GSATA-only AHCI possible?

[Dirtman73]

I own two external Cavalry hard drives that I use for my media backups, but Vista 64 does not recognize them when I power them up due to the fact that AHCI is not enabled for my system. The only way for the drives to show up is to manually search for them in the Device Manager or to leave them turned on at all times. Having the hard drives powered on 24/7 is a waste of electricity simply because I only access them every once in a while.

I played around with post-install AHCI settings (tweaking the Windows registry and enabling AHCI in the BIOS) some time ago, and it was less than optimal. I experienced BSODs and extended startup times, so I'm wondering if it's possible to enable AHCI for the GSATA controller while leaving IDE enabled for the regular SATA controller and have a relatively error-free experience. I'm assuming this setup would, in theory, keep any AHCI-related errors to a minimum while allowing me to run the rest of my computer normally.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P, RAID not enabled obviously.

Anybody here have any experience with this particular issue? Thanks in advance!

 

[jaquith]

I assume that the eSATA pictured on GA's site is connected to the GSATA2_0, GSATA2_1 ports and the are not powered.

BIOS Onboard GSATA-II Ctrl Mode -> AHCI
Windows set Start = 0 -> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976
Re-install the Driver GIGABYTE SATA2 RAID Driver -> http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3038#dl
Shutdown & change ports GSATA2_0 <-> GSATA2_1
Restart

The F6 would only be needed if you were installing Windows from scratch on those ports.

Also, IMO if the other drives are AHCI then keep your ODD off the first 4 SATA2 ports, and use SATA2_4 or SATA2_5; your MOBO SATA ports are backwards at the top is the higher number ports so your Primary should be on the bottom SATA2_0/yellow and furthest to the PCB.

Otherwise ANS is Corruption "if it's possible to enable AHCI for the GSATA controller while leaving IDE enabled for the regular SATA controller"

GA's are a PITA with oddball SATA stuff, and sometime literary playing musical ports corrects the frequent registry & driver corruption issues. You might want to re-install the SATA drivers, shutdown, musical chair ports, and restart - all of the drivers we reload and registry rewritten. Lastly, set the BIOS 'perfect', wipe the OS drive and re-install the OS.

 

[Dirtman73]

Thanks for the reply jaquith.

I guess I need to streamline my inquiry just a bit. In essence, I want to enable AHCI- via the registry- only for the GSATA controller while leaving IDE enabled for the primary SATA ports. As far as I have been able to tell, the registry only supports turning on AHCI for the entire system, while the BIOS allows for an AHCI/IDE combination setup.

Do the steps you provided allow a user to mix-and-match AHCI/IDE settings for the various controllers without forcing a fresh Windows installation? I already have my main controller enabled as IDE, and due to the instability issues I encountered previously, I'm not willing to switch back to AHCI for the main at this time. I plan on doing a reinstall of Windows at some point in the future, but for now I'm looking for a temporary setup until I can do it properly.

I've got five separate devices running on the main controller, with the two eSATA hard drives (powered via the wall socket) running on the GSATA controller. Ignoring some of the main SATA ports is unfeasible since I've only got one free port left, therefore there's literally no way for me to troubleshoot which ports are going to give better performance in a post-Windows install situation.

 

[jaquith]

Yeah, I said "Otherwise ANS is Corruption"; BIOS IDE & Windows AHCI. The difference is and the registry 0 vs 3 does -> loads different Drivers. Like BIOS = English and Driver {Chinese English} Chinglish.

Do your best - let me know.

 

[Dirtman73]

Okay, I went through the steps you provided Jaquith, and it looks like it worked! My system in now immediately recognizing the external drives as soon as I turn them on. No stability issues yet, but I'll have to run some tests and play a few video games to get a better idea of where that stands.

Thanks for the tips. I wasn't expecting it to work as smoothly as it did, so props to you!

 

[Dirtman73]

Best answer selected by Dirtman73.

 

[jaquith]

Glad to hear!

Now set a Restore Point eg SATAOK

Next, if it were my rig get any corruption repaired. Run SFC on all affected drives; use the "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors"; note the Primary boot drive will need to be scheduled and a reboot will begin the scan/repair. This takes a while so heads-up.

This is a best practice to -> avoid problems with your data.

Good Luck!