Question IDE to Ahci!

Yamahar6

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Feb 16, 2012
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Hi There: How can I tweak the registry to change from IDE to Ahci...I have a HDD with Win7 already installed, but the Bios are set to IDE, and if I swap to Ahci, the system crashes...
 

Yamahar6

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The HDD I have is SATA, but at the time I installed it I forgot to change the Bios to Ahci. Now I want to install an SSD and if I change the bios to Ahci the system crashes. What I would like to do is to be able to change the Bios to Ahci with my old SATA HDD, and clone it to the SSD. I found this info, but I dont know if it works...I just want to bu sure before make any changes..


For Windows 7 or Vista you can use a Registry tweak with your HDD-based Windows system so that it will work with the chipset in SATA mode:

1) Run the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
2) Navigate to Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
3) Set the "Start" value to 0 (zero)
4) Navigate to Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Pciide
5) Set the "Start" value to 0 (zero)
6) Shut down
7) Start up again, but before Windows boots go into the BIOS configuration screens and change the disk mode to "AHCI". Save the new BIOS configuration and restart so that Windows boots.

When Windows starts, it will detect the change, load new disk drivers, and do one more reboot to start up with them.
 

arson94

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Apr 18, 2008
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Yes it works. I do it all day every day at work. No sh!t, all day every day... However, in addition to msahci and pciide, check to see if you have a key named 'iastorv' also. If so, change it's Start value to 0 as well.
 

arson94

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iastorv is the Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver. Some machines will require that key to be changed instead of the ahci key. Just depends on your motherboard's chipset. I would change it just in case so you don't have to do it later, unless you just want to know if it's needed by changing it alone.
 

Yamahar6

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Feb 16, 2012
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My board is a DP55KG from Intel... I made the changes and it's working so far, so, Im going to wait a while and then clone this HDD into the SSD to see what happen.... I hope it works..
Can I Raid a SSD with a HDD-sata?

Im going to use Acronis true Image Home 2011 to clone. Im waiting for the SSD enclosure to arrive.
Any how my brother, thank you so much for the info...
 

arson94

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No problem, hope it all works out. And I have no idea if you can RAID an SATA hdd with an SSD. I guess it would be interesting to know if it can work, but I don't think I'd ever actually do it myself.
 

aedrums

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Nov 15, 2018
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WOW. I tried for hours to install windows 7 in ahci mode, finally gave up and went with ide. LOL.

I just read YAMAHAR6 post here about the simple reg edit, tried it, and BOOM! AHCI is working! My system is now ahci, and its way way way faster booting up. Unbelievable. Thasnk you thank you thank you!!!!!!