Harry Putnam wrote: > "John H. Moe" <john...@optusnet.com.au> writes: > > >> I stopped using that option in my systems, as there is now a AHCI SATA >> option to use instead. It appears CONFIG_ATA_SFF (which CONFIG_ATA_PIIX >> requires) is deprecated. From the help on it: >> > > Do you notice some kind of difference from switching? > > > Well, my understanding is that SATA controllers can operate in one of two modes: AHCI (or native) mode, which allows for the full capabilities (read: SPEED) of the SATA interface, and an IDE-compatible mode, for things like Windows XP (which I use at work) that doesn't, by default, understand SATA. If you try to load WinXP on to a PC with SATA, you either have to switch the SATA controller to IDE-mode, which allows WinXP to see it as a normal IDE hard drive, or load a SATA driver at install time (from a floppy! One of the few things I still need 3.5" floppies for).
Translating this to Linux (at home), I chose the AHCI option when it showed up in one kernel upgrade, and when I saw in the help for ATA_SFF that it's the "legacy IDE interface", I figured I didn't need it, so I left it out. So if I understand this correctly, you should use the AHCI option if your SATA controller is in "AHCI" or "Native" mode, and the ATA_SFF option if you're in "IDE" or "Compatible" mode. Hope this helps (and makes sense) John Moe
