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AHCI to ATA without reinstalling Win 7 professional.

My Laptop is preconfigured at AHCI mode. But I have some of test tools which run only on ATA (SATA) mode. How can I set it on ATA mode without a new installation? I have Win 7 professional.

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Hi Iknoor,
Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Community Forums.
 
What is the make and model of the computer?
 
I would like to tell you that in order to switch from AHCI to ATA, you need to access and alter the computer's BIOS set up screens and change the native settings from ACHI to ATA . You might need to add a boot time driver so as to let Windows 7 see your drives after this change.
Note: Modifying BIOS/ complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) settings incorrectly can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the configuring of BIOS/CMOS settings can be solved. Modifications of the settings are at your own risk.
 
So, I would suggest you to contact the computer manufacturer for further assistance.
 
Thanks.

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Thanks Mahesh. i understand the risk and ready to do some experiment on my nootbook. I have done all above other than loading new drivers. Can you help me to know which all driver I need to install after changing BIOS setting from AHCI to ATA. and what is the process of doing so. I want to meake sure of not installing the OS and other stuff again. I have Lattitude E5430. But I think model number or make will be not an important factors. 

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Hi Iknoor,
Thank you for replying.
 
I would ask you to install all the necessary drivers including BIOS and chipset drivers for your computer from the manufacturer's website.
 
Refer:
 
Thanks.

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AHCI is SATA mode.

 

ATA is NOT a SATA mode. It is an abridged PATA, the old IDE mode, and I would doubt that the Dell laptop has an IDE mode.

Windows 10 Pro - Start10 - part of a local network which is a '3rd party optimizer-free' zone..

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Hi
Thanks for contacting Microsoft Community.

Types of SATA modes:

•IDE - Old, slower, it is simply a compatibility mode
•AHCI - AHCI stands for Advanced Host Controller Interface. It makes Native Command Queuing (NCQ) along with hot-plugging or hot swapping through SATA Serial-ATA host controllers possible. NCQ is one of the important features of AHCI for SSDs. SSDs can process requests faster than HDDs. It can process so fast that the SSD could end up waiting for work. NCQ allows the OS/controller to request up to 32 simultaneous requests at once. So you basically get more performance from your drive over older IDE mode.
•RAID - RAID stands for redundant array of independent disks, originally redundant array of inexpensive disks. It is a means by which your PC uses multiple disks as if they were one, either to increase performance, safeguard against disk failures, or both. RAID mode has all the advantages of AHCI mode. There are four main factors of a RAID setup: striping, which spreads data across multiple drives, mirroring, which copies the data to more than one disk, space efficiency, which is how much of the total space is available to use, and fault tolerance, which is a measure of how well protected the RAID array is against disk failure.

The Problem:
 The issue with changing the SATA modes is they need to be enabled in the BIOS prior to OS installation; doing so after you have installed the OS will disable the PC. The reason why is Windows disables the drivers for the others that are not needed during installation. This tutorial will show you how to enable the different SATA modes after you have installed the OS.

Notes:
*You may need to install the IRST driver first in order to do the registry change from AHCI mode to RAID mode for Intel motherboards.
*You may have to uninstall then reinstall any SATA drivers such as Intel RST or AMDs equivalent.


Change to AHCI mode from IDE mode:
You can use the MS Fix it tool or edit the registry yourself.
Link to tool here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976/
Regedit:
1. Exit all Windows-based programs.
2. Press [Win] + R or take the RUN option from the start menu.
3. Now type Regedit there and press Enter Key to open up the Registry Editor Window. (If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.)
4. Locate and then click the following registry sub key: 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci

5. In the right pane right-click Start in the Name column and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 0 [3 is default], and then click OK.
7. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.
8. Restart your computer
9. Go to UEFI/BIOS and enable AHCI, Save & Reboot
10. Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation.

Change to ACHI mode from RAID mode:
1. Exit all Windows-based programs.
2. Press [Win] + R or take the RUN option from the start menu.
3. Now type regedit there and press Enter Key to open up the Registry Editor Window.
4. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
5. Locate and then click the following registry subkeys: 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\pciide
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStorV
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi

6. In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type 0 [3 is default], and then click OK.
8. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.
9. Restart your computer
10. Go to UEFI/BIOS and enable AHCI, Save & Reboot
11. Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation.
Note: You might not have the last registry key (iastor) as this is installed in the registry with the intel raid drivers, the default windows 7 raid driver uses the iastorV key.


Change to RAID mode from AHCI mode or IDE mode:
1. Exit all Windows-based programs.
2. Press [Win] + R or take the RUN option from the start menu.
3. Now type regedit there and press Enter Key to open up the Registry Editor Window.
4. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
5. Locate and then click the following registry subkeys: 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStorV
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor

6. In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type 0 [3 is default], and then click OK.
8. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.
9. Restart your computer
10. Go to UEFI/BIOS and enable RAID, Save & Reboot
11. Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation.

Note: If you have an AMD systems you may need to look here too: http://superuser.com/questions/300035/how-to-install-amd-raid-driver-after-windows-installation



Change to IDE mode from AHCI or RAID mode:
1. Exit all Windows-based programs.
2. Press [Win] + R or take the RUN option from the start menu.
3. Now type regedit there and press Enter Key to open up the Registry Editor Window.
4. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
5. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Pciide

6. In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type 0 [3 is default], and then click OK.
8. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.
9. Restart your computer
10. Go to UEFI/BIOS and enable IDE, Save & Reboot
11. Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation.

Reply if the issue is not solved.
Balaji Kundalam

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Laptops, as per the OP's machine, do not have IDE or RAID modes..
Windows 10 Pro - Start10 - part of a local network which is a '3rd party optimizer-free' zone..

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Laptops, as per the OP's machine, do not have IDE or RAID modes..
Laptops does have IDE mode, only RAID mode is absent.
Balaji Kundalam

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Mine don't.. :-)
Windows 10 Pro - Start10 - part of a local network which is a '3rd party optimizer-free' zone..

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The modes available will very much depend on the BIOS of the device. The Dell SFF PC I have has only one SATA port and offers AHCI, ATA and Legacy. By definition ATA includes both SATA and PATA and uses DMA mode transfer. Legacy is akin to IDE and is the PIO mode interface. One SATA interface rules out RAID anyway.

 

In answer to the OP whereas switching from ATA to AHCI could cause problems with missing boot device BSODs it may not the other way round. Although Vista I have just tested the above PC doing this and it detected a new IDE Controller with no problems although a restart was required. When I reverted back it did not even redetect hardware and no problems.

 

Incidentally although my BIOS does not support RAID when I installed a drive robbed from a machine which was in RAID mode the Intel RAID configuration option appeared in the boot sequence. Although the BIOS does not support RAID the chipset does.

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Change to IDE mode from AHCI or RAID mode:
 
This procedure did not work for me - when Windows 7 Pro went to boot up in ATA mode, it tried, but then just bombed and re-booted and got the screen that tells you to repair using the install disc. I did, but repair said it could not fix the problem...
 
Put the System back in to AHCI mode - and all was fine again.
 
Gotta be more than that one change in the Registry to make it work.....
Joey

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Last updated January 27, 2025 Views 39,029 Applies to: