IDE/ATA vs AHCI - moving drives to a new system. Best approach?

[skylanepilot]

Hello everyone. I've never been able to fully grasp the concept of SATA drives working on IDE (this is also ATA right?) vs AHCI. All I know is that SSDs and newer HDDs should be on AHCI. (Please correct me where I'm wrong)

Currently, my system's bios has my 2 ssds and 1 hdd running on IDE. I'm upgrading to a new system based on the asus h97 pro gamer board. My intention is to have all 3 drives on AHCI. I will be formatting the 2 ssd drives in the new system, and I can unload the 1TB of data off the hdd for a fresh format.

My questions:

1) Is it possible to move the 1TB HDD (currently on sata/ide) to the new system that will be configured for AHCI? Would it work? Or, must I format the drive in the new system?

2) Is there a significant performance improvement on drives, especially SSDs, running on AHCI as compared to ide/ata?

Thanks in advance for any answers. I've taken time to read some articles and other threads on this topic, but I just don't completely have my head wrapped around it yet.

 

[geofelt]

1) Yes, it will work. No need to unload any data, just connect the drive.
2) significant, no.

The value of AHCI is that the os can pass on the "trim" command which helps a ssd.
It is a sata operation mode.
You can move either the hard drives or ssd's because they will not change, only the way the os handles them will.

When you install windows on the SSD, leave all other drives disconnected. Otherwise, windows will try to put a recovery partition on it complicating matters.

 

[Sudap]

you can move the 1TB HDD to the new system, it will work as long as its not a boot drive or a drive that doesnt support ahci.
AHCI is faster because it supports command queing.

 

[skylanepilot]

you can move the 1TB HDD to the new system, it will work as long as its not a boot drive or a drive that doesnt support ahci.
AHCI is faster because it supports command queing.

Thanks for the reply. It's a WD 1TB RE4 Drive. I believe it's nothing more than an enterprise grade black drive, and I'm pretty sure it supports AHCI.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136798

 

[skylanepilot]

1) Yes, it will work. No need to unload any data, just connect the drive.
2) significant, no.

The value of AHCI is that the os can pass on the "trim" command which helps a ssd.
It is a sata operation mode.
You can move either the hard drives or ssd's because they will not change, only the way the os handles them will.

When you install windows on the SSD, leave all other drives disconnected. Otherwise, windows will try to put a recovery partition on it complicating matters.

Thank you very much for the reply and explanation. On the new build, I will connect just the 1 SSD and install Windows first. After that, I'll connect the other two drives. I'm assuming Windows will just boot and detect the new drivers and I'll be set?

 

[geofelt]

1) Yes, it will work. No need to unload any data, just connect the drive.
2) significant, no.

The value of AHCI is that the os can pass on the "trim" command which helps a ssd.
It is a sata operation mode.
You can move either the hard drives or ssd's because they will not change, only the way the os handles them will.

When you install windows on the SSD, leave all other drives disconnected. Otherwise, windows will try to put a recovery partition on it complicating matters.

Thank you very much for the reply and explanation. On the new build, I will connect just the 1 SSD and install Windows first. After that, I'll connect the other two drives. I'm assuming Windows will just boot and detect the new drivers and I'll be set?

Exactly.

 

[ArtPog]

Just one other suggestion. It's good practice to connect your boot drive (I assume it's the SSD) to the motherboard's first SATA connector. ASUS designates that connector as SATA6G_1. Other drives that will be used for storage/backup purposes should be connected to the following SATA connectors.

 

[skylanepilot]

Just one other suggestion. It's good practice to connect your boot drive (I assume it's the SSD) to the motherboard's first SATA connector. ASUS designates that connector as SATA6G_1. Other drives that will be used for storage/backup purposes should be connected to the following SATA connectors.

Thanks for the input! This has historically been my approach.