Running HDD diags on AHCI controllers

**therufus** · 04-08-08, 09:37 AM

What a nightmare!

It's quite obvious that you need drivers for any HDD testing program to see a HDD that is in AHCI mode. But is there any HDD test out there that has some generic drivers or something?

I don't want to have to take out every HDD and test it in another PC. It's just a waste of time.

**ssrattus** · 04-08-08, 01:16 PM

What do you mean or actually want to do?

AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) is on the motherboard.

Quote:

Serial ATA Modes

The Serial ATA (SATA) controller has three modes of operation:

* IDE mode - no AHCI, no RAID
* SATA mode (sometimes called AHCI mode) - AHCI enabled, no RAID
* RAID mode - AHCI enabled, RAID enabled

NOTE: Your system may not have all three options, depending on the motherboard manufacturer and model.

Driver Used By Each Mode

The Serial ATA (SATA) mode in the system BIOS determines which operating mode your system is using, whether you need the Intel® Matrix Storage Manager, and which I/O controller you should choose during the F6 installation process.

IDE mode uses a different driver than SATA and RAID mode.

* IDE mode uses the native Microsoft* driver and does not require the F6 installation method.
* SATA and RAID mode both use the Intel® Matrix Storage Manager and require the F6 installation method.

from Intel® Matrix Storage Manager - Changing and/or choosing serial ATA modes

other references.

Advanced Host Controller Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AHCI Specification for Serial ATA

**therufus** · 04-08-08, 01:24 PM

When in "SATA" mode (which is deceptive, as SATA is a connection, not a drive accessing protocol) or "AHCI" mode, standard HDD testing programs cannot see the hard drive. I want to avoid changing the drive to IDE mode in case it boots and corrupts the data.

I just want to run a HDD diag utility on hard drives. I currently use a combination of Hirens Boot CD, EBCD and the Seagate and Western Digital hard drive test programs booting off CD. None of these can see the HDD installed as the bios is set to AHCI mode. AHCI requires drivers to be seen by an OS other than Vista.

**ssrattus** · 04-08-08, 02:09 PM

Now I see your problem.

The chipsets are Intel and their site has drivers, but I dunno if a simple config.sys loading of them will work on your Boot CD as there doesn't appear to be DOS drivers.

Have you experienced problems with corruption if you switch to IDE mode? Haven't tested this myself.

**therufus** · 07-08-08, 02:48 PM

I should just do a clone of the HDD before testing one to see if corruption would be an issue. I haven't tried it yet.

Maybe someone has a solution.

04-08-08, 09:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
therufus Senior Member iTrader: (0) Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Cranebrook, NSW Posts: 100 Spent time on board: 17:05:17	Running HDD diags on AHCI controllers What a nightmare! It's quite obvious that you need drivers for any HDD testing program to see a HDD that is in AHCI mode. But is there any HDD test out there that has some generic drivers or something? I don't want to have to take out every HDD and test it in another PC. It's just a waste of time.

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04-08-08, 01:24 PM	#3 (permalink)
therufus Senior Member iTrader: (0) Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Cranebrook, NSW Posts: 100 Spent time on board: 17:05:17	When in "SATA" mode (which is deceptive, as SATA is a connection, not a drive accessing protocol) or "AHCI" mode, standard HDD testing programs cannot see the hard drive. I want to avoid changing the drive to IDE mode in case it boots and corrupts the data. I just want to run a HDD diag utility on hard drives. I currently use a combination of Hirens Boot CD, EBCD and the Seagate and Western Digital hard drive test programs booting off CD. None of these can see the HDD installed as the bios is set to AHCI mode. AHCI requires drivers to be seen by an OS other than Vista.

04-08-08, 02:09 PM	#4 (permalink)
ssrattus Super Moderator iTrader: (0) Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,238 Spent time on board: 3 Weeks, 6 Days and 13:56:41	Now I see your problem. The chipsets are Intel and their site has drivers, but I dunno if a simple config.sys loading of them will work on your Boot CD as there doesn't appear to be DOS drivers. Have you experienced problems with corruption if you switch to IDE mode? Haven't tested this myself.

07-08-08, 02:48 PM	#5 (permalink)
therufus Senior Member iTrader: (0) Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Cranebrook, NSW Posts: 100 Spent time on board: 17:05:17	I should just do a clone of the HDD before testing one to see if corruption would be an issue. I haven't tried it yet. Maybe someone has a solution.

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