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How do I make sure that my "old and new hard drives work in the same controller mode"?

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Hi all.

I'm trying to migrate my system (laptop with Windows 10; HDD has hidden partitions) from HDD to SSD using the backup and recovery method. The article about recovering the system to a new disk under bootable media says:

It is recommended that your old and new hard drives work in the same controller mode (for example, IDE or AHCI).

 How do I check whether they do? And if they don't, how do I fix that?

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If you are doing a direct disk drive replacement in a laptop, then the new SSD should use the same controller mode as the HDD it is replacing by virtue of being connected to the exactly same connector from the motherboard.

If you are replacing a laptop SATA disk drive with a NVMe M.2 drive, then there is the possibility of the new M.2 SSD drive using a different controller mode, but in this case you should be able to install the new drive at the same time you have the old HDD installed, and then install any extra device drivers needed for the new drive.

The controller mode itself is set within the BIOS settings, not within Windows.

See webpage: HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - About SATA Hard Drives and Controller Modes - for information on the available controller modes and examples of how these can be set (based on HP systems).