Tutorial : How to switch from IRRT to AHCI mode - E6400/E6500 (Vista)

See the Intel description of IRRT. It is effectively an add-on to AHCI which makes an eSATA HDD into a RAID 1 mirror.

Very useful if that is what you want and annoying if it is not.

John

 

Perhaps the only reason Dell ships the BIOS set to IRRT (RAID) is for IRRT... so business notebook users have this backup/restore option. So if you don't intend to use that, then setting the BIOS to AHCI for clean installs could be preferable.

I was suggesting that nobody is going to implement RAID on a notebook that only has one drive. Nor are they likely to implement eSATA RAID. That leaves IRRT... Intel Rapid Recovery Technology that uses RAID mirroring to create a complete drive backup to an eSATA device... either one-off or a mirror backup maintained over time whenever the mobile user can connect up to their home storage. This addresses the mobile user's need to backup and restore his entire system without handing it over to corporate IT.

Hence, Dell ships the BIOS set for RAID/IRRT to enable this notebook backup solution. If you don't use it, perhaps you don't need it.

On another note, I just installed Vista x64 on the latest Intel desktop motherboard, the Core i7 DX58SO, set for RAID. Vista installed its own RAID driver as it does on the E6400. Then I updated this MS driver to the Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver. Then I tweaked the registry setting per MS KB922976, and reset the BIOS to AHCI. Vista found the new device and installed the MS driver for the AHCI controller. Then I updated again with the same Intel Matrix Storage Manager and it installed its AHCI driver. Now I can boot either AHCI or RAID and the respective Intel driver comes up accordingly. My point here is that Vista SP1 x64 had a driver for both the AHCI and the RAID devices on this brand new Intel chipset.

Incidentally, HDD LED activity was the same whether booted AHCI or RAID. DPC latency is very low and green with both AHCI and RAID, but a scrunch lower when booted RAID.

GK

 

O.K. Your procedure appears to have worked as advertised. I have switched to AHCI for my win xp pro sp3 system. Thanks for posting the tutorial.

Harvey

 

Thanks again for the tutorial !

I had been using IRRT (Intel drivers version 8.2) on a fresh install of Vista x86, with no any audio problems.

Bought a Western Digital My Book Studio II (RAID 1) drive connected using eSATA on the docking station. Wanted to see if AHCI would give better performance. Thank goodness for this tutorial, otherwise I would never have gotten it working.

I did not notice any performance gain by switching to AHCI, but apparently it supports hot-swapping of eSATA devices so I will leave it on that mode for now.

Tried upgrading to Intel drivers 8.7 .. big mistake, audio skipped constantly, as frequently as 3 to 5 seconds a pop.

Btw, do not recommend the Western Digital My Book series of enclosures. The eSATA connector on the case is recessed (much like the iPhone 1.0's headset jack), and the cable would come loose at the slightest breeze. There are complaints about this elsewhere on line, but seriously, this is ridiculous. I am using some crazy glue to get the cable to stay in place.

 

So does IRRT.

I agree about your take on the WD MB's; badly designed enclosures around the best hard drives on the market.

 

are there any conclusions re: whether AHCI / IRRT is better ? or in what situations would either be preferable ?

 

someone on another thread mentioned that ATA but be even faster, this guy claims that DCP latency was very low.

 

finally a definiteive answer ...
IRRT = AHCI + RAID support via Intel's Matrix Storage Console Software

from http://en.community.dell.com/wikis/laptop/latitude-e-series-o-s-reinstall-guide.aspx :

AHCI: SATA is configured for AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) mode, which offers faster performance, eSATA support and increased battery life.

IRRT (Default): SATA is configured to support IRRT (Intel's Rapid Recovery Technology). This mode supports AHCI mode features as well as disk mirroring (RAID-1).

 

This is a great tutorial. What if I have Windows Registry Editor 6.00? And what if Intel 8.2.2.1001 SATA driver application is already installed on my E6500? Will this still work? I'm hoping that following these instructions will allow me to remove my USB external HDD from my laptop. Now when I try doing it I get a message that it is still being used. Or will following these instructions not help this problem? Thanks!

 

I'm presuming this is for a Vista self installed OS.
The instructions will work to change your system from IRRT mode to AHCI even if IMSM 8.2.2.1001 is already installed. You will still need to reinstall IMSM so it can setup the AHCI drivers upon detection as outlined in the turtorial. Also, no problem with reg editor v6.00.

I'm not familiar with your setup, but I presume you're in IRRT mode when you're having difficulty removing the USB drive. Is there a program running that is set to access it ? Automatic Backup software ?

If not, at the Start menu search box type Intel and select Intel Matrix Storage manager Console. View|Advanced Mode and see if a mirror is already created. If so you disable it there and then you can safely remove the USB drive.