Intel Smart Response Technology Questions

shankly1985 · 8 Sep 2012 at 20:49

Hello am going to pick up an SSD for caching for my windows HDD. Is it possible to do this without a Re-install of windows?
Am looking at getting a 60GB SSD any recommendation for this type of setup?
I Understand I need to select raid Drive in BIOS, but at the moment I have it set to ahci mode if I switch this will windows fail to boot?

You might be also wondering why not just buy a bigger better SSD, it all comes down to the size and price for me. I need my 2TB windows drive and anything less then say 500GB wont do, and the price of a 500GB+ SSD is way out my budget.

Thanks

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 02:04

Anyone?

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 03:22

wazza300 said:
Yes caching will work,there's a reg tweak you do and then install raid drivers from asrock site,reboot/set to raid and then you can cache the hdd without reinstalling windows

Google on how to do the reg tweak to enable caching without reinstall

Thanks mate will check that out.

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 13:56

wazza300 said:
Yes caching will work,there's a reg tweak you do and then install raid drivers from asrock site,reboot/set to raid and then you can cache the hdd without reinstalling windows

Google on how to do the reg tweak to enable caching without reinstall

Looking at guide here and they dont say to restart??

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 (While system is still booted???
4) Set up caching with RST util.

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 14:12

wazza300 said:
It doesn't explain very well its correct but DON'T reboot pc untill you've done the reg tweak and installed the drivers,then reboot,add ssd while pc is off,then set to raid in BIOS

If you reboot pc after just doing reg tweak n you forget to install drivers it will mess up your OS and you won't boot up,so you MUST do reg/install drivers before you reboot

Thanks so real step is
1. Reg tweak
2. Install raid driver
3. power down, install SSD and switch on into BIOS and enable raid
4. Boot into windows and install SRT software and enable caching?

Thanks again mate

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 14:24

wazza300 said:
Yeah that's it,it works fine I've used the reg tweak myself

Thanks mate get ordering an SSD tomorrow

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 14:34

Just checking my Motherboard Drivers site and I think am stuck. The raid driver they offer is for install, when installing the OS

1. Copy the SATA RAID Driver from our website to your SATA HDDs. Unzip it, and copy all the files and folders to an empty diskette.

2. Make sure that the “SATA Operation Mode” option in BIOS setup is set to RAID mode.

3. Install Windows OS to your system. At the beginning of Windows setup, please press F6 and insert the SATA RAID Driver floppy diskette you just made.

4. Then you are allowed to select the required driver to install after your system reading the SATA RAID Driver floppy diskette.

5. After Windows OS installation, use the RAID tool in our support CD to configure RAID arrays under BIOS or Windows environment.

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 17:09

When doing the Reg tweak does windows 7 auto install the driver? need more help with this guys dont want to mess my install up.

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 17:58

wazza300 said:
yeah,it will install the raid drivers for you,you can then update with rst drivers lateer

Thanks any recommendation for best 64GB sata3 ssd? They so meny choices do I just pick what has the fastest write and read?

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 18:58

wazza300 said:
i think the corsair force gt is a good choice the crucial m4 is ok but it has poor write speeds on the 64gb drive

Was thinking same drive

Corsair looks good.

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 19:36

wazza300 said:
comes with mounting bracket too,ive had no issues at all with mine

Does it come with sata cable? If not am going to after buy one plus sata power extension cables.
The sata power cables that come with corsair HX850w are very bad designed, they come on one long strip and when you have 3 HDD plus this SSD its horrible to fit all power cables onto the drives.

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 19:46

Do you use Maximized mode with your SSD? Is it worth doing so, What happens if say the power went in the house not enough electricity will this damage files?
I reading you shouldn't use maximized mode because of risk to damaging files :eek:

but if it was so bad why would Intel give you that option? lol

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 19:59

wazza300 said:
yeah i used maximised mode,all youd lose is whats temporarily stored on the ssd,you can rebuild it sometimes

Dont like the word Sometimes

What happens if you cant rebuild it? The files that are on SSD they just like backups of whats on the HDD so even if the files on SSD get damaged there, you still have them because there on HDD?

Thanks again mate you been great help.

shankly1985 · 9 Sep 2012 at 20:14

Thanks that makes more sense now.

shankly1985 · 14 Sep 2012 at 20:49

All up and running that was easy lol

Run a benchmark with HDD by itself and the two runs with HDD+SSD you think the number are good?
Am already noticing some speed

I went with the Corsair GT 60GB

shankly1985 · 14 Sep 2012 at 21:50

wazza300 said:
I think you have the ssd on the Intel sata2 ports not sata3,you should be seeing 550mb per sec read/write not 250mb,check you on the right ports in mb manual

mmm you correct

I have my C HDD on sata 3 is this a easy thing to change? Should I switch off Caching before making change.

shankly1985 · 14 Sep 2012 at 22:09

wazza300 said:
Yeah switch off caching just incase,it will write what's stored in the ssd to your hdd,plug both hdd and ssd onto Intel sata3 ports and re enable caching,post atto results after

Will do thanks mate. I'll do this tomorrow now. Am not sure witch ports on my motherboard are sata 3. I know the gray one are but there not intel.
Am using a Asrock Z68 extreme 4 gen3 going to have a google.

shankly1985 · 14 Sep 2012 at 22:18

silly me

I thought all the gray ports where marvell but there not only two are from them and the other two are sata3 intel lol
All the black are intel sata 2 where I have other drives installed lol

shankly1985 · 14 Sep 2012 at 22:22

Can you post a bench result of yours mate? Just so I have something to compare to.

Thanks

shankly1985 · 14 Sep 2012 at 23:09

wazza300 said:
heres mine,i have the os installed on it now,but ive used it as caching ssd before and read/writes were identical,only difference is the wei score stays the same 5.9 if in caching as the os isnt on it where it score 7.9 if it is,no big deal

ignore the power on times,ive updated to latest ssd firmware a week ago and it resets it

Cool thanks mate. yer noticed the 5.9 thats understandable tho. Even tho am not getting full speed I still noticing super smooth. on start up now I dont even see welcome screen lol then bang all apps loaded.