How do I run 2 hard drives one a standard hard drive and a ssd both with windows 7 ultimate GA-X58A-UD7

[Red124]

I have the GA-X58A-UD7 rev. 2.0 and I have been running a standard wd640gb hard drive for a while and recently picked up a Corsair Force GT 240gb ssd. I installed the ssd and put windows 7 ultimate on it just like on the wd640gb and have put all the updated drivers in the ssd. This is my work computer and I would like to be able to switch back and forth between the two hard drives if need. I use the computer for drafting and I still have some programs on the wd640gb hard drive I can not transfer to the new drive due to having some older drafting programs (third party add on to older version of autocad) on it that are no longer supported. So I need to know how I can boot to each drive when I want to and the best way to set up the bios so I can take full advantage of the ssd sata III 6gb (ahci) and still be able to boot it up and run the wd640gb in ide.

I tried to set things what I thought was right in the bios (ahci on the sata 6 and 7 ports which the ssd is pluged into and left the rest to ide) pluged both drives in and nothing poped up to which drive to boot from and got a starting windows screen then a blue screen really quick then it shut down. I then unpluged the ssd changed the bios back to ide on all the ports since I have work to do and figured I would mess with it later after I ask for advice.

[wazza300]

you will get a blue screen for the drive that you originally isntalled windows on in ide mode if you swicthed to ahci,you need to google enable ahci win7,and do a simple reg tweak then you can run that drive in ahci mode same as your ssd,then at gigabyte splash screen press f12 and choose which hdd/ssd and which operating system to boot up into

[Red124]

Thanks for the response I will try it in a but and will post back if I have any problems.

[Red124]

Just wanted to reply and say it worked and pushing f12 to get to the boot screen is working good also.

[MarkJohnson]

I would strongly suggest you follow wazza300's advice on switching you hard drive to AHCI, not just for better compatibility with your SSD, but AHCI can speed up your hard drive by a noticeable amount.

Her's the Microsoft way to do it:
Error message when you start a Windows 7 or Windows Vista-based computer after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive: "STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE"

Just click the "Fix It" button for a one-click solution. or go to the "Let me fix it myself" section and follow the steps there. Make sure you're still in IDE mode.

Also, switch your SSD to the SATA_0 port. SSDs like port zero best, plus it's on the I ntel controller (Which get 25% better performance then when it was on my Marvell controller) Move your hard drive to ports 1-3 and your optical drive on port 4-5 (Ports 4 & 5 are designed specifically by Intel for optical/external drives(eSATA))

Disable the marvel controller as it sahouldn't be used. It's OK to leave it on, it just uses up extra resources.

Once you convert the hard drive to AHCI and move the SSD to the Intel controller you'll be run the most optimally you can get.

BTW, your SSD will only run at SATA II (3Gb/s)speeds. Your board does support the SATA II (6Gbps) controller.

You can add a SATA III controller later if you want full speed.

all you'll need is set the drive you boot the most as primary and continue the F12 methon to switch boot drives as I do.

Good luck
-=Mark=-