Thread: Modern SATA standard makes your hard disks faster

Although AHCI has already been a standard for more than two years, there are SATA disks still in use that do not conform to this standard. Hence, they are lacking in their capabilities.

There are various alternatives to "upgrade" AHCI on your XP system. We present a very simple method. Before you begin, take a backup of all your important files. It is unlikely that this tip may lead to any data loss-but you can never be 100 percent sure. To begin With, make sure that neither RAID nor AHCI is activated in the BIOS of your computer. Now download the "32 bit Floppy Configuration Utility" from the Intel homepage. Extract the archive in a directory on the desktop. Open the Device Manager and under the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller" node, update the drivers of all controllers that begin with "INTEL". To do this, select the "Update Driver software" option in the context menu of the controller (right mouse click). Reject the offers for an online update and search and instead, specify the location of the driver manually (directory on the desktop).

Now select the AHCI controller. Repeat this procedure with all the controllers and once that is done, close all windows and shut down the system. void the Windows 'Start' at any rate, while subsequently booting the computer and go to the BIOS usually the delete key or F2 key is used. Here, activate the AHCI option in the SATA menu and restart the computer. If everything has worked out perfectly, Windows will detect the new AHCI hardware, and your SATA disks will receive the necessary boost in performance and will function considerably faster, thanks to the NCQ (Native Command Queuing) that is now available.

If you want to make sure that your hard disk or disks work optimally in the future and to ensure that they always use the latest drivers, you can install the "Intel Matrix Storage Manager". This practical diagnosis tool is available in the download area of the Intel home page as well.