Correct AHCI driver setup for M4 SSD - Intel or MS?

Trist_58

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Jul 23, 2011
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Hello,

I have recently installed a Crucial M4 256 GB SSD in an Acer Aspire 5742 laptop as a replacement for it's aging HDD. This was followed by a clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit on the new drive.

So my next step is to ensure that the system has all of the appropriate and up to date drivers installed. Most of the relevant information I found on the Acer website:

http://support.acer.com/us/en/product/default.aspx?tab=1&modelId=3277

I am familiar with most of the device drivers listed here and don't expect to have any trouble tracking down the best versions currently available but I am not sure about the "Intel SATA AHCI" driver in particular. It has been my understanding that to enable TRIM on an SSD dedicated as the system drive you just have to set SATA mode in BIOS to AHCI and windows will take care of the drivers during install of the OS.

So my question is will I see any benefit in installing the latest Intel AHCI driver (ver 11.​6.​0.​1030) over the MS one originally installed with Windows?

Alternatively is it a better idea to leave the configuration as it is (working pretty well) and avoid potential software conflicts?

Please bare with me as I am still learning the details but I am motivated to achieve a well balanced system and would appreciate your input.

Thanks guys!

 
Solution
There are a handful of examples where you are better installing the manfacturers drivers e.g. support for larger hard drives. Most often the built-in drivers are enough.
+1 for Intel drivers, as they will be more compatible than the gneric M$ ones.

AHCI is the default for systems for the last few years, so should be set on your laptop.

Run (as admin)

fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify

If the result is '0' TRIM is enabled.
 

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