AHCI or IDE mode for SATA controllers?

emwhy


Any thoughts as to if AHCI is better for audio? Most discussions say it's best left for use with servers and not work stations, but I'm no expert on such things.

I've been using AHCI for a long time without issues. I also did some test.  AHCI definitely showed improved performance on my systems.

I think it depends on a few things though -- your SATA controller, the type of drives, etc.

But you can do some tests as well.  Just setup AHCI and do some file copying, etc.  And then run a big project and save it (to a new name to protect yourself) and see what kind of results you get.

Those are just some tests -- you can try other things as well just to get a sense and feedback from your system.

But generally I'd say AHCI is the better choice if you have a fairly recent system/motherboard or controller that handles it properly.

I get the benefit if AHCI (and I don't enable NCQ) on my studio machine because it facilitates hot swapping hard drives.  If it were not for that singular capability, I would have left it at IDE.   
 
Katherine

Katie_Katie


I get the benefit if AHCI (and I don't enable NCQ) on my studio machine because it facilitates hot swapping hard drives.  If it were not for that singular capability, I would have left it at IDE.   
 
Katherine

On SOME systems, staying with "IDE" setting is fine too.  It really depends on so many variables with motherboards and vendor's drivers.
 
That's why I say - experiment, test.  Who knows :)
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