AHCI vs IDE

AHCI and IDE are two modes in which a hard drive communicates with the rest of the computer system using a SATA storage controller. SATA hard drives can operate in a backward-compatible PATA/IDE mode, a standard AHCI mode or vendor-specific RAID. AHCI stands for Advanced Host Controller Interface and is a faster mode of operation compared to IDE. RAID mode also enables and makes use of AHCI.

AHCI gives software developers and hardware designers a standard method for detecting, configuring, and programming SATA/AHCI adapters. AHCI is separate from the SATA 3 Gbit/s standard, although it exposes SATA's advanced capabilities (such as hot swapping and native command queuing) such that host systems can utilize them.

	AHCI	IDE
Stands for / AKA:	Advanced Host Controller Interface	IDE: Integrated Drive Electronics / PATA: Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment
Defined by:	Intel	Western Digital
Hot plugging (add/remove component while the computer is running):	Supported	IDE interface does not support hot plugging
Advantages:	Supports new technologies such as native command queuing	Maximum compatibility
Involves:	Operation of Serial ATA (SATA) host bus adaptors	Operation of a parallel ATA drive
Disadvantages:	Not always compatible	Lacks support for new technologysuch as native command queuing and hot-plugging hard drives
Operating modes:	Legacy Parallel ATA emulation, standard AHCI or vendor specific RAID	IDE
Operating system support:	Windows Vista and later Windows, Linux, OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OS Z, eComStation and Solaris 10	All