Hi,

> For what it is worth, I believe that for most Intel (and some other) 
> SATA controllers switching into AHCI mode and using the ahci driver is 
> the right thing to do in terms of both support and best performance.

yep.

> Most recent desktops we have seen for the past few years come with the 
> BIOS set to have the SATA controller in AHCI mode and the few which have 
> it set into ATA mode we manually correct...

Yes, but be careful on dual boot systems. If you have also Windows, you 
definitly need to reinstall it! It doesn't survive the switch (of course there a 
some methods to repair it, but that's more like magic).

And it can be a big hassle to get an Windows XP system installed on a system in 
AHCI mode, you have to provide the drivers on a Floppy .......

Sincerly,
Klaus