IDE and SATA

[Merlin]

My main boot drive is a SATA. I also have a backup drive that I use for its namesake as well as rarly used picture file etc.
I have not had any problems with this setup until now. I tried to set it up the same way with no jumpers since the ATA133 drive is the only one on its cable. It did not work...error loading OS. Do I need to add a jumper setting somewhere?

Also what is AHCI mode? I am running my SATA 3.0 drive in IDE mode, can I and or should I change it to AHCI?? Can I change it to AHCI without too much trouble??

Lastly My boot drive is a 250 GIG drive but when I set it up the first time I had the 137 GIG limit deal so I simply made it a 2 partition drive since I learned of the problem after installing everything. Can I combine the two partitions into one without re-formating the drive and re-installing the OS??

[KnightRid]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_H ... _Interface

dunno about the jumpers - sata you of course wont have any, but the ide you could try to add one to make it Primary - some drives only work when the jumper is on, others only work when it is off - I always thought it was the MB's problem, but some of my drives have to have the jumpers, but others cant have any to work in a single ide drive setup - its goofy.

combining parts - ewww - good luck. I think gparted will do it, but you have to delete the one partition first. Partition magic will do it also, but you might still have to have one part empty...dunno, never used partitions. Be WARNED - you could lose EVERYTHING!!! you would be better off to backup your data, then reinstall windows - windows will let you delete and create partitions before installing - just delete both (AFTER BACKING UP) and then make one big one.

Mike

[Merlin]

Well next option...can I ,while installing a program, tell it to install on the second partition of the boot drive and still run off of a shortcut on the desktop??

[KnightRid]

Well next option...can I ,while installing a program, tell it to install on the second partition of the boot drive and still run off of a shortcut on the desktop??

Sure, of course you can. You just point it to that drive letter for the second partition and give it a directory.

Mike

[Merlin]

So would you say that I would benefit at all from enableing AHCI mode. Considering the possible complications does it really offer improved performance??

[KnightRid]

So would you say that I would benefit at all from enableing AHCI mode. Considering the possible complications does it really offer improved performance??

I have it enabled and in real word performance, havent noticed a bit of difference.

I would say you are fine letting it on IDE.

Mike

[Merlin]

Cool thanks Mike. The next time I have to re-install my OS I will enable it then and perhaps go to a RAID setup as well. Along those lines is there really a performance increase with RAID or is most of the reason data protection??

[KnightRid]

Cool thanks Mike. The next time I have to re-install my OS I will enable it then and perhaps go to a RAID setup as well. Along those lines is there really a performance increase with RAID or is most of the reason data protection??

I never rab RAID, but from what I read, you can get a LITTLE performance increase when running striped (I think that is the one that uses multiple drives as 1), but unless you are doing massive amounts of work (think mainframe), I really dont think it is worth the effort.

RAID is great for a 1:1 backup, but just remember - that nice 500gb hard drive has to have another one just for backing up ;)

Mike

Most of the reason is for backing up data, in my opinion.