NUC, IDE to AHCI without reinstalling

The Intel NUC is an excellent platform to receive a backup image of an XP computer. Provided its one of the older NUCs like the DCCP847DYE. With 4 GB of ram and a Samsung EVO850 SSD it can boot in IDE or AHCI mode. Here's how to switch from IDE to AHCI without reinstalling.

First you have to download the AHCI drivers from Intels website for the NUC and extract them.

Then you need to know precisely which PCI VEN and DEV is associated with the AHCI in the NUC. The best way is to temporarily enter the BIOS with F2 then switch the controller into AHCI mode, and use a USB install of a newer operating system with native support for AHCI, such as Windows 7.. temporarily, just so that after the install the Hardware Ids can be observed by entering the Device Manager and right clicking on the [ Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller ] to obtain Properties and Details for the installed device. You will notice that the PCI VEN and DEV id is different from the one presented when it is in IDE mode.

AHCI mode => [ PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E03&SUBSYS_20448086&REV_04 ]

Then you will need to open the [ iaAHCI.inf ] driver installation information file (Notepad++ is a nice tool for viewing inf files) in the extracted NUC drivers directory and match the PCI VEN and DEV id up with a precise "Driver Name"

-- which in this case is

[ Intel (R) 7 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller ]

Finally you will want to put the NUC back into IDE mode using the F2 switch at boot, image the system with the backup image taken from the original XP hard drive from the old system (Macrium Reflect is a nice tool for this purpose) -- and then start the XP Device Manager -- use the [ View ] menu to change the display of devices to "By Connection" so that the precise Controller driver servicing the Samsung EVO850 SSD can be distinguished from its secondary. Right click that controller and choose to [ Update ] the device driver from a Local Source, Have Disk -- Browse to the location of the extracted NUC AHCI drivers and choose the iaAHCI -- then from the "List" of choices -- select (only)

[ Intel (R) 7 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller ]

Disregard any warnings about the selection of the driver and confirm the choice.

Then shutdown the system

Reboot and press F2 to enter the Bios and switch the controller operating mode back to AHCI.

STOP 0x7B should not appear

The system will detect the new controller and devices attached to it and complete any post install setups then request permission to restart.

XP does not have the TRIM command, so you will want to periodically run the Samsung Magician toolkit to perform maintenance. The latest Magician versions now support the Samsung EVO850 SSD.

Should the "wrong" driver be chosen for Updating -- the system can be recovered by changing the controller back to IDE mode in Bios and choosing the "last known good configuration" to boot from when starting Windows.

Although this example is for the DCCP847DYE, it can be generalized to most situations in which it is desired to move from IDE mode to AHCI mode, provided you have supporting drivers and backup images from which to provision and recover should something go wrong.

You might also want to use the [ GhostBuster ] ghosted driver remover to automatically scan for and selectively remove any installed but stale drivers on the legacy image after its installed in its new home. I would steer clear of any monitors or printer drivers for devices that are merely temporarily disconnected.