Gigabyte Releases SATA Mode Switching Tool

btarunr · Aug 30, 2011

Gigabyte released a new utility that allows you to change the mode of the chipset SATA controller between IDE, AHCI, and RAID (if available), from within Windows. While the switching isn't exactly on-the-fly (because changing SATA mode is effectively changing the SATA controller as Windows sees it, and hence can't happen on-the-fly), it certainly saves the trouble of going into BIOS setup and digging out that option. The utility works by writing the value of the selected mode to the CMOS, and prompting a system reboot for the change to take effect. Gigabyte's Disk Mode Switch utility works on Gigabyte motherboards based on Intel 6-series chipset (H61, H67, P67, and Z68). Now why you'd need a Windows-based utility to change a BIOS setting as infrequently changed as SATA controller mode is something we'll leave it to you to comment on.

DOWNLOAD: Gigabyte Disk Mode Switch

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

Bundy · Aug 30, 2011

For rigs with SSD using AHCI, this might be handy for accessing legacy hardware that is only happy with IDE.

TheLostSwede · Aug 30, 2011

Or rather the other way around, people forgetting to enable AHCI in the BIOS at the point of Windows install, this is an easy way to get around having a hassle with Intel's drivers...

caleb · Aug 30, 2011

TheLostSwede said:
Or rather the other way around, people forgetting to enable AHCI in the BIOS at the point of Windows install, this is an easy way to get around having a hassle with Intel's drivers...

How does this free you from drivers?! it only changes the controller mode in BIOS.

RejZoR · Aug 30, 2011

Asian companies just can't get around using massive colorful interfaces...

qubit · Aug 30, 2011

I can just see a lot of blue screens of death on the reboot. :laugh:

Especially with XP.

bogie · Aug 30, 2011

Yup, enabling ACHI in Win XP will more than likely get you a BSOD on reboot!

I would advise anyone planning to do this to google "ACHI registry hack" before they try it!

Velvet Wafer · Aug 30, 2011

i would bet, that it doesnt support XP, as AHCI cant work without having the proper drivers installed during installing it. In Win7 (and i suppose, Vista) its the pretty easy changing of a registry key that makes it possible to boot into AHCI... not the most useful tool indeed.
They better had written a tool that makes it possible to read temperature sensors from Ramsticks of all manufacturers, no matter if they were used an AMD or Intel board... would have helped me more with my Axeram! :laugh:

AsRock · Aug 30, 2011

qubit said:
I can just see a lot of blue screens of death on the reboot. Especially with XP.

yup, If it allowed you install the IDE or the ACHI driver or even raid drivers when switching might work out to be a good program. but having nightmares already.

craigo · Aug 30, 2011

What do the manufacturers have against the bios?
What did the bios ever do to manufacturers?
Did it say nasty things about them? Things they could only rectify by employing a team of people to develop a kernel level application that will take longer to install and run and potentially break windows? Maybe its just me but i feel alot more comfortable changing hardware settings in the bios than installing one hundred registry bloating system breaking overclocking and tweaking utilities that i will only use once and potentially compromise my operating systems security, stability and integrity.

treehouse · Aug 30, 2011

RejZoR said:
Asian companies just can't get around using massive colorful interfaces...

hahahahaa so true :toast:

buggalugs · Aug 30, 2011

I think this is Gigabyte's answer to their stupid decision to enable IDE mode by default on their P67/Z68 boards. Asus P67/Z68 boards have AHCI enabled by default. Most guys building a new system will have SSDs and need AHCI mode.

I'm betting a lot of inexperienced users are building a Gigabyte machine on defaults with their SSD, installing windows, then learning after all that trouble they should be in AHCI mode .

When they find out the Asus board is set to AHCI by default, Gigabyte might be getting some negative feedback from users......hence the tool.

Gigabyte have made a few bad decisions with the latest boards..

Drone · Aug 30, 2011

I wonder why now? Why did it take so long in the first place?! ROFL

TheLostSwede · Aug 30, 2011

caleb said:
How does this free you from drivers?! it only changes the controller mode in BIOS.

Well, no it doesn't, please read http://gigabytedaily.blogspot.com/2011/08/gigabyte-launches-disk-mode-switch.html and you'll see it also does the appropriate changes in the OS as well.

ironwolf · Aug 30, 2011

Is this BIOS tied to Gigabyte only boards or will this work with a non-Gigabyte BIOSed board?

Bundy · Sep 1, 2011

buggalugs said:
I think this is Gigabyte's answer to their stupid decision to enable IDE mode by default on their P67/Z68 boards. Asus P67/Z68 boards have AHCI enabled by default. Most guys building a new system will have SSDs and need AHCI mode.

I'm betting a lot of inexperienced users are building a Gigabyte machine on defaults with their SSD, installing windows, then learning after all that trouble they should be in AHCI mode .

When they find out the Asus board is set to AHCI by default, Gigabyte might be getting some negative feedback from users......hence the tool.

Gigabyte have made a few bad decisions with the latest boards..

Uh no that wasn't true for me.

I just installed a SSD onto a Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3, BIOS immediately detected the SSD and SATA drives, it poped up a question asking if I wanted the settings changed.

System Name	RBMK-1000
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Gigabyte Releases SATA Mode Switching Tool

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