Intel Smart Response Technology

[brianlmitchell]

Hello,

Just finished building my new PC with a Z68, 120 GB SSD, and a 1TB HDD. I installed the OS on the SSD and plan to install games and non system programs on the HDD.

What I'd like to do is use the remaining SSD as caching for the HDD. So, I did what the piece of paper that came with the motherboard said to do. I set up the SATA mode to "Raid Mode" but when I do that, I can't boot to my OS. There is no way to get to the Smart Response Technology to assign the SSD and HDD. I end up having to go back into the BIOS and turning "Raid Mode" off so that I'm able to boot to OS again.

Unfortunately the instructions to do all this are very brief, and offer no troubleshooting section. What am I doing wrong?

 

[powercroat783]

Hello. Basically, you were supposed to set that up before you installed the OS. What happens is that the driver will force the SSD and HDD to become recognized as a single Drive. You then install windows on that drive and everything else. The Controller decides what goes on the SSD and what goes on the HDD.

Why you cant boot into the OS is because the SSD was installed while running as IDE or AHCI, so when switched to RAID it can no longer be understood properly.

So you cant have both, unless you buy two SSD's, and have one SSD as a boot and the other as the HDD cache. You will have to reinstall windows with RAID. (One SSD can be a non-member disk).

However, most people prefer the setup that you all ready have, and I personally have that set up as well, except two HDD in RAID0. In the end, however, it is up to you what you want to do.

 

[brianlmitchell]

Uh, that's a bummer. Only have 1 SSD at the moment.

So I'd have to get 2 SSD's. Reformat all drives, turn "Raid Mode" on, re-install OS on a SSD. Then install driver and assign SSD cache?

Thanks for the info.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I wouldn't bother. It's a feature without a market niche.

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/difference-between-h67-p67-z68-and-h61-chipsets-a-22.html

Finally, another feature of a Z68 chipset is known as SSD caching which is where it allows the use of a small (say 10 or 20 GB) Solid state hard drive to act as a cache for a larger ‘traditional’ hard disk. If you are already planning the use of a Solid State drive this feature is redundant.

 

[kajabla]

It just doesn't work very well. You'd do better to manage your data yourself. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z68-express-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching,2938-9.html

 

[k1114]

You can have it on one ssd, but the issue is you probably had it in ide. Ahci would not cause the issue as it is a subset of raid. It is recommended that you have an ssd in ahci or raid to allow trim. It really depends on you setup if ssd caching would help. 120gb is usually big enough for any software that needs the boost not to mention you have direct control of what does and does not use the ssd.

 

[brianlmitchell]

Well I currently have the SATA mode set up to AHCI and my system boots fine. I don't remember if it was set at IDE or AHCI when I installed OS. Is it possible to install OS with IDE selected and still switch to AHCI? Does that matter or am I fine with having SATA at AHCI now?

 

[kajabla]

No, seriously. Don't keep trying to do this. Just put speed-sensitive data (programs) on the SSD.

 

[brianlmitchell]

I'm not really anymore at the moment. Just want to know if I'm using my SSD to it's full potential. I know trim is important.

So, if have SATA mode set to "AHCI mode" I'm good to go? Again, booting fine to desktop with AHCI selected. Not sure if I installed OS with IDE or AHCI selected originally. I want to avoid a scenario where I installed OS with IDE selected, and running AHCI doesn't do anything for my SSD.

 

[powercroat783]

I am going to recommend that you keep the setup that you currently have, without using any RAID of any type, just have the SSD as a boot device and the HDD for everything else. If you keep it this way you should have a solid build. I was just suggesting earlier that if you wanted your seperate boot drive and the HDD cache you would have to do it with two SSD's, and would have to reinstall windows with RAID settings. Having it in AHCI and using an SSD seperate from the HDD works perfectly fine, and most people go with that choice rather than the cache work around that intel gives you. If you are not all that Windows savy, it may be better for you, but if you are Windows savy you will be fine. Just remember that when you install something on either the C: or D: drive that in the registry the install is said to be there, so you cannot simply move the folders, you have to re install totally.

 

[k1114]

@powercroat You do not need 2 ssds, you can install windows on it and use it as a cache on 1 ssd. And again ahci is a subset of raid, you can freely switch between the 2 with no issues.

You can check to see if trim is on by running command prompt and typing:
fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify
Or you can turn it on with:
fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0