open the device manger and expand 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers'.

    2. Right click the channel your eSata drive is on and select 'Disable'.

    3. Confirm.

    Be patient and you should see your eSata drive disappear from the system, under explorer for instance, at which point you can disconnect it.

    If you want to plug in a different drive or the same one again, then

    1. Plug in your eSata drive.

    2. Open the device manger and expand 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers'.

    3. Right click the channel your eSata drive is on and select 'Enable'.

    Hope this proves useful to someone.


    Oh, and just as a comparison between eStata and USB using HDTune and the Samsung, 2.0 averaged 23 MB/s, and 1.1 averaged 1 MB/s. :D
     
    0.0, Dec 6, 2008
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