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Pros/Cons: AHCI vs. Raid On (XPS13 9300 NVMe)
The XPS13 9300 ships with BIOS in Raid ON-mode for SSD-conf. What are the reasons for this? I know RAID as a way to increase reliability and/or performance on a multi disk platform. Why is it default on a single disk machine? Pros/cons in switching to AHCI?
(If it matters, my 9300 is equipped with an M.2 NVMe 2TB disk.)
jphughan
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June 28th, 2020 19:00
@TommyW_SE Short version: If you're about to clean install an OS, switch to AHCI. RAID mode offers no benefit on an XPS 13 that only supports a single SSD. If you're curious about why it's there, read on.
Long version:
RAID mode seems to be the default on most if not all Dell laptops and desktops that support it, except for the handful of systems that Dell offers with Linux pre-installed from the factory. I suspect Dell does it these days simply to standardize their builds a bit and also because it doesn't have any downsides for them, but it can have some downsides for users.
RAID mode activates the Intel Rapid Storage controller, which abstracts the storage from the OS and allows certain other features to be used. Back in the Windows 7 days, that abstraction meant that RAID mode could be used to allow Windows 7 to be installed onto NVMe SSDs. Windows 7 didn't have native support for NVMe, but with RAID mode, the OS just needs the Intel Rapid Storage driver and then it doesn't matter to the OS that the storage "behind" that controller is NVMe. By comparison, AHCI mode exposes the storage directly to the OS, which means the OS needs to have native support for the storage device's data interface, i.e. NVMe in this case.
But RAID mode is also required for using certain other features, such as Intel Rapid Start, Intel Smart Response, and more recently Intel Optane. But the first two are only used when you're pairing a spinning hard drive with a small SSD cache, and Optane is only used with actual Optane devices.
In terms of downsides:
So again, for Dell I guess it makes sense to just use RAID mode everywhere for consistency, since they of course do sell some systems with Optane (and Smart Response and Rapid Start in the past), as well as other systems that actually do have multiple disks and therefore support actual RAID setups. And the downsides don't really matter to them.
But for individual users performing a clean install, switching to AHCI means you don't have to worry about providing an Intel RST driver, you can use Linux if desired, and you can use a vendor-provided NVMe driver if desired (and available).
However, this setting is only really meant to be changed before reinstalling an OS. If you want to switch WITHOUT doing that, you'll render your OS unbootable until you switch back. Apparently it's possible to work around this by booting into Safe Mode ONCE after making the switch, which will allow Windows to start and reconfigure itself. After that, you should be able to boot normally. But if you don't need any of the benefits of AHCI mode, you're not really losing anything by sticking with RAID.
TommyW_SE
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June 28th, 2020 19:00
Thank you @jphughan, a great answer!
Tesla1856
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June 28th, 2020 19:00
This setting is only really meant to be changed before reinstalling an OS.
Switching to AHCI means you don't have to worry about providing an Intel RST driver,
... And the downsides don't really matter to Dell.
================
Good summary.
describee
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June 28th, 2020 20:00
I believe there are some XPS 9300s out there which come with the Intel 660p QLC drive with Optane memory, particularly those with the 512GB configuration. I'm guessing these systems will still need to have RAID on?
jphughan
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June 28th, 2020 21:00
@describee From what I remember reading from others here, if Optane SSDs are used in AHCI, they work just like regular SSDs and Optane acceleration can't be enabled. So if Dell is selling XPS 13s with Optane drives, then yes they would need to stay in RAID mode. But at least on other Dell systems where I've seen Optane offered, the storage option on the system specifically mentions Optane. But maybe that's changing?
describee
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June 28th, 2020 23:00
Perhaps so. For what it's worth I found that I had the Intel Optane software installed on my 9300 by default even though I didn't have an Optane drive.
jphughan
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June 29th, 2020 07:00
@describee It's part of the Rapid Storage Technology application. Even that doesn't offer much functionality when running a single SSD, but again I suspect this is a case of factory standardization even in situations where the result is not a ideal for individual cases as it could be.
najay
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June 16th, 2021 11:00
On My Mobile Precision 7740 and 7750, I could not run 2 TB SSDs in RAID mode. I had to switch to AHCI for them to pass diagnostics.
NyarehD
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June 21st, 2021 02:00
Are there any performance differences between those two modes?
jphughan
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June 21st, 2021 06:00
@NyarehD When I tested the two modes back to back on an XPS 13 9360 running a Samsung 960 Evo a while ago, the differences seemed to be within the margin for normal variation or thermal adjustments by the SSD.
Sander015
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September 15th, 2021 03:00
I have read on some sites that AHCI mode taking more battery consumption? Any thoughts about that?
Kaioken20
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November 23rd, 2021 11:00
you are right ...i am facing this issue on my nvme ssd on dell laptop right now
6700Delluser
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January 3rd, 2022 03:00
Could you please explain to me like I am a ten year old how to "supply the Intel RST driver during Windows Setup to allow it to see your SSD"? My Dell system shipped with Win 10 Pro and a 2tb WD SN810 [OEM-SN850]. I want to clone that drive onto a Samsung 980 Pro ssd via USB-C in an external enclosure and I also want to use a Samsung 970 Plus ssd for an easily removable external USB storage drive. Dell shipped my system in RAID and I cannot access external nvme drives via USB for purposes of cloning or storage. Does your remark quoted above indicate a way to add a driver that would enable me to use my external NVMe drives without doing a clean install or trying to use the steps in safe mode to switch to AHCI? If so, can you please explain how to do this? If not, can you please confirm/clarify that Dell customers of non-Raid laptops that ship in Raid mode need either to do a clean install with AHCI mode or need to follow the steps in safe mode in order to use external nvme drives vis usb? I would greatly appreciate it if you could either explain or clarify. Thanks.
Nickystark
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February 21st, 2022 02:00
"Top" stands for "too" or "to"
Sorry I didn't see corrector errors before.
Nickystark
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February 21st, 2022 02:00
Hi, I'm trying to boot Linux OS from external hdd by USB. But It goes top slow and It stucks everytime after I log in my Linux user account. It remains desktop image without any other icons. So I read some stuff.. if I change RAID On top AHCI/NVMe could it goes faster?
Other things to know:
• I've disabled secure boot to run external hdd
• I'm running on XPS 13 2 in 1 (Windows 11 installed on internal hdd as primary)
• I'm using external case with a converter sata a to USB type B and then another adapter USB B to USB type C so plug in
• I'm booting using F12 Key the Linux OS runs but after I insert password It won't go on
• I don't want to install any other system on my primary disk I just want to use my ex hdd as a portable OS
If I change RAID On top AHCI/NVMe can I turn back just changing on BIOS setup:
- Turn on secure boot
- Switch AHCI/NVMe to RAID On