Quote:
Originally Posted by Sasqui
I asked the same question in a thread a few months back.
Whatever you do, ditch IDE
From all the input, RAID is the fastest. I'm still not clear what benefits there are of AHCI vs. RAID... from what I understand AHCI supports RAID.
When configured as RAID or ACHI, you can run drives in single or in a RAID array
XP does not provide native support for RAID, so you need to load drivers for RAID. Win7 has native drivers. I think ACHi is supported by XP - can someone confirm this???
Edit: Read this article too: http://www.differencebetween.net/tec...ahci-and-raid/
I think I'm wrong about AHCI allowing discs to be "RAIDed" |
IDE doesn't have the faculties to do RAID.
AHCI is necessary for RAID, but RAID isn't necessary on AHCI. I've got a system that runs AHCI with 4 2TB discs as storage and 1 500 GB disk as the OS.
XP doesn't have AHCI support baked in. Vista, 7, and 8 do. You can add AHCI drivers into windows XP, but it is a chore.
AHCI and RAID options on a motherboard are splitting hairs. AHCI technically allows RAID, but often introduced compatibility issues in some drives. In order to address this some vendors have AHCI, RAID, and IDE modes to allow everything to work. RAID mode will do everything AHCI does. AHCI lacks proper RAID support, but it will work with almost any drive. IDE works with all drives, but doesn't do RAID.
All summed up: Run in at least AHCI mode (RAID if you can do a bit of troubleshooting and have more recent hardware). IDE is functionally dead, and it should be. Finally, RAID is a topic in and of itself. If you have questions on it I suggest you open another topic. There are more knowledgeable people than I on getting the best performance out of an array.