Vista kernel - IDE to SATA conversion VB 1.6.0 & 1.6.2
Posted: 9. Jun 2008, 15:33
I was intrigued by the statement on p.63 of the VB 1.6 User Manual,
"Like a real SATA controller, VirtualBox’s virtual SATA controller operates faster and also consumes less CPU resources than the virtual IDE controller."
I have several Vista w sp1 and Windows Server 2008 guests created in VB 1.5.6. These use the IDE controller, SATA not being available in 1.5.6. I have a variety of fast Vista hosts and not so fast XP SP2 host machines. I decided to convert the guest Vista kernel OS's to SATA drives.
I did a little research, identified this nugget of information: If a SATA controller was not present at the initial install of the Vista kernel, the AHCI service must be manually started, since the Vista kernel shuts down un-needed services. From Microsoft KnowledgeBase article 922976, that means Regedit HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci\Start, change value from 4 to 0.
With that done I shut down the guest machine. In VBox I entered Settings - Hard Disks. I checked "Enable SATA Controller". I changed Slot from "IDE Primary Master" to SATA Port 0.
I was using VB 1.6.0. Unfortunately, the first time I tried changing "IDE Primary Master" to "SATA Port 0", VirtualBox 1.6.0 became unresponsive and I had to force the VB tasks to stop. I went back into Settings - Hard Disks, restored Slot to "IDE Primary Master" and disabled "SATA Controller". Interestingly, VirtualBox 1.6.0 was still unresponsive.
The SATA problem with 1.6.0 occurred the day VB 1.6.2 became available. VB 1.6.2 installed itself over 1.6.0 without complaint and I installed 1.6.2 Guest additions over the 1.6.0 Guest additions.
The first time in 1.6.2 the guest Vista kernels successfully booted off the SATA Port 0 configuration and the OS detected new devices: Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller, ATA Channel 0, and VBOX HARDDISK ATA Device. I restarted Vista. In Device Manager - VBOX HARDDISK ATA Device - Policies I enabled "advanced performance".
I repeated this IDE --> SATA conversion for a couple of other Vista kernel guests. All successful. Several Guest OS's are Vista Business. The other Guest OS is Windows Server 2008. My hosts are Vista Ultimate and Windows XP SP2.
Is it faster? I did not take measurements. My human observation is that all conversions on all hosts the SATA drives are perceptibly faster loading and faster running disk intensive activity.
So, in my book, the IDE --> SATA conversion is worth doing.
Harry Jacobson
"Like a real SATA controller, VirtualBox’s virtual SATA controller operates faster and also consumes less CPU resources than the virtual IDE controller."
I have several Vista w sp1 and Windows Server 2008 guests created in VB 1.5.6. These use the IDE controller, SATA not being available in 1.5.6. I have a variety of fast Vista hosts and not so fast XP SP2 host machines. I decided to convert the guest Vista kernel OS's to SATA drives.
I did a little research, identified this nugget of information: If a SATA controller was not present at the initial install of the Vista kernel, the AHCI service must be manually started, since the Vista kernel shuts down un-needed services. From Microsoft KnowledgeBase article 922976, that means Regedit HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci\Start, change value from 4 to 0.
With that done I shut down the guest machine. In VBox I entered Settings - Hard Disks. I checked "Enable SATA Controller". I changed Slot from "IDE Primary Master" to SATA Port 0.
I was using VB 1.6.0. Unfortunately, the first time I tried changing "IDE Primary Master" to "SATA Port 0", VirtualBox 1.6.0 became unresponsive and I had to force the VB tasks to stop. I went back into Settings - Hard Disks, restored Slot to "IDE Primary Master" and disabled "SATA Controller". Interestingly, VirtualBox 1.6.0 was still unresponsive.
The SATA problem with 1.6.0 occurred the day VB 1.6.2 became available. VB 1.6.2 installed itself over 1.6.0 without complaint and I installed 1.6.2 Guest additions over the 1.6.0 Guest additions.
The first time in 1.6.2 the guest Vista kernels successfully booted off the SATA Port 0 configuration and the OS detected new devices: Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller, ATA Channel 0, and VBOX HARDDISK ATA Device. I restarted Vista. In Device Manager - VBOX HARDDISK ATA Device - Policies I enabled "advanced performance".
I repeated this IDE --> SATA conversion for a couple of other Vista kernel guests. All successful. Several Guest OS's are Vista Business. The other Guest OS is Windows Server 2008. My hosts are Vista Ultimate and Windows XP SP2.
Is it faster? I did not take measurements. My human observation is that all conversions on all hosts the SATA drives are perceptibly faster loading and faster running disk intensive activity.
So, in my book, the IDE --> SATA conversion is worth doing.
Harry Jacobson