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IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers not showing up, unable to TRIM SSD
I am having an issue with my newly installed SSD. I just received an Alienware Aurora R4 with Windows 8. I immediately cloned the hard drive to an OCZ Vector 256GB drive using EaseUs ToDo Backup, as that worked flawlessly when I just upgraded to an SSD on my laptop. At first I had an issue with drive recognition, but then made sure bios was set to AHCI and UEFI and finally Windows 8 loaded. I reformatted the 2TB hard drive for (D:)Data and loaded all my music, video etc. Then when I went to optimize my drives, I clicked on the optimization for the SDD and it changed from needing optimization to "Optimization not available" - which it now says and is grayed out. I realized this is an issue as optimization in Win 8 on an SSD activates TRIM (works on my laptop). Not sure if this is a concern but the (I am pretty sure the previously hidden) DIAGS partition on the original drive was given a drive letter (F:) on the SSD.
Anyway back to the not optimization/TRIM. My first response was to google 'Optimization not available' and I found this link.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/when-i-try-to-optimize-drives-i-get-optimization/20a45c49-a774-42b1-8317-20ef7799b6ad
The poster said he fixed his issue by updating his Storage Controller drivers. "Basically I downloaded the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers for Windows 8."
I checked my storage control drivers in device manager and these are listed:
Intel(R) 600 Series chipset SATA AHCI controller
Microsoft storage spaces controller
Reading futher into the article another person with a similar problem mentioned tried using the admin command promp to activate TRIM (which i then tried and had the exact same reult/error message), with the following results:
type "defrag c: /L"
Invoking retrim on drive name (C:)...
Retrim: 100% complete.
The operation requested is not supported by the hardware backing the volume. (0x8900002A)
This indiviual then upgraded to Windows 8 and let it pick the drivers and apparently his began to work. He mentioned that his IDE ATA/ATAPI controller changed in drive manager as well. Reading this I decided to see what mine were and noticed I do not even have IDE ATA/ATAPI controller listed on my system under drive manager! Even when checking to show hidden there is not an IDE ATA/ATAPI controller listing. Should I have this?
I went to the dell driver controller to check to see if I needed any updates. It only shows me Windows 7 updates as it says that it what my Aurora R4 came with when I added my service code (is there a way to fix this?). I just chose to look at a blank Arurora R4 and was able to see the Windows 8 drivers, and downloaded all the updates that seemed relevant (also updated bios from A06 to A07). When I downloaded the listed Serial ATA driver (7D9TS) and clicked update, it just said the file was unzipped but did not install anywhere (unlike the other drivers).
So does anybody know why I do not have IDE ATA/ATAPI listed and how to get this device?
For those that have an SSD drive on their Aurora R4 with Win 8 are you able to optimize and what drivers do you have that would affect this?
What are the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers for Windows 8 and how do I know if I even have Intel Rapid storage available?
Thanks so much. Sorry the the length but I wanted to be as detailed as possible.
Tesla1856
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February 14th, 2013 01:00
like I said posted above ... as long as there is an entry in "Storage Controllers" for the Intel SATA controller, you are good there.
Have you checked your Firmware on the OCZ-SSD or posted a message in their forums?
sutekh
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February 14th, 2013 07:00
hallelujah! I actually had just only used the Win 8 "refresh" feature which reinstalls windows completely, erases programs, but saves files and settings. I assumed whatever was graying out optimize was a program or driver. Well I just quickly did the full reinstall erasing all info from my C drive with my rescue disc and when it set up first thing I did was try to optimize - and it worked! Now I have to slowly add drivers and programs and see what installed from DELL causes TRIM to not work. But at least I have made progress! I am thinking RSTe my have been the culprit and may not install it.
sutekh
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February 14th, 2013 08:00
yea the firmware for the drive was up to date. Also I ran into a snag as I used a recovery disc for a Win 8 Pro update the second time, which while deleting all the pre installed dell settings now says I need to enter a valid code to activate (even though it successfully set up). Tried recovery with the disc I made with my original Win 8 installed and it is saying the disc is not correct. So I will have to reinstall once more when the dell OEM disc arrives in the mail. Tesla1856 you are right about the restore from the DELL factory installed OEM version of Win 8 - when I did it that way the first time all my Alienware software was still installed which I thought was odd - the restore reinstalled Win 8 and the dell software while erasing everything else, which kept me from being able to optimize. The truly fresh install using my Win 8 Pro upgrade media from another computer wiped it clean and the drive optimized from the get go. Hmm just realized, if I use the DELL OEM Win 8 Disc when I get it will it put all the other programs from DELL back on, or be a fresh install?
Tesla1856
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February 14th, 2013 13:00
Good. Yes, I expected it would.
sutekh
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February 14th, 2013 15:00
the recovery software arrived today after requesting it from tech support yesterday - very impressed. reinstalling the actual OEM version of Win 8 now. Thanks so much for all the advice and assistance! I may toy around with adding the RSTe after a making a recovery point to see if that was truly the culprit, and will post the findings here in case any others have a similar problem with optimization grayed out on their SSD.
morblore
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February 14th, 2013 16:00
If you add the RST back in then you don't want to use the Windows optimization. You would down load the Intel SSD toolbox and use that instead.
You use Window's driver with Window's optimization. You use Intel's driver with Intel's optimization.
dangray
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November 23rd, 2014 10:00
This is not even close to what the OP is referring to. He is trying to defrag a SSD, only it's not good to do an old school defrag on SSD drive. What defrag now does on SSDs is actually trim the invalid pages(blocks of "empty" data) so that data can be written that area of the SSD again. If trim is not run on a SSD regularly it will become very slow.
Whether the OS is installed on the SSD is irrelavent. I have several SSDs in multiple machines and on only one can I not trim the SSD which has the OS installed.
What Dell Kanndy was referring to is the SSHD, hybrid caching mode, which is pretty much the only option offered by Dell. This option does not allow direct access to the SSD portion of the drive and is automatically used by the drivers to put the most frequently used files on the SSD side of the drive and less frequently used files on the HDD.
The problem is that the hardware does not support the TRIM function and it cannot be done on SATA controllers which do not recognize the command. If your SSD was attached to a newer SATA controller, you would not have this issue.