SRT with OS on SSD

Fanaticjam

Fanaticjam

Fanaticjam

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I was under the impression it was possible to split a SSD between use for cache and for OS and app installation?

I'm just making my rig and the intel booklet says I have to install the OS on the HDD, does anyone know of a way around this? Could you point me towards a guide?

Thanks! I'd hate to install the OS on a HDD... :/
 
Thats right, the HDD has the OS.

The SSD you assign to SRT will then start "caching" (it learns also the most used ones) the files which makes it faster.


What you may find easier is to install the OS to the SSD (ignoring SRT) and using the HDD for the other programs/apps.
 
Fanaticjam said:
Erm yeah, that's what I want, to install the OS to SSD, and use the rest for cache :s
Click to expand...

But you cant, its either,

1) Install on the HDD and use the SSD as the "cache" (this is because some people have small SSD's that cant fit the OS onto, but will still speed the system up in SRT mode).

2) Install the OS onto the SSD (making it C:) and using the HDD as a place to install the rest of your apps etc (making it D:)

The last option is faster.
 
There is a way to partition a SSD so that SRT can be used on one partition and the other can be used for the OS and some storage. There is a thread somewhere on the forums with this answer, but I can't be bothered to find it. Search for it for specific details. I don't know if the SSD has to be bigger than 64GB to get things set up this way, though.

NB: I haven't done this myself, but plan to do so with a 128GB SSD at some point. The forum thread I saw the method on seemed a bit more complicated than this, but I don't see why it won't work this way. If any experienced members can verify whether or not this should work however, that would be great :)

Basically, what you do is set up a "dummy" partition on your hard drive and install Windows and the SRT drivers on it. Run the software to set up SRT on the whole hard drive. This automatically creates a partition on the SSD for the motherboard to use for caching. Then, you remove the dummy partition - I reckon it would be handy to have a live CD/USB stick of Linux to do this using gparted. My understanding is the SRT drivers on Windows are only needed to set it up and the motherboard takes care of the rest, so there shouldn't be a problem with removing the dummy partition with Windows and the drivers. Finally, re-install Windows on the remaining partition of your SSD.

Simples. I hope...
 
A few forum users have split their SSD into two partitions, one for OS and the other for cache, so it is indeed possible.

There's a good little guide here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2172381

The only way to achieve this is:
- temporary install Windows on any spare HDD, instead of SSD
- instal Intel Rapid Storage tool and initialize SRT cache on SSD - configure 18GB for SRT and rest of the space dedicate to normal volume (this will wipe content of SSD!)
- disconnect this temporary HDD and boot into Windows setup from DVD (in the Options ROM you should see that SRT cache is now enabled on your SSD)
- instal Windows on SSD (most likely you will need to provide ICH storage drivers on USB stick during setup) - you should see that setup detect 'data' portion of SSD only (SSD capacity minus ~18GB). Cache portion is completely invisible to OS.
- once installation is finished, instal Intel Rapid Storage tool - you will see that SSD cache is up and running and you can use it to accelerate your HDD! At the same time your OS resides in 'data' volume on SSD.
Click to expand...
 
I tried and it worked.
The key is to have the driver ACHI-RAID on usb because during the installation of windows on the SSD, windows may not find the drives.
 
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