The goal of every PC user should be to get the most out of their hardware. A simple way of tuning is the hard disk or SSD: If this works more efficiently, the whole system becomes faster. You don't even have to replace the hard drive or SSD: A simple tuning approach is the Advanced Controller Interface , or AHCI for short. This is a universal protocol for the operation of Serial ATA devices, i.e. SSDs and hard drives. This has to be active under Windows and Linux in order to ensure the most effective - and therefore brisk - operation of the drives in the system. First, however, you should find out whether AHCI is activated on your system.
Find out AHCI status on Windows 10
How to find out if AHCI is already active on your PC:
1st step:
Call with a right-click on the Start button in Windows 10 the context menu. Select the entry " Device Manager " here. 2nd step:
Click on the entry " IDE ATA / ATAPI-Controller " to expand . 3rd step:
Check whether there is an entry " Standard SATA AHCI controller ". Then AHCI is active and you do not have to do anything. If there is only the entry " IDE ATA / ATAPI-Controller ", follow the instructions below to activate AHCI under Windows 10. Check AHCI status under Linux
Checking AHCI operation is even easier under Linux than under Windows 10: Open a terminal window and enter lspci -v here . The terminal now lists the hardware available in the system. Under “ SATA controller ” you will then also find the entry “ AHCI-Mode ”, if the corresponding mode is active.
Linux makes it easy for users. Activate AHCI under Windows 10 later
If the AHCI mode is not active, it makes sense to switch it on in order to achieve maximum performance under Windows and Linux. Basically this is possible via the BIOS of the PC, however, some adjustments are necessary in advance under Windows. Attention: Changes to the registry are risky and should only be carried out by users who are familiar!
- Press the [Windows] + [R] keys and enter “ regedit ” here to open the registry editor. Confirm the security message with " Yes ".
- Navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Services / iaStorV .
- Click on the “ Start ” element , enter the value “ 0 ” and confirm with “ OK ”.
- In addition, open the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Services / iaStorV / StartOverride and double- click the entry " 0 ". Now enter the value " 0 ".
- Then open the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Services / storahci and double- click the " Start " element here too . Enter the value " 0 ".
- Finally, under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Services / storahci / StartOverride you have to give the element “ 0 ” the value “ 0 ”. If the value doesn't exist, it doesn't matter at first.
- Then restart the computer and enter the BIOS. Here you will find the “ SATA Settings ” under “ Storage ” or “ SATA Configuration ” or a comparable entry . Look for an entry related to AHCI . If it says “ Legacy ” or “ AHCI Disabled ” somewhere , you can activate the corresponding item.
- Start Windows once with the key combination [Ctrl] + [F8] in the safe mode. You can then restart the system . AHCI should now be activated. If there are blue screens, you can easily undo the changes to the BIOS and the Windows system in safe mode.
Activate AHCI on Linux
Activating AHCI is much easier under Linux: Simply set the corresponding switch in the BIOS and restart Linux. The system automatically detects that AHCI has been activated and boots normally. You can then use the terminal to check whether everything is correct and whether the AHCI mode is working..
Benefits of AHCI in practice
In addition to a slight speed advantage in general operation of the hard disk due to the more efficient driver, the data carriers in AHCI mode particularly benefit from the Native Command Queuing (NCQ) function. This is a way of automatically sorting access commands according to importance and thus increasing operational efficiency. In this way, no measurable effect is achieved in terms of the transfer rate: Nevertheless, applications should run faster overall, as I / O commands are sorted and executed according to relevance. The effect is comparable to standing in line versus a chaotic scramble.
