Waxalot Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 I just bought a F120 SSD today after my other HD died. I never had backups so I want to do a clean install of Windows 7 on this new SSD. I am not the most tech kinda guy but do my best. I have installed the new SSD and when I go to the bios it is there under my SATA channel 1. Now my first question is I thought I saw somewhere that I have to set it to AHCI before I install Windows, but I dont see that anywhere in my bios as an option, so must I install windows first and then set it up in windows? Then would I be able to make that adjustment in the bios? Will that option to set it in AHCI not be available in my bios till after I do install windows? Also once I get this set up I saw the thread to move various windows things over to an extra HDD. I dont have an extra one but I do have a Free Agent External HDD. It is usb conector to my pc. Would this work or would it be to slow to do those operations with my pc? I know I sound like such a newbie with these questions. I have only built two other computers before, but I am doing my best. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synbios Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 You have to set the mode to AHCI in the BIOS before you install windows. Keep looking for the option..it will be under your IDE controller, SATA controller settings, or something similar. You will find that a 120 gig drive will fill fast, especially since windows 7 takes up about 20 gigs on its own. The external will work but I think an internal SATA HDD will be faster, you should consider investing in one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waxalot Posted November 10, 2010 Author Share Posted November 10, 2010 Thanks, but I cant find it anywhere in my bios. Is it possible this motherboard doesnt have it? It is listed in my system specs when I enter Integrated Peripherals and select Onchip IDE/SATA Device it goes to IDE/SATA Function Setup. Then to my IDE and OnChip Sata controller option. I can only choose to Enable or Disable these controllers. They are Enabled. When I go to the Standard CMOS Features and select the SSD it takes me to a Sata Channel 1 screen. THe options here are IDE Auto Detection, it shows me the capacity cylinder, etc. also there is Extended IDE Drive and Access Mode, the Ext. IDE Drive can choose Auto or None and is set to Auto and Acces Mode choices are Auto or Large and is set to Auto. These are they only choices I can find in the BIOS that are related to this. I wonder if my Bios doesnt have the AHCI Any other ideas or suggestions would be appreciated as I am sitting here in Bios wondering if I should continue with the Windows 7 Instal Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synbios Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 By definition if you have SATA ports you have to AHCI. If you're using a 3rd party/separate (BUT ON BOARD) sata controller that has its own ROM that you can boot into it, perhaps you should go into those settings and see if its there. Other than that I would contact your motherboard manufacturer's support, manual, forums, etc with help on enabling AHCI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowbeard Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Nvidia 6** chipsets do not support AHCI. If you want full AHCI support and the ability for Windows 7 to pass the TRIM command, you'll need an Intel or AMD based chipset that supports AHCI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waxalot Posted November 10, 2010 Author Share Posted November 10, 2010 Thanks so much Yellowbeard. I have been going a little crazy trying to find it. Can I still use this SSD or should I take it back and just get a HDD? Since it is a expensive drive. Will I still get the great performance benefit of the drive or will it degrade and be a problem later without the AHCI? Thanks again! I really appreciate all the help here as I was having trouble getting info other places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowbeard Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Your drive will still be very fast and much faster than any HDD. The performance will deteriorate some over time but, the SandForce based drives do have their own form of "garbage collection". It's not as proactive as TRIM but it will help preserve performance. If performance deteriorates below acceptable levels to you, then you could clone your SDD, secure erase it, and then restore the image. This will restore your performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synbios Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Nvidia 6** chipsets do not support AHCI. If you want full AHCI support and the ability for Windows 7 to pass the TRIM command, you'll need an Intel or AMD based chipset that supports AHCI. I didn't know this. I apologize for making you look for something that wasn't there Waxalot. I always thought AHCI was made specifically for SATA, I quote: As their standard interface, SATA controllers use the AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface), allowing advanced features of SATA such as hotplug and native command queuing (NCQ). If AHCI is not enabled by the motherboard and chipset, SATA controllers typically operate in "IDE emulation" mode, which does not allow features of devices to be accessed if the ATA/IDE standard does not support them.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#Advanced_Host_Controller_Interface As well as: The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a host controller interface defined by Intel which defines the operation of Serial ATA (SATA) host bus adaptershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AHCI Did Nvidia just make half-a motherboards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waxalot Posted November 10, 2010 Author Share Posted November 10, 2010 Yellowbeard, thanks for the info. I am going to keep it and do what you said about cloning it. I think I will try that Diskkeeper program I saw in another thread after I get this set up. Maybe that will help me since I wont have Trim to use. Also Yellowbeard, one last question, should I still move the prefetch and other things from windows(like a saw in another post) to my USB Seagate Free Agent Drive or will it not matter since Trim is not available? I dont have a internal HD to use at this time. Synbios, no need to apologize, I appreciate the effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowbeard Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Yellowbeard, thanks for the info. I am going to keep it and do what you said about cloning it. I think I will try that Diskkeeper program I saw in another thread after I get this set up. Maybe that will help me since I wont have Trim to use. Also Yellowbeard, one last question, should I still move the prefetch and other things from windows(like a saw in another post) to my USB Seagate Free Agent Drive or will it not matter since Trim is not available? I dont have a internal HD to use at this time. Synbios, no need to apologize, I appreciate the effort. Synbios has been extremely helpful around here lately including helping us (the Corsair guys) out in addition to other customers. We all miss a detail or fact occasionally. ::pirate:: As far as the "tweaks" my opinion is that it will be one of those things that you'd have to do some head to head testing with identical systems to truly see the benefit. If you want to take the time to do some or all of them, it won't hurt but it will be difficult if not impossible to measure how much they will help. One thing you could do if you were interested is keep your eyes open for a good P35, P45, or possibly X48 based based MOBO and migrate all your gear to it at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waxalot Posted November 10, 2010 Author Share Posted November 10, 2010 Yes i am wanting to upgrade this motherboard...maybe early next year. Just got Windows7 installed and it went smoothly. I want to really thank you two for helping me out. I am very grateful. These are awesome forums and I am glad I found them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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