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Old 07-18-2018, 07:09 PM   #1
rksyeung
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Difference between SSD and HDD to BIOS


While I understand what SSD is (solid-state, non-mechanical implementation, with features such as wear-leveling, ECC etc. implemented on its controller), and what HDD is (Hard-Disk drive), I want to understand the significance to the BIOS.

In particular, the AMI BIOS provides user configuration w.r.t. the non-volatile storage - (HDD or SSD). What would be the significance of such a choice in terms of driver adopted, performance, endurance, etc.? I've an SSD, intuitively it seems correct to choose SSD in BIOS setting. But for argument/understanding sake, what would/could happen if I choose HDD?

By the same token, what is the implication of configuring a SATA device external vs. internal? Is it related to "hot-swap" support?

[Note: I've combined my subsequent second post on this thread here for more convenient/complete questions:]

Last edited by rksyeung; 07-18-2018 at 09:01 PM. Reason: Combined two separate posts on this thread into one.
 
Old 07-18-2018, 07:48 PM   #2
rksyeung
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By the same token, what is the implication of configuring a SATA device external vs. internal? Is it related to "hot-swap" support?
 
Old 07-18-2018, 08:34 PM   #3
jefro
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Are you saying that you have some bios choice to define the type of hard drive? I mean not just select the drive that has been found but some setting to select how it views what it has found? At one time we had to know all the specs for a drive to make it work in bios, CHS and size.

If a system is new enough then mechanical or ssd should have no effect in bios terms I'd think. In real world one could create a uefi bios that may have some effects or presents or allows devices to be known to OS but I haven't seen too much of that. Some business machines may start to take advantage only for end user risk I'd think.

Sata internal/external should be no difference to a modern OS.

However, an ability to how swap has to include motherboard and OS to function correctly. Generally servers have an ability to hot swap. Doubt you'd find it on common desktop systems.

If you edit initial post instead of second post it leaves it as a zero reply. More likely to be looked at.

Last edited by jefro; 07-18-2018 at 08:36 PM.
 
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Old 07-18-2018, 09:15 PM   #4
rksyeung
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Thanks jefro. Here I'd attached a screen shot for what my AMI BIOS says (it could be modified by my hardware vendor as well).

Click image for larger version

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It's under IntelRCSetup / PCH Configuration / PCH SATA Configuration.

The "SATA Device Type" supports "Hard Disk Drive" choice also. I'd been using this latter option for a few months now though presumably "Solid State Drive" is the right choice for my Micron SSD.

In the screen shot, you could also see "Configure as eSATA" choice. I'm guessing if a storage device is configured as external (note, the 'e' in eSATA refers to "external"), I'm guessing that hot swap may apply, as users could attach/remove at any time. This may also affect device enumeration. However, what'd the drawback be if BIOS always enable hot swap support?

BTW, this is not for a PC/server. This system is embedded [part of a networking/communication equipment].

Last edited by rksyeung; 07-18-2018 at 09:18 PM. Reason: Correct typo created by auto-correction
 
Old 07-19-2018, 12:54 AM   #5
mrmazda
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rksyeung View Post
what is the implication of configuring a SATA device external vs. internal? Is it related to "hot-swap" support?
I would call it "hot plug" support. I use eSATA mostly for backup/restore purposes, rarely for booting. With eSATA, one can use the BIOS to dictate storage device enumeration order reliably, unlike with USB storage.
 
Old 07-19-2018, 02:27 PM   #6
jefro
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I would think that selecting the proper bios settings are best to start. Maybe they knew some reason to make this setting or it is a do nothing setting.

The term esata may have to be more researched as how it means to this system. It may or may not allow a hotplug or hotswap ability on this system.
 
Old 07-25-2018, 04:52 AM   #7
AwesomeMachine
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I think eSATA is hotplug by default, although it hasn't always worked with Linux.
 
Old 04-21-2022, 02:23 PM   #8
RonValentiNEO
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Sometimes happens, for example, that loading stops at the bios splash screen if an ssd is plugged into any sata port of this mother. With a regular hdd, the boot is normal, or vice versa.
 
Old 04-24-2022, 05:51 AM   #9
Arnulf
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If hotplug isn't required disable this to avoid special eSATA problems.
A choice between SSD and HDD may be useful to force special SSD commands by BIOS/UEFI.
 
Old 04-24-2022, 01:06 PM   #10
computersavvy
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Even though the bios seems to support SSDs, it may be that the firmware on the SSD is not 100% compatible with the bios. Just something to consider, and could be related to the BIOS version. There may be an updated bios that could fix it.
 
  


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