If the Advanced BIOS is locked and it's not possible to set AHCI mode, what should I do with an SSD?

[rasburicase]

Very well, @Huffer!

I can say my actual OS (Windows 10) is already brilliant in terms of speed and I did a reset not much time ago, maybe on August 2019 due to an update issue that was not installing as it should.

If there's not more the famous problem of choosing AHCI mode, that was suggested by a friend of mine, I would keep in consideration to clone my HDD with the software offered by Samsung itself (called "Data Migration"), as I'm going to use its 860 EVO SSD.

Hope everything will go fine!

Maybe I will come back here at the end to close the post and telling my experience.

[Huffer]

Samsung software works well. Stripped down version of Paragon software but reliable and not too hard to understand. 

[rasburicase]

I want to thank each one of you who took part to this discussion, letting me feel inside a living community that keep care of their members.

Now I can clearly say that all my doubts were unjustified, because everything went perfect: in the order I did a clone of my HDD using the simple software Samsung Data Migration, I installed my new SSD in place of the old HDD and I turned on the PC, then I downloaded Samsung Magician and there I found clearly written that AHCI is enabled and also TRIM is enabled too!

I hope that this thread could help also someone other of our HP community in my same doubts.

[rasburicase]

Yesterday I was so happy that I was able to install my SSD that I really didn't focus on performances.

Today I can say that I don't see any difference between my new SSD Samsung 860 EVO and my old HDD, indeed my HDD was almost faster! I took some benckmarks with Samsung Magician and the AS SSD tool that are similar between them, but much lower than expected:

Sequential reading: 270 MB/s
Sequential writing: 255 MB/s

How could I solve this issue? I regret my HDD and probably I will put it on again if I couldn't solve.

Maybe I need only a driver upgrade but I really don't know how to check the compatibility. My Intel(R) 5 Series 4 Port SATA AHCI Controller driver version is 9.6.2.1001, dated 13 April 2010.

Thank you for the help you could provide.

[Huffer]

That's still twice the speed of a hard drive but less than half what you should be seeing. This is why I prefer the clean install. Every once in a while the clone from HDD to SSD results in weirdness you just can't explain. Also very possible your SATA controller is SATA II and not capable of maximum speed of the SSD. The real issue is more with metrics like boot time. Are you not seeing improvements in performance other than straight line transfer? You frankly don't really use that much in real operation of the computer. 

[rasburicase]

Kind @Huffer,

I do not perceive any great difference right now in the common use of the laptop or at the boot, as my HDD was working fast; if there has been an improvement with the SSD, it has been very small.

My Samsung 860 EVO is connected to a SATA II port for sure because it's reported also in Samsung Magician. If there's a SATA III port I don't really know where it could be located.

I read on the net that someone has improved the performances by installing the Intel Rapid Storage Technolgy driver, but I don't know if it's suitable for my system. What do you say about it?

[Huffer]

That's the thing. No SATA III port. If IRST were necessary you would have noted an issue with your SATA hard drive. Could not hurt to install it but it will be on the driver download page for your model if it were intended for you to use it. It might refuse to install at all and I am pretty sure even if you can get it to install it will not solve the problem. Two words: clean install. You can always clone again if that does not help but will rule out some issue created by the clone itself. 

[rasburicase]

Unluckily I can't find IRST in the HP page of my laptop, also because I'm using W10 and not W7.

The clone was the only possibility I had to install the OS because in my laptop I don't know why is not possibile to decide which drive to boot or to enter the BIOS at the start up of the PC. It seems possible only after a reboot from Windows... but if I remove the HDD, I imagine that won't be possibile at all. That's really strange!

My last possibility before beginning to think to a clean installation is to try to install IRST and see what happens. The last release is this one.

[Huffer]

So what drives do you have in the laptop? If you are going to do a clean install definitely do not have the original hard drive in the laptop. 

[rasburicase]

I was trying to say that seems impossible to choose a usb drive at the boot to install the OS. Everything is blocked at the boot, I see this everytime I turn on the pc.