All I'm doing is adding a new data only backup drive to an older existing system, but it's an Advanced Format (AF) drive and what I've read so far has me confused.
System specs:
OS: Vista 32 Home Premium
Motherboard: Abit IP35Pro
Chipset: P35Express & ICH9R
Bootable drives: one SATA drive - not AF
Data drives: two SATA drives - not AF
Data backup drive: one AF 512E SATA drive (the reason for this post)
No SSD
No RAID
All drives set to AHCI in bios
Current driver: "Intel(R) ICH9 SATA AHCI Controller" version 7.5.0.1017 dated 3/21/07
Microsoft and the drive manufacturer say that to use Advanced Format drives the storage controller should be updated and Intel says that to use RST the drivers should be version 9.6 or later.
If I have to update the AHCI drivers ... all I want to do is that. I understand the Intel RST contains the AHCI drivers ... but I just want the AHCI drivers ... not the RST.
Everything I've read so far only addresses updating the drivers during an OS install ... but I'm not reinstalling my OS ... and the readme file for the Intel RST doesn't seem to say how to update the AHCI driver only on existing systems without an OS install.
So ...
1. Do I have to update my AHCI drivers to account for my Advanced Format drive?
2. If the answer to #1 is "yes" ... can I update the AHCI drivers without reinstalling the OS?
3. If the answer to #2 is "yes" ... how do I do it?
4. Are there any other disk drivers that need to be updated ... such as ... "Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller" or others?
Thanks!
KenB