Acer Aspire 4730z Bios Help for windows 7

Hi!

Last year me and my sister bought this Acer Aspire 4730z model.

The technician told me that to install Xp you need to set BIOS Sata Mode to IDE. Because AHCI is for vista.

Now i wanna install it for Windows 7 ultimate 32bit.

The notebook now runs XP system and in BIOS Sata Mode = IDE

Would i change it to AHCI in BIOS for windows 7?


If yes?


If i insert the Windows 7 Installation Disk upon booting up. Will it detect the XP? because i wanna delete the system in XP and run fresh installation for Windows 7.


What is really the difference between IDE and AHCI in bios?

Added...

Is it compatible to use windows 7 in Acer Aspire 4730z?

Edited by chubalz, 12 February 2010 - 09:55 AM.

Windows 7 is a lot like vista when compared to windows XP.

If your tech said to use AHCI for vista.

Then you should use it for Windows 7 as well.

You also asked "If i insert the Windows 7 Installation Disk upon booting up. Will it detect the XP? because i wanna delete the system in XP and run fresh installation for Windows 7."

Yes make sure it formats the hard drive and wipes windows XP off the disk. Because you can NOT upgrade XP to windows 7 anyways. (thats a little rule MS made with upgrading from XP)

As I have been reading up on AHCI it is supposed to have a slight performance advantage and it makes the drives hot swapable. (more info on the link below, look for a link to Intel's web site in that MS artical.)

If you enable AHCI and have stop errors at any point, please refer to this Mirosoft knowledge base artical regarding AHCI. In fact read it any ways it helps to explain what AHCI is and where to get more info on it from Intel's website.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

Edited by MrBruce1959, 13 February 2010 - 02:40 AM.