Check HDD connection mode (SATA or ATA)

Here are two ways you can determine if it's in AHCI (native) mode.

  1. Open up the Device Manager, click the View menu and select "Devices by connection". Navigate through the device tree, usually the AHCI controller is attached directly to the PCI bus. The controller device should have AHCI in the name and your drive should be attached to it.

  2. Download AS SSD Benchmark, it is small and you don't need to install anything. Intended to benchmark SSD drives, it will also tell you the controller the drive is connected to if you hover over the third line of the device detail (msahci in the pic below).

Screenshot