AW17 SSD Boot + Secondary HDD + 64gb SSD Caching

[tolitsaso]

Hi Guys

Help needed! I currently have an AW17 that came up with 750GB HDD + 64GB caching drive. I decided to purchase an SSD (SanDisk Ultra 256GB) and made it as the Primary drive of my device.

My Current setup is
256GB SSD Primary OS (Boot Drive)
750GB placed in Secondary slot.

How do I enable or make the 65gb cache the secondary drive?

I went into Intel RST and having the ff. error:



Additional Note: Currently on mode AHCI. I tried setting it to RAID but I am unable to boot it when on this mode.

 

[Derek]

I just did this, What you need to to do is change raid setting in bios to ahci, Then turn off the caching option. Then your set to install windows. If you already installed windows and left the bios on raid, changing to ahci will cause windows not to boot. Until raid is disabled the option will not be there to disable the drive caching of the MSATA drive. There is a registry hack u can do to windows, then go to bios and change those settings and you will be fine. Google this phrase "registry hack to enable ahci" . Do this before changing from raid to ahci or windows will fail to load. Good Luck. Hope this gives you an idea of what you need to do.

I see your additional Note. All you need to do at this point is disable the caching of the MSATA. Thats why You cannot access your Msata.

 

[tolitsaso]

I am already in AHCI but unable to see how to turn off the caching option, is it in the BIOS too?
Windows is also already installed in the SSD and able to boot under AHCI mode.

Do you also have the same setup? What mode are you currently running?

Thanks!

 

[Derek]

Yes I have the same setup. The day my AW17 showed up I had to two SSDs waiting to go in. Its been a few weeks, Either it was in the BIOS, or U need to enable raid, restart and watch for the raid options on boot, go in there and turn off caching, but it is not in windows it is in Bios or Raid settings. I will reboot and see if i can find the exact location.


I checked Bios, its not there, If you temporarly enable raid, Then on boot Cntrl - I, should get you into raid options, Disable the cache restart. Change bios back AHCI. Once in windows you should be able to see the msata from Disk Management and format it.

1. Ensure Sata mode is set to RAID in BIOS

2. cntrl I : to Go to RAID BIOS and disable accelerate
option for SSD

3. Enable AHCI boot into windows.

 

[tolitsaso]

Thanks Derek! I exactly did the steps above and was able to see the SSD Cache on Disk Management!
I have formatted the msata from Disk Management and it now shows up.

How do I now make or know that it cache/accelerate the secondary HDD? I am looking in Intel RST I don't have the accelerate tab in it.

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Hey mate. Finally got it to work - but not without first fixing the incompatibility issue earlier (Thanks!)
I fixed the boot mode problem by doing this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

After which I was now able to switch to RAID mode and got Intel Smart Response Technology setup.

Thanks Mate!!

 

[Derek]

If I understand correctly, You have a Boot SSD, and a 750 gig as your data drive, You wish to use the MSATA as a cache for the DATA drive. I am not 100% sure it can be done. However to try, your Bios would need to be set to raid and left there. You would need to enable caching once again , Use cntrl-I , Then boot into windows and the Use the intel App to setup up the link. Once again I have never tried this as my laptop now has 2 SATA Drives and the MSATA, I use the MSATA as just another small Drive. Good Luck let me know if it works.

 

[tolitsaso]

Yes that's correct.
1. I did the steps you mentioned
2. Fixed the boot error when switching to RAID
3. Configure the caching via Intel RST

And here it is:

 

[Derek]

Congrats , glad it worked.

 

[forJAT]

Glad you got it worked out ... I have a quick question ... what is an optimal size for a cache msata drive.. I know that they go up to 512g but that seems over kill for a cache drive ...

 

[shankc]

Hi forJAT from what I've read 64 GB is the largest cahing you can goto I think that's because when you go to 128gb you could load your operating system on but a guy on toms hardware asked the same thing as he had a128gb msata and was told he could only use 64gb and to format the other 64 to use as storage or load his operating system onto the 128gb drive

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Here is sum info
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4329/intel-z68-chipset-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching-review/2

 

[tolitsaso]

Thanks Mates. again thanks to @Derek!
Boot time is faster, primary disk data rating also up 7.8