SATA HDD issue....

Alright now, I have the WD3200BEVT - which is a SATA-300 HDD....
And my motherboard has a SATA port....I presume it is a bit old, so it will be SATA-150..
Now, HD Tune shows as UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)....Device manager still shows up with IDE channels apart from one SATA controller driver..!!
HD Tach shows speeds far below SATA-150....
I am completely baffled..!! I thought that the HDD would operate at, at least SATA-150 speeds..

This thing shows UDMA Mode 5 as active, can I bump it to UDMA Mode 6..?? [OD is UDMA Mode 2]
View attachment 21277

Now, ATA 01 should be for the HDD, and ATA 02 should be for the OD - So why the HDD still shows up as an ATA drive..(in XP it shows up as Primary IDE channel)


SATA HDD shows up as ATA/IDE


UDMA Mode 5, not even 6..




I have installed the latest chipset drivers....Is it something to do with the chipset itself..??

 

It's likely a BIOS setting, your drive is probably set to operate in ATA mode, not SATA mode. Sometimes also called computability or legacy mode.

 

BIOS is OEM, Locked.. Shows nothing for the HDD, so was looking for some registry hacks....
Found a few for XP, but they didn't work..
Any workaround for it..??

 

DO I have to get some separate ACER SATA drivers..??

 

the intel SATA drivers (which are obviously installed) should be all you need.

it's a BIOS thing.... most acer BIOS have the option to change HDD mode between AHCI or IDE...

you might try a different BIOS version

 

Flashed two older BIOS versions, each time also re-installing the chipset driver....no luck..

Are the SATA drivers, supposed to be integrated or slipstreamed into the XP and Vista installs.. (I am dual-booting at the moment, is that causing the issue..??)

Can the AHCI or IDE options be toggled in windows itself..??

 

Just found out that AHCI is actually disabled and the HDD is in IDE mode..
Any ideas, how to fix this..??

 

you won't like the answer...

but here it is...

change it back to AHCI in BIOS.. then reinstall BOTH OS's


http://soulpass.com/2007/11/10/inst...essional-sp2-on-acer-aspire-5315-2153-laptop/
this link did have some info on changing back to AHCI after installing VIA the IDE method.. but i've never tried it....

that's why i always tell everyone to slipstream the SATA drivers and try to KEEP them from even knowing about the IDE compatibility mode in the BIOS.
not only is it slower but you also have a greater chance of data corruption

 

bigozone got it. There is simply no way to just "fix" it because it's so deeply rooted into the system. only fix is a reformat.

 

Yeah, I did do a bit of a research, and found that BIOSs that do not have the AHCI option, have it generally disabled - which has caused my drive to work in the IDE-compatible mode or something..!! Because I installed XP first, XP picked it up as an IDE drive, in some sort of compatibility mode, and after that, when I installed vista - it did not provide the necessary SATA drivers, since the HDD was presented to it as an IDE drive..

Now I am backing up my 40GB data, will wipe this HDD clean with DBan or something, install vista first - which should provide the necessary drivers for the SATA HDD, and then install XP with the slipstreamed CD - if required....and if I can find it..

The whole thing kinda sounds noobish to me....A dumb mistake maybe on my part of installing XP FIRST, without the SATA drivers, since I got pretty used to the old IDE mobo and hdds..

Now does vista actually provide the necessary SATA drivers..??

 

Yes, vista will come with the drivers. DBan is kind of unnecessary, might consider using GParted instead.

 

I am not SO good at wiping drives and stuff....
The only thing I have done with GParted is to kind of re-organise the partitions, does it provide an option to wipe the drive clean..??

 

just delete all the partitions and hit apply actions. It'd be my preference in a case like this.

 

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. That HDTach plot is showing a very good result. The 150MB/s is theoretical and you will never achieve it. I've got several results with HDTach transfer rates of around 120MB/s. Also, this interface speed will only apply to the few MB that might be in the HDD cache. After that the constraint will be the speed at which the head can pull data off the disk.

I doubt if the BIOS supports the 3Gb/s interface and, even if it does, the main effect is to increase the HDD power consumption.

It's your choice to reformat and reinstall, but I will be surprised if you will see any improvement.

John

 

does you hard disk have jumper on for sata and 2 ?

 

I agree 100%. Your HD Tune results were also fine.

 

No luck....!! Did a Vista reinstall and HDD still showing up on an ATA channel as in he attachments above..
I don't want a performance gain, just want it to show up as SATA-150....and my motherboard is a bit old, so I think it does not support SATA-300..!! Does this ghost IDE drive cause any sort of data loss or problem for the HDD..??

Just find it weird, that a SATA drive shows up on a ATA channel, scared it won't screw up the drive..

 

did you go into the BIOS and CHANGE the HDD MODE to AHCI??

if not it will still be in IDE mode

EDIT::

no need to WIPE the drive.... just delete the C: & D: partitions... that clears the info from the file allocation table... so the drive knows it can use the space... it doesn't have to be empty space to be usable... just needs to be unallocated in the MFT

 

Unfortunately the BIOS does not have that option to toggle AHCI..

I guess it is an issue with the Acer 3680 BIOS....!! Even when selecting the Boot Device by pressing F12....It labels the HDD as IDE 0..

I am going to try and flash the Acer 5570 BIOS onto it, because the 5570 also uses the i943 chipset.....

and BigO, is it possible for you to PM or upload a screenshot of what your ATA or whatever channels show up as in the Device Manager....!! (something similar to attachment 2 and 4 on the 1st page)

 

Ok, I am trying to get the hang of this....
Currently my HDD is running in legacy mode, I don't know why..!!
I have no option to toggle AHCI in the BIOS....
Intel Matrix Storage Manager doesn't get installed....

So, is there any other way I can enable AHCI - or would I have to get a custom BIOS made to support the options..??

Or is there any other way to make the drive work in Native Mode..??

Anyone..??

 

I don't believe AHCI will make the HDD run any faster. The HDD speed you are already getting is normal, with or without AHCI.

AHCI only starts getting important when you are into more advanced storage solutions. For example, Turbo Memory needs AHCI.

John

 

Yeah, I read all about that....That AHCI provides some advanced SATA features, unavailable in IDE/Legacy Mode (RAID, Hot-Swapability, etc)....alongwith a slight increase in performance....!!

Anyway, I will be pestering Acer for a BIOS upgrade including the AHCI toggle, or just get another custom BIOS, with the advanced options unlocked..!!

Thx for the advices....