Windows 7 + Intel SSD... AHCI or IDE?

[Scant7]

I just finished building a new computer and I'm going to install Windows 7 64-bit tomorrow.

The computer is:
i7-860
Asus P7P55D
Sapphire 5770
G.Skill DDR3 1600 4GB
Intel X-25M 80GB SSD
OCZ Fatal1ty 550W PSU
Lite-On SATA DVD/RW

Before I install Windows 7 on the Intel SSD, should I be in IDE or AHCI mode in BIOS? Does it matter? I searched around but couldn't find a straight answer.

Thanks.

[Neuromancer]

AHCI


Dunno about x-25 but my reactor series fails in IDE mode.

[Mr Alpha]

Definitely AHCI. You need AHCI for NCQ and not having NCQ would hobble your Intel controller.

[Airbornederekc]

RAID.

Reason being is that even when you only use 1 drive it is in AHCI mode and if you ever want to add a pair of drives for data storage (i did) you can mirror or stripe them (i did) without having to do an os reload.

[Scant7]

Thanks everyone.

One more question-

On another system, which will serve as my home theater computer, I'm going to install Windows 7 32bit on a 1TB Samsung F3 Spinpoint drive. I've seen hard disk benchmarks where they compared a drive that was 'properly aligned' against the same drive that was 'unaligned'. What do these terms mean, and is there an option during the W7 install where I can choose to align or unalign the drive?

Also, when I install W7 on the 1TB Samsung F3, should I make a partition for the OS + apps? This won't degrade performance right?

[Randyman...]

AFAIK - As long as you create the partition from W7 or Vista (or their associated install Discs), it should be optimally aligned automatically. If you create the partition with XP or an XP Install Disc, the partition won't be optimally "Aligned" unless you jump through a few hoops...

:cool:

[baditude_df]

Never used AHCI. Definitely wouldn't say it's hobbled my intel controller. I'll switch over to AHCI on the next reformat and see if I notice a difference it makes. I'm betting no, since the performance right now is phenomenal.

[Randyman...]

AHCI will absolutely show a marked improvement in small random reads due to NCQ - especially so with SSD's. Running in RAID mode also enables NCQ...

AHCI also allows hot-swapping!

:cool:

[baditude_df]

I guess I'll have to try it then. I'll be installing a new mobo soon and doing a full reload so I'll report back and with a comparison.

[Scant7]

AFAIK - As long as you create the partition from W7 or Vista (or their associated install Discs), it should be optimally aligned automatically.

What if I installed W7 without manually creating a partition? Does it then automatically create one for me?

[Mr Alpha]

What if I installed W7 without manually creating a partition? Does it then automatically create one for me?Yes.

[1xmattx1]

I Installed my 80Gb Intel X25-M last night and used IDE.
If i switch ti ACHI will this mess anything up? or is it even possible without messing up the harddrives?

[johan851]

I Installed my 80Gb Intel X25-M last night and used IDE.
If i switch ti ACHI will this mess anything up? or is it even possible without messing up the harddrives?
You can do it - it shouldn't mess up the hard drives, as the only difference is really what driver Windows will use. I followed the article here and it worked for me: http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/

If it doesn't work, you can just switch back to IDE mode without any negative effects. You're not changing anything on the drive, just the way the controller interacts with it.

[baditude_df]

I Installed my 80Gb Intel X25-M last night and used IDE.
If i switch ti ACHI will this mess anything up? or is it even possible without messing up the harddrives?

Tried it. Wouldn't Boot. Never tried the method in the link from johan though.
Switched back to IDE without issue.

[1xmattx1]

How do you find out if your drive is using TRIM or not?

(Sorry, I apologize for asking off topic)

[johan851]

Tried it. Wouldn't Boot. Never tried the method in the link from johan though.
Switched back to IDE without issue.
Yeah, I had the same problem when I didn't delete the registry key. For some reason it seems that if you install in IDE mode, Windows won't boot using the AHCI driver. If you get rid of the key, I think it'll try to use the correct driver at boot or something. :shrug:

[baditude_df]

How do you find out if your drive is using TRIM or not?

(Sorry, I apologize for asking off topic)

No, that's a good question. I'm not sure of the answer myself, but I would imagine if you're performance in disk benchmarks and overall system performance does not degrade significantly over time, then it's safe to say TRIM is working.

[johan851]

Stole this from a Google search result:

The Trim command should be enabled by default on Windows 7, but if you want to check to make sure do this:


Command prompt > fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

DisableDeleteNotify = 1 (Windows TRIM commands are disabled)
DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (Windows TRIM commands are enabled)

[baditude_df]

Yep. Good ol' Google. Does wonders doesn't it?
It's something I wondered about, but then just went by the wayside. I guess I just took it for granted that it was working since i never saw a degradation in performance over time.
Thx johan.

[johan851]

Sure. I was interested in both of those questions a couple of months ago, so I had already looked them up. :)

[Scant7]

Hey guys, computers been working great, but it's been over a year now, and I'm overdue for a fresh W7 format/install.

Just want to make sure I got this right...

1. I should use HDDErase to secure erase my Intel SSD in DOS mode using a USB boot drive.

2. Change boot priority back to CD, insert W7 install CD, do a quick format, and install W7.

3. Install motherboard drivers and then update W7

My motherboard is the Asus P7P55D and I'm on their website downloading the drivers I will need ahead of time. So I'll get the chipset, audio, and LAN drivers... but do I also need to get the SATA drivers? For SATA drivers, there's the JMicron JMB36X driver and the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager Driver (Intel(R) AHCI/RAID Driver). I doubt I'll use the JMicron ports so I'll pass on that, but what about the Intel Matrix Stoage Manager Driver? All I have is the Intel X-25M 80GB SSD and 1TB Samsung F3 for storage.

I plan to use the SSD in AHCI mode, which I will set in BIOS before I install W7, so I'm just confused if I need this driver or not?

[Neuromancer]

Windows 7 should work natively on that board but having hte drivers before hand is always a smart move.

HDDerase will handle secure erase for you yes indeed. I personally use partedmagic (version 5) as I like a gui interface to avoid making typos :)

[Scant7]

How would I install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver before I install W7?

[Neuromancer]

Download the "f6" marked version, extract it and copy it to a USB stick, if you install 7 via a USB stick then just create a new folder on it and drop the files in there.

But you should not even need to do that. Although I saw it recommended on corsair forums today that you SHOULD use the latest drivers FROM install, but I never had a problem with it. and I usually just use RAID not AHCI mode too, because you still get hte benenfits of AHCI on a single drive, but have the option to throw an array on there if the mood strikes yah :)

(Image of the single drive, build a stripe array by adding a second drive, image it back :) Its how I got around the XP F6 floppy issue for a lot of years :) (IT involves switching to RAID post install though although that is as easy as "right click install driver")

[Dougshell]

as far as changing from IDE to AHCI if you have errors upon reboot check a couple of things...

First did you change to support AHCI in the registery?
Secondly, did you recheck your boot options when you switch IDE modes your motherboard forgets your boot device i have to reselect my Vertex after switching to ACHI

And finally, I saved a bunch of money by switching to Gieko!!

[Scant7]

Right before I formatted I ran the Windows7 Performance Index and got 7.5/7.6/7.4/7.4/7.8

I just finished formatting and only installed the AMD video driver and ran it again and got 7.4/7.5/7.4/7.4/7.8

How come my processor and ram scores dropped .1 each? Is there some Windows update that will give me a better score or something?

BIOS settings are the exact some.

[Ageeb]

Did you fully update windows?

also, you might want to get the lastest chipset drivers here (http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect).

[Scant7]

No, haven't updated anything yet... it's my Living Room computer, and I'm in the process of moving... so I will have it up and running on the 11th. I'm hoping that when I get all the latest updates my scores will be the same as before. I've google searched and it seems like all i7-860 cpu's have a score of 7.5... not sure why formatting dropped mine .1 along with my ram. Time will tell, I will post an update when we're in the new place.

[Knufire]

WEI is pretty much worthless, don't worry.

[johan851]

I don't really see any reason to do step 1 here. Why the secure erase?

[Neuromancer]

I don't really see any reason to do step 1 here. Why the secure erase?

All SSD manufacturers recommend a secure erase before formatting an SSD. It improves the performance of a drive.

Note: that secure erase is a special ATA command to the drive and takes a few seconds to a minute on an SSD, this is not the commands of old that are used to erase data from an HDD that take hours and hours.

[johan851]

Ah - I assumed it was the old secure erase, where you get some program to write several passes of ones or zeroes over the drive.

Is this functionality supported in tools the manufacturer makes? I'd use it on my older Agility SSD but I've never seen the option anywhere.

[Neuromancer]

Ah - I assumed it was the old secure erase, where you get some program to write several passes of ones or zeroes over the drive.

Is this functionality supported in tools the manufacturer makes? I'd use it on my older Agility SSD but I've never seen the option anywhere.

thats what I assummed you though ;)

It is similar, it resets all the cells to 0. But it does not write to them all it just tells the controller they are all 0s. On sandforce it is done simply by tossing the AES key away and creating a new one. Not really sure how Intel does it, it does take longer though, about 1 minute as ooposed to the 1-2 seconds on sandforce, and it does work well. Performance is restored to peak levels.

I think Intel and OCZ both have tools for it now (from within windows) not sure about DOS level. And not sure what other companies provide either. I tend to do things my own so not a factor for me.

I just made a partedmagic USB stick. Has a full OS gui, clcik the start button, select system, erase disk, pick your disk and choose secure erase. (using AMD 6800 series cards I used version 5, as the newer ones did not work).

Must be run in hotswap mode on Intel chipsets though as it locks and you have to unplug and then plug in the drive to unlock it. Or just plug it in to the marvell port. That works too.

[RJARRRPCGP]

HDD Erase appears to only be supported for 2004-ish controllers!

HDD Erase usually just gives you a blinking cursor.

[Randyman...]

FYI - The most recent Intel SSD Toolbox 3.01 includes a secure erase function - but the SSD you are erasing can't be the OS drive or have any partitions on it. You can install the Toolbox on a secondary PC and hook up your main PC's OS SSD in this other system to run the secure erase...

FWIW - HDD Erase works fine for me - but you have to use a specific version for Intel SSD's (forget the version # off the top of my head - maybe 3.2?). And you generally have to fall back to IDE/Compatible mode temporarily to run it (won't run in AHCI or RAID modes).

:cool: