Forum - RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers?

#61 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Tue Apr 01, 2014 1:36 am

@ Fernando:
Thank you very much.

So I think, I will use 11.2.0.1006

Zitat
The newer Intel RST(e) drivers from v11.5 up have a totally different functionality, because they use an additional SCSI filter driver.

I know, but for me, SCSI-Filter wasn't installed in drivers 11.5 up. There only was one entry in device manager an no iastorf-service was running and also no iastorf-registry-entrys where present.

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#62 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Tue Apr 01, 2014 1:53 am

Zitat von ole258 im Beitrag #61
I know, but for me, SCSI-Filter wasn't installed in drivers 11.5 up. There only was one entry in device manager an no iastorf-service was running and also no iastorf-registry-entrys where present.

If you are running Windows 8/8.1, the SCSI filter driver named iaStorF.sys will not be installed, because this OS doesn't need it.

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#63 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Wed Jun 04, 2014 5:10 am

Hi Fernando!

I have an Asus Sabertooth Z77 motherboard (BIOS 2104) and am not running RAID, but I do have (what I believe to be) the latest Intel RST drivers (12.9.0.1001). My question is, is this the best configuration for me. I am seeing slow response (especially with my primary drive). I have even tried switching around the SATA connections (moved it from the outside brown to the outside black, as the drive is not a 6g).

The controller lists itself as SATA ACHI (Computer expands to indicate ACPI x64-based) -

But when I look at the properties of the "ATA Channels", they indicate "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" -

Advanced Settings indicates "ATA Disk" and UDMA6 -

Shouldn't this indicate AHCI somewhere????

Yes, I have checked the registry entry and it is set to "0", and the BIOS is also configured for AHCI.

Thanks so much for any assistance with this!

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#64 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Wed Jun 04, 2014 9:51 am

@ DeathStalker:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

Your pictures verify, that the ASMedia SATA ports of your system are running in IDE mode and not in AHCI mode.
Please enter the BIOS and look for the ASMedia SATA Controller settings.

Furthermore you should check the SATA port connections of your HDDs/SSDs.
According to the ASUS Support pages your mainboard has the following SATA ports:

2 x Intel Z77 6G SATA ports (colour: brown)
4 x Intel Z77 3G SATA ports (colour: black)
2 x ASMedia 6G SATA ports (colour: gray) and
2 x ASMedia 6G eSATA ports (colour: red)

You will get the best performance, when you connect your system drive to one of the brown Intel 6G SATA ports.
Depending on the amount of connected HDDs/SSDs I recommend to prefer the Intel SATA ports and to avoid the ASMEdia ones.

Regarding the in use Intel RST(e) driver I recommend to manually update it to v12.9.3.1000 WHQL.

Regards
Fernando

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#65 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Wed Jun 04, 2014 2:04 pm

Well, it means pulling out my HUGE video card again, but I'll switch it back to the brown port.

What about the Intel ports? Are they also running IDE?

Do you know the best driver for the ASMedia?

Thanks! :)

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#66 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Wed Jun 04, 2014 2:12 pm (Last edited: Wed Jun 04, 2014 2:14 pm)

Zitat von DeathStalker im Beitrag #65
What about the Intel ports? Are they also running IDE?

No, they are running in AHCI mode.

Zitat
Do you know the best driver for the ASMedia?

It depends on the SATA mode (IDE or AHCI) you are running the ASMedia SATA Controller. Anyway I recommend to use the generic MS IDE resp. AHCI driver instead of the ASMedia driver.

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#67 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Thu Jun 05, 2014 4:27 am (Last edited: Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:17 am)

Ok, so I'm grabbing the 12.4 RTSe drivers, but how do I switch the ASMedia controllers to ACHI?

I presume I can just manually select to update the driver and select the new Intel?

Thanks!!!

==================

Also, would you mind terribly posting some similar screenshots of your controllers in Device Manager?

Thanks again!!! :)

======

One more qq - so the Channel 00 and Channel 01 I see are the Intel ports? or are you interpreting it because the ASMedia controlers indicate only SATA, not SATA ACHI?

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#68 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Thu Jun 05, 2014 8:43 am (Last edited: Thu Jun 05, 2014 8:44 am)

Zitat von DeathStalker im Beitrag #67
how do I switch the ASMedia controllers to ACHI?

If the ASMedia SATA Controller of your mainboard supports AHCI at all (look into the mainboard manual), you can do the switch from IDE to AHCI only from within the BIOS.

Zitat
I presume I can just manually select to update the driver and select the new Intel?

You can only switch from the generic MS AHCI driver to an Intel AHCI driver, if the HDD is connected to an Intel SATA port.

Zitat
so the Channel 00 and Channel 01 I see are the Intel ports?

No, all your Intel ports are already running in AHCI mode. These channels obviouly belong to the ASMedia ports, which are running in IDE mode. The related IDE Controllers are usually named "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller" and managed by the generic MS IDE driver named PCIIDE.SYS.

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#69 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Thu Jun 05, 2014 12:48 pm

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #68
Zitat von DeathStalker im Beitrag #67
how do I switch the ASMedia controllers to ACHI?

If the ASMedia SATA Controller of your mainboard supports AHCI at all (look into the mainboard manual), you can do the switch from IDE to AHCI only from within the BIOS.

[quote]I presume I can just manually select to update the driver and select the new Intel?

You can only switch from the generic MS AHCI driver to an Intel AHCI driver, if the HDD is connected to an Intel SATA port.

Ok, so what setting do I need to change (registry, I presume), to switch the ASMedia to ACHI? So I will need to maintain the ASMedia drivers for the ASMedia controllers?

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#70 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Thu Jun 05, 2014 9:14 pm (Last edited: Thu Jun 05, 2014 9:15 pm)

Zitat von DeathStalker im Beitrag #69
Ok, so what setting do I need to change (registry, I presume), to switch the ASMedia to ACHI? So I will need to maintain the ASMedia drivers for the ASMedia controllers?

As first step you should check, which SATA port your system drive (with the OS you are running) is using. If it should be connected with any of the Intel ports, it will be easy for you.
Then enter the BIOS and look for the ASMedia SATA Controller setting options. If there should be no option to set the Controller to AHCI, I recommend to do a backup of the storage drives, which are connected to the ASMedia ports. After having done that, you should connect them to any of the Intel ports and to restore the data to the drives.
If any of the Optical Drives are connected to the ASMedia ports, I recommend to let them there (they usually like the IDE mode more than AHC mode).

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MB: ASRock X570 Pro4, CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, System Drive: 500 GB Samsung 980 Pro, Graphics: Sapphire Radeon RX570, OS: Win10 x64 Pro
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#71 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Fri Jun 06, 2014 2:42 am (Last edited: Fri Jun 06, 2014 3:29 am)

ugh, thought it would be easier than that. Well, I think I'll just re-install Win7 again this weekend - system is sluggish as it is (tried one of those driver auto-update programs and I think it basically screwed everything up - better to just search at Station-Drivers ;) )

===============

FWIW, no option for the ASMedia ports in the BIOS at all.

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#72 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Fri Jun 06, 2014 7:58 am (Last edited: Fri Jun 06, 2014 8:02 am)

@ DeathStalker:
A fresh install of the OS is a good idea, but before you are doing that, you have to make sure, that the system drive is connected to the first of the fast Intel SATA ports.

Zitat von DeathStalker im Beitrag #71
no option for the ASMedia ports in the BIOS at all.

Which drives are connected to the ASMedia ports?
As I already stated, the connection of Optical drives doesn't matter. They like the IDE mode.

My current System:
MB: ASRock X570 Pro4, CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, System Drive: 500 GB Samsung 980 Pro, Graphics: Sapphire Radeon RX570, OS: Win10 x64 Pro
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#73 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:25 pm

Just other storage drives in the system.

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#74 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Fri Jun 06, 2014 11:08 pm

Zitat von DeathStalker im Beitrag #73
Just other storage drives in the system.

Why did you connect them to the ASMedia SATA ports? Didn't you realize, that they are just running in IDE mode?

My current System:
MB: ASRock X570 Pro4, CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, System Drive: 500 GB Samsung 980 Pro, Graphics: Sapphire Radeon RX570, OS: Win10 x64 Pro
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#75 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Sat Jun 07, 2014 5:45 am

But WHY would they be running in IDE? They *shouldn't* be (and I'm not sure they were, with my prior installation - this install I tried one of those driver auto-updaters and I think that's what screwed things up. Guess I'll find out this weekend when I re-install ;)

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