enabling AHCI in win7 64bit before or during install

i plan on installing win7 64bit on a new machine and i want to be sure that i have AHCI enabled for hot swapping SATA drives. can i do thid in the BIOS before i even install the OS or during the install? i have read how to enable AHCI after installing but wondeded if it could be done before. thanks

Yes, it can be done. I enable it in the BIOS first before the install.

In the Windows 7 install screen where it shows the partitions, etc., you'll see an option to "Load Drivers" click that and a be sure you have a thumb drive or external hard drive plugged in prior to boot up.

Select the drive you have the SATA or AHCI driver folder on and click on it, then they should install. With Intel drivers, these will be in separate folders for "Floppy x86" and "Floppy x64", these are the drivers for AHCI. The Windows 7 will automatically load the proper driver for the chipset being used.

As far as AMD drivers, I'm not sure.

If you have recent AMD or Intel chipsets, you won't even have to load drivers from floppy or USB. The generic AHCI drivers for Windows 7 are quite good; just enable the feature in the BIOS.

Really? I hope so, that would save me some trouble in the future. So MS drivers are just as good as the Intel and AMD?

I thought the MS drivers might be too generic. But you da man when it comes to this stuff.

My humble Thanks!