IDE vs ACHI

[Jimmy_28]

Hello,
I've put an old non-system disk with data on it in a new system on a ACHI sata port.
The disk is still in IDE mode.
Will a format of the disk put it in ACHI mode?
Disk: Samsung HD 103SJ
MOBO: Asus P8Z77-v Deluxe

 

[SchizTech]

As long as it's not the boot disk you'll be fine. The hard drive itself isn't in any "mode;" the motherboard controller can be set to a different SATA mode and the Windows installation is configured to that mode but the actual hard drive is agnostic to all this.

 

[Jimmy_28]

Thanks for the reply.
No, it's not the boot disk.
OS is installed on SSD after ACHI mode was active in BIOS.

So sometimes when my PC boots it hangs after POST, at the ASUS logo.
The Q-code at that moment is A2, which means "IDE detect".
This cannot be caused by the samsung drive being in "IDE mode"?
After a few reboots, my PC returns to run normal and boots up to OS.

 

[SchizTech]

No, it couldn't be caused by the windows installation on the HDD being in one mode or another; some motherboards just have their quirks.

 

[Pinhedd]

Thanks for the reply.
No, it's not the boot disk.
OS is installed on SSD after ACHI mode was active in BIOS.

So sometimes when my PC boots it hangs after POST, at the ASUS logo.
The Q-code at that moment is A2, which means "IDE detect".
This cannot be caused by the samsung drive being in "IDE mode"?
After a few reboots, my PC returns to run normal and boots up to OS.

Your motherboard has two storage controllers. The Intel z77 series PCH and a Marvell PCIe 9128 SATA-III controller (navy blue coloured ports).

The Z77 controller is part of the chipset itself. The Marvell controller is connected via PCIe lanes.

Each controller can be put into a separate mode so it's possible to have the Intel controller in AHCI mode while the Marvell controller is in IDE/PATA mode.

 

[Jimmy_28]

My SSD is on the gray colored ports.
The HDD (the old one with the data on) is on the light blue colored ports (the 3gb/s ones).

The controllers are in default mode (ACHI according to the manual).

It's probably a quirk of the mobo like SchizTech says.
Like another "quirk" is that i can't get into the BIOS without swapping my keyboard (logitech G11) by another one... :s