Anyone tried Intel Smart Response?
- Thread starter Steampunk
- Start date
yes it works verywell
set to raid mode in bios install the os onto your mechanical hdd not the ssd,install intel rapid storage drivers in windows and cache or accelerate your hdd
ssd speeds with hdd storage space
you'll see the ssd's rated speeds,its around 2 to 3 seconds slower startup than if you had the os on the ssd itself but everything else is just as quick
you can use a max of 64gb ssd for caching
set to raid mode in bios install the os onto your mechanical hdd not the ssd,install intel rapid storage drivers in windows and cache or accelerate your hdd
ssd speeds with hdd storage space
you'll see the ssd's rated speeds,its around 2 to 3 seconds slower startup than if you had the os on the ssd itself but everything else is just as quick
you can use a max of 64gb ssd for caching
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Wazza,
Do you know if you can cache a mechanical data only drive using intel SRT? Weird question I know but if one has spare hd/ssd lying around could this be used as a quick reads gaming drive with decent capacity?
Or does it have to be the boot drive?
Do you know if you can cache a mechanical data only drive using intel SRT? Weird question I know but if one has spare hd/ssd lying around could this be used as a quick reads gaming drive with decent capacity?
Or does it have to be the boot drive?
You cache everything with SRT, it doesn't have to be a boot drive. I'm intending to use it to cache a 2x2TB RAID1 array to make it faster.
SRT remembers the drive blocks you use the most, and caches those. Obviously if you use a lot of big programs one after another, the later ones can push the first ones out of the cache. That only affects the next startup of the "uncached" data the next time, because it would be automatically "recached".
SRT remembers the drive blocks you use the most, and caches those. Obviously if you use a lot of big programs one after another, the later ones can push the first ones out of the cache. That only affects the next startup of the "uncached" data the next time, because it would be automatically "recached".
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yeah but trouble is you have to set to raid mode to use caching, I don't know if it will affect your current install? might be ok if its in ahci mode I don't know,i did a reg hack to save re installing for raid
Soldato
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I'm also interested in this, I have my OS installed on my 830, but I have a 1Tb Caviar Black (a second is on the way) which is used for storage and my steam library, so I'd like to use a small SSD as a cache on my storage drives, whilst still keeping my OS install as it is on the 830.
I used to have a main SSD OS install with a 2nd games HD Drive cached with another 64GB SSD. Worked very well but as mentioned you do have to install Windows with RAID mode enabled in the BIOS (there are ways to change this after install but I think it needs registry edits etc.). Although the OS SSD is installed under RAID it is treated as a single drive (using ACHI) so operates exactly the same as in AHCI mode.
Soldato
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Is it possible to cache two HDDs with one SSD?
Yes, I think so, as long as everything is going through the Intel Chipset. All the drives appear in the Intel RST application and the SSD is designated as a "accelerator" drive or somesuch.
Soldato
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Okey dokey, thanks! I might have a look for a cheapish 64Gb SSD to cache my two 1Tb HDDs and reinstall Windows on the 830 in Raid mode.
theres a simple reg tweak you can do that tricks windows into installing the raid drivers for you,you then reboot set to raid and bootup
Thought I would post a short guide on setting caching as it can be sort of confusing the first time.
First a few notes:
1) Your caching SSD should be 64GB or less as this is the max that can be allocated. You can also use a larger SSD if partitioned.
2) You can cache 1 HD or RAID array only so ensure you have an OS partition and games/storage partition on the HD you want to accelerate. You can cache any type of RAID array except matrix.
3) RST takes a bit of time for the cache to get populated with your OS and utils you use most. It might not seem fast at first but it will get faster over time.
4) Ensure chipset drivers are installed before attempting any of this
5) If you have a Gigabyte board, use the SRT utility. It will do all this for you including the registry tweak if you didnt install Windows in RAID mode.
Enhanced mode vs Maximized mode:
Enhanced mode is more secure because if your SSD dies you wont lose any data. With maximized mode if your SSD dies you could lose data. Basically it works like this:
With enhanced mode read perf is improved but write perf is bottlenecked by the write perf of the HD so it will be a bit slower. With maximized mode the data is written to the SSD first and then synced to the hard disk later. Thus if the drive dies before it writes to HD you lose data.
There is only a minor difference between enhanced and maximized so you have to decide if you want to risk any data of the accelerated drive for that extra 2 seconds in boot time. The difference in performance between the two is shown here.
Procedure:
1) Plug your caching SSD and storage HD (the one to accelerate) into the Intel SATA ports. Do not use 3rd party like Marvel, it will not work.
2) Enter BIOS, change HD mode to RAID
3) Install OS
4) DL the latest RST driver from Intel. Dont bother installing from mb disk, it will be outdated. Grab it here.
5) Open RST utility, go to accelerate tab
6) Enable acceleration, select your OS/storage drive as the accelerated drive, select enhanced or maximized mode. Enhanced is the most secure, maximized is the fastest.
7) Reboot. If you get a message about boot options being changed or something and are unable to boot into windows go to the BIOS and check your HD priority. It often gets changed when caching is implemented so you just have to put your OS HD back at the top.
If you already have W7 installed and do not want to reinstall do this:
1) Do not connect the caching SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0
This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows.
2) Next install the raid driver.
3) Connect your caching SSD
4) Set up caching with RST util.
Thought I would post a short guide on setting caching as it can be sort of confusing the first time.
First a few notes:
1) Your caching SSD should be 64GB or less as this is the max that can be allocated. You can also use a larger SSD if partitioned.
2) You can cache 1 HD or RAID array only so ensure you have an OS partition and games/storage partition on the HD you want to accelerate. You can cache any type of RAID array except matrix.
3) RST takes a bit of time for the cache to get populated with your OS and utils you use most. It might not seem fast at first but it will get faster over time.
4) Ensure chipset drivers are installed before attempting any of this
5) If you have a Gigabyte board, use the SRT utility. It will do all this for you including the registry tweak if you didnt install Windows in RAID mode.
Enhanced mode vs Maximized mode:
Enhanced mode is more secure because if your SSD dies you wont lose any data. With maximized mode if your SSD dies you could lose data. Basically it works like this:
With enhanced mode read perf is improved but write perf is bottlenecked by the write perf of the HD so it will be a bit slower. With maximized mode the data is written to the SSD first and then synced to the hard disk later. Thus if the drive dies before it writes to HD you lose data.
There is only a minor difference between enhanced and maximized so you have to decide if you want to risk any data of the accelerated drive for that extra 2 seconds in boot time. The difference in performance between the two is shown here.
Procedure:
1) Plug your caching SSD and storage HD (the one to accelerate) into the Intel SATA ports. Do not use 3rd party like Marvel, it will not work.
2) Enter BIOS, change HD mode to RAID
3) Install OS
4) DL the latest RST driver from Intel. Dont bother installing from mb disk, it will be outdated. Grab it here.
5) Open RST utility, go to accelerate tab
6) Enable acceleration, select your OS/storage drive as the accelerated drive, select enhanced or maximized mode. Enhanced is the most secure, maximized is the fastest.
7) Reboot. If you get a message about boot options being changed or something and are unable to boot into windows go to the BIOS and check your HD priority. It often gets changed when caching is implemented so you just have to put your OS HD back at the top.
If you already have W7 installed and do not want to reinstall do this:
1) Do not connect the caching SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0
This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows.
2) Next install the raid driver.
3) Connect your caching SSD
4) Set up caching with RST util.
Soldato
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Thanks, I was thinking of doing a fresh install of windows anyway, so I'll probably do that in Raid mode and set up SRT on the program HDD and just leave my non program HDD uncached.
this works as ive done it myself on my z68,just saves you time but a clean install is fine
If you already have W7 installed and do not want to reinstall do this:
1) Do not connect the caching SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0
This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows.
2) Next install the raid driver.
3) Connect your caching SSD
4) Set up caching with RST util.
If you already have W7 installed and do not want to reinstall do this:
1) Do not connect the caching SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0
This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows.
2) Next install the raid driver.
3) Connect your caching SSD
4) Set up caching with RST util.