Move an SSD with Windows 7 to a new PCIe SATA controller card

This is my current setup:

• Abit AB9 QuadGT motherboard which has an Intel P965 chipset with Intel ICH8 SATA Rev. 2.0 controller


• Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB SSD which supports SATA Rev. 3.0


• Windows 7 Ultimate x64

For some reason I was unable to install Windows with the controller set in AHCI mode, even with the correct driver from Intel so it is currently in IDE mode.

Due to the ICH8 controller being SATA Rev 2.0 and running in IDE mode, the SSD is operating well under it's published read/write speeds.

I have ordered an Asus U3S6 controller card to add both SATA Rev. 3.0 and USB 3.0 to my computer.

The motherboard does have a PCIe x4 slot available so I will hopefully achieve the full potential of my SSD.

My question is this - am I able to swap the SSD over to the controller card from the motherboard controller without having to clean install Windows?

I am hoping that all I will need to do is ensure that the controller card drivers are available to Windows and set the registry as per this KB article.

Will this work or should I perform a clean installation?

UPDATE: Thanks to a BIOS update I now have my drive attached via AHCI (along with a 25% increase in performance according to ATTO) and the Registry fix worked great! (see Cannot boot to HDD or Optical when Motherboard in AHCI mode)

Answer

It was as simple as it should be!

1. Shut PC down


2. Installed the card, leaving the SSD on the Intel controller


3. Booted Windows


4. Installed the drivers from the CD (actually more up to date than those on Asus's web site!)


5. Shut PC down


6. Switched SSD to the card


7. Booted Windows

All good!