AHCI vs RAID vs IDE - Which one do you prefer?

Question

Currently I have AHCI Mode selected and the PC Boot up speed is really slow and having some issues.
I am thinking about changing it to RAID but was wondering that what's the main difference between them and which is the fastest?

After the Bios screen passes, I get this error.
"Adapter 1 Disks Information: AHCI Mode
No hard disk is detected!

afterwards PC restarts and then it starts booting windows but it's really really slow takes about a minute to load and stays on welcome screen for about 15 to 20 seconds. it's really annoying cause my old PC which was Dual Core 2.2 Ghz it used to boot faster than my new i7 2600k.



i7 2600k
Asus P8P67
Corsair 1600 MHZ DDR3 4 GB
1.5 TB Western Digital Green Caviar 64 MB Cache
XFX Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 1 GB
Windows 7 64 bit
Cooler Master 600 Watts PSU

Answer 1

AHCI mode is the best. The only thing you can do to improve your boot times is get an SSD. RAID is for using two hard drives as one. AHCI is the safest mode you can do with your drive, and there will be virtually no performance decrease over IDE.



As for the error you're getting, check here for some help: http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherboards/1024589-help-message-during-bios-boot.html



On a side note, you might be able to increase your boot times by overclocking your i7 a bit.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

AHCI vs RAID vs IDE - Which one do you prefer?

Currently I have AHCI Mode selected and the PC Boot up speed is really slow and having some issues.

I am thinking about changing it to RAID but was wondering that what's the main difference between them and which is the fastest?



After the Bios screen passes, I get this error.

"Adapter...

Answer 3

AHCI: allows hot swap of hard drives.



Raid: allows hard drives to chain the storage as one complete drive or allow one drive to be backed up so if one drive fails the other has the OS and all programs installed ready to boot.



IDE sees the drives independently, uses them as independent drives.



Raid or AHCI is not necessarily faster, AHCI is faster on paper but only really in server applications. AHCI also boots slow. Sometimes a BIOS update will update to AHCI 1.2 from 1.1 to resolve faster boots. RAID, NCQ or hot swap is the benefit of AHCI.



There are different settings in the BIOS that let the controller run each mode correctly. Make sure the drivers were preloaded when the OS was installed, If not, you can get errors that one of the drives isn't detected. Make sure the SATA cable is plugged into the correct port on the mobo and not in any eSATA port. What is making it slower boot right now could be the controller looking for the drive and not finding it, or your settings in the BIOS conflict with the driver install ( or lack there of).





There are some drawbacks to RAID modes and AHCI.



Just stick with IDE mode for the one drive. Drives are slower than the controller speed anyway.