Which one is faster, ahci or raid? 'Must-see: AHCI vs RAID'

AHCI and RAID are both working modes of hard disk controllers, but they differ in speed. AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) is an advanced host controller interface suitable for connecting a single hard disk. RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a technology that combines multiple hard drives into logical units to provide data redundancy and performance improvement. So, which one is faster, AHCI or RAID? Next, PHP editor Banana will give you a detailed answer.

Over the past decade, storage technology has developed rapidly and innovatively. Traditional mechanical hard drives have been gradually replaced by faster and more efficient solid-state drives. SSDs have pretty much taken the PC hardware industry by storm with their superior performance and reduced cost of entry. Prices for components like NAND flash memory have been steadily falling and have now reached all-time lows, so many SSD manufacturers are releasing more affordable SSDs at competitive prices.

However, in some areas, mechanical hard drives are still indispensable. If you need a large amount of storage space but don't want to pay an exorbitant price, then a mechanical hard drive is still one of your must-have storage devices.

How to choose the right storage device to improve computer performance is a problem that many people are facing now. In addition, the correct selection of hard disk mode is also the key to performance improvement. The following will introduce some relevant information about hard disk modes and applicable hard disks.

1.What are AHCI and RAID?

AHCI Overview:

AHCI is the abbreviation of Advanced Host Controller Interface defined by Intel. This mode of operation is common in mainstream PCs. It is a relatively new technology that has many of the native features of the Serial ATA standard interface, such as NCQ and hot-plugging, which improve device compatibility and performance.

The specification of AHCI refers to the registry-level interface of the SATA host controller. Its specifications apply to both software (device driver) designers and hardware designers. It provides a standard way to program SATA/AHCI adapters, especially for those hardware component designers, system builders, etc.

Now, it is supported by many Windows operating systems, such as Windows Vista, Linux and some newer Windows versions. If you are using Windows 10 operating system on an SSD, you must enable it before system installation, otherwise your computer will get a BSOD error and fail to boot.

RAID Overview:

RAID is the abbreviation of Redundant Array of Independent Disks. As a data storage virtualization technology, RAID can virtualize multiple independent hard drives into one or more arrays. It has brought great improvements in the performance, reliability and capacity of storage devices, and usually more than one HDD or SSD is required to build a RAID.

RAID provides redundancy and speeds up storage devices in multi-device environments, especially HDDs. Like AHCI and IDE, RAID also supports SATA controllers. To obtain advanced storage capabilities for single-disk applications, many RAID products allow you to enable AHCI at installation time.

There are 2 main types of RAID controllers, including software and hardware RAID. Different types of RAID controllers support different RAID levels. Typically, hardware RAID has better performance than software RAID at advanced RAID levels.

2. The difference between AHCI and RAID

So what is the essential difference between AHCI and RAID? AHCI is an operating mode in the SATA environment. Before installation, you can enable AHCI mode in the BIOS settings. RAID is an advanced data storage technology that allows you to use multiple hard drives in different configurations to enhance performance. In addition to this essential difference, the impact of RAID and AHCI on hard disk performance is also obvious.

Impact on performance:

The different characteristics of AHCI and RAID modes have a significant impact on the performance of your devices such as storage devices, memory and even motherboards. AHCI is a relatively modern programming interface mainly suitable for SATA drives. If you are using an HDD or SSD with SATA protocol, you can set this mode to take full advantage of the SATA interface.

RAID is widely used for data protection of HDD and hybrid arrays. It allows HDDs and SSDs to remain functional even after data loss from the device. Nowadays, RAID can also be used in SSD arrays, but it has little impact on improving SSD performance and is usually accompanied by high costs. Therefore, RAID is more often used for disk arrays composed of multiple mechanical hard disks, and brings speed or redundancy optimization to those disks.

In summary, you should choose between AHCI and RAID based on your drive configuration. If you are using a SATA HDD or SATA SSD in a single-disk configuration, then AHCI may be more appropriate than RAID. If you use multiple hard drives, then RAID is a better choice. RAID is also recommended for arrays using a combination of SSDs and HDDs in a single array. Both modes have their own merits and are optimized for different scenarios. Ultimately it's not a question of "which is better" but rather a question of "which is better for you". It all depends on your storage drive. configuration.

ok, this article is all over, I hope it can help you. After reading which is faster between ahci and raid, "Must-see: AHCI vs RAID", I feel that I have learned a lot, so please help share it! Roses given as gifts leave a lingering fragrance!

The above is the detailed content of Which one is faster, ahci or raid? 'Must-see: AHCI vs RAID'. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!