Configuring SATA mode selection: RAID vs. AHCI

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akpuggy

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Dec 19, 2015
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If I am not planning to currently Raid any of my drives, can I select RAID mode anyway when configuring a new build in the Bios setting "SATA Mode Selection"? I know if is not intended for that but the problme is that if I want to Raid a drive int he future, I will have to wipe my OS and reinstall everything if I chnage the setting after I already select one of the options.

I know RAID supports AHCI by default so are there any downsides to using RAID for current non-RAID functionality vs the AHCI mode?

Thanks!
 
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RealBeast
It means that you have the Samsung fast mode enabled, which writes to ram (that is much faster than NAND) and then to the SSD, so skews your results significantly but is not representative of actual performance.
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akpuggy

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Ouch, I actually got the Samsung 500GB Evo for the primary OS drive and was hoping to test out Magician. Do you know if Magician is required to update the drives firmware? Anything special about this soft that is not already available in windows/intel rapid storage?

Thanks!
 
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RealBeast

RealBeast

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Magician is required to update firmware in Windows, but there is a method to do it for drives that are not using AHCI by creating a bootable DOS mode installer.

I would not, however, recommend using motherboard bios based RAID in the future though. The weakest point in the array is that a simple hiccup in the bios can disrupt your array. I've seen dozens of posts on the topic every year. With the increasing size of drives, RAID is really only necessary for large arrays, and then a discrete controller is a better solution.
 
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akpuggy

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Hey,

I wanted to get back tot si topic since I realized I am now limited in wat I can do wit Intel Rapid Storage Technology soft. IIt seems I can not use an SSD I have installed to accelerate the performance of a hard drive (create a hybrid drive). I am realizing that I can't do it because it would require a raid which I did not activate. Is that correct? If I revert back to RAID, and not actually use it for my p[rimary OS drive, will there be any performance degradation (I've may have read it can be slightly slower).

Thanks!
 
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RealBeast

RealBeast

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IRST for an SSD cache, i.e. accelerating a HDD is pretty much useless compared to just using an SSD.

If you decide to do this, you need to have your bios mode set as RAID.

There is no performance degradation for an SSD if it is not part of a RAID array (or cache) and your bios mode is set to RAID, as AHCI is a subset of the RAID command set. The only issue will be that some software (like Samsung Magician) will not function if your bios mode is set to RAID even though the drive is not part of the array.
 
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akpuggy

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Thanks for confirming. I can't yet get a Z%TB SSD to hold all my media, photos, backups , ect.., so that the reason I went with a HDD for secondary and though I could increase performance using an older SSD laying around. So, before trying to figure out how to switch SATA modes without reinstalling OS, I wanted to save some benchmarks first so that I can compare speeds after enabling RAID.

AND THEN.. I ran into some unrealistinc results: http://screencast.com/t/6LSZhQSb
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 5.1.1 x64 (C) 2007-2016 hiyohiyo
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 6702.590 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 6337.129 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 820.969 MB/s [200431.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 334.426 MB/s [ 81647.0 IOPS]
Sequential Read (T= 1) : 9229.121 MB/s
Sequential Write (T= 1) : 5461.875 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 856.279 MB/s [209052.5 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 339.078 MB/s [ 82782.7 IOPS]

Test : 1024 MiB [C: 40.0% (167.5/418.5 GiB)] (x5) [Interval=5 sec]
Date : 2016/01/31 17:50:31
OS : Windows 10 Professional [10.0 Build 10586] (x64)


I though I may be using a version of CrystalDisk that does not support SSDS but Samsung magician gave same results. Any idea what this means?
 
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drtweak

drtweak

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There are registry edits to enable an existing PC in AHCI to boot when switched to RAID.

The thing is using SSD as a Cashe for a DATA drive is kind of pointless unless it is being accessed ALL the time. SSHD's are fading fast with how cheap SSD's are and how fast HDD's are getting. most HDD's 4Tb and up read and write close to 200MBps and if you are sharing your media and access it remotely then 1) Your internet can slow it down and 2) you lan can slow it down. Even with gigabit LAN which maxes out a 125MBps not including over head is WAY slower than most HDD's.

I store most of my stuff on my server, i convert files to .MP4 on my Main PC or I download or transfer etc. My LAN is the bottleneck and NOT my hard drives as the HDD's can read faster than what my Network can handle.

Honestly I wouldn't even bother with SSHD Hybrid's (That is using an actual SSD and not one form like Seagate where it is all one Unit). If this was a OS drive then Yes you would benifit from that but not a Data drive.
 
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