AHCI, IDE, Dual drives, and RST

[Yugl]

Situation
I set my laptop to AHCI, but after about a month since, I see that my laptop is set to IDE. I also found out that Intel SSD Toolbox is not the same as Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST). I could not install the IRST because I did not meet some sort of requirement. Since I am using a SSD (With the OS installed on the SSD), I want to use both AHCI and RST. I am currently using a SSD+HDD.

Questions
1. Is the registry hack used to change from IDE to AHCI safe/reliable? In other words, would you recommend it?
2. Is RST worth installing if I already have TRIM working?
3. Does having dual drives (SSD + HDD) change the answers to (1) or (2)?

[Niya]

Screw IDE mode... Yes, the "registry hack" where you set the generic AHCI driver to get loaded early enough is safe. And even if something goes wrong (aka bluescreen 0x7b on boot), just switch back to IDE mode and try again. Only other option would be to reinstall windows.
#3: no, dual drive doesn't change #1. AHCI mode is way better than IDE compat. mode, no matter if it's an SSD or a magnetic HDD.

For #2, no idea, don't have SSDs ^^

[Yugl]

Thanks for the quick response! Now to tinker with things like a noob (Using instructions of course).

[Caiyuo]

I take it this is only if you hadn't set SATA mode to AHCI before installing an OS, or did you do that?

[Yugl]

I hadn't set it to AHCI before installing the OS. I did the registry hack and nothing seems problematic for now. I do notice a faster startup time though.

[Niya]

The faster startup is probably because NCQ now works. Stands for Native Command Queueing, and means that the HDD/SDD is allowed to queue incoming read/write requests and resort them so that they can be processed faster.

Anyway, good to hear that it worked ^^

[Deadgye]

AHCI is a must have. How else are you supposed to 'eject' your C drive while your computer is running?