Difference between IDE and AHCI?

shaun88

January 23, 2013 8:07:30 AM

i'm about to build my first pc tonight and i have 2 options for the motherboard:
1. Using sata/sata II HDDs without NCQ and hot plug functions (IDE mode)
2. Using sata/sata II HDDs with NCQ and hot plug functions (AHCI mode)

what is the difference between IDE and AHCI? I will be installing Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit if that helps?

More about : difference ide ahci

| E-mail me updates
| Report abuse

Reply to shaun88

Outlander_04

Homebuilt system Master

Motherboard Authority

January 23, 2013 8:37:49 AM

IDE is an old standard . Original IDE hard drives had huge flat ribbon cables with 40 , and then 80 wires .
When SATA got introduced operating systems didnt have built in SATA drivers so board makers included the IDE mode

Use AHCI and NCQ and enable SMART for your OS

| Report abuse

Reply to Outlander_04

shaun88

January 23, 2013 8:51:27 AM

Outlander_04 said:

IDE is an old standard . Original IDE hard drives had huge flat ribbon cables with 40 , and then 80 wires .
When SATA got introduced operating systems didnt have built in SATA drivers so board makers included the IDE mode

Use AHCI and NCQ and enable SMART for your OS

thank you for this, i'll use AHCI, could you please tell me what SMART is and is this enabled via BIOS or when i install Windows 7?