Question : adding an AHCI storage controller to existing system

I have a Server 2003 box with a sata boot drive.  The OS was installed with the drive configured as IDE.

I want to add some hot swappale sata drives, but know I have to enable AHCI in BIOS.  Changing this will affect my boot drive and cause a BSOD (or so I've read).

Can I simply add another PCI (or PCIx) storage controller that would have AHCI enabled to control the non-boot drives?

Thanks

Answer : adding an AHCI storage controller to existing system

Yes.

The other PCI/PCI-X/PCIe card needs to support hot swap. Most modern hardware RAID expansion cards do.

In this case you can leave the setting in the BIOS untouched as it is, since it affects only the SATA ports that are onboard.