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Intel Smart Response Technology w/o Rapid Start Technology - Set-up, Install, Acceleration - Is it working??
Upgraded to Windows 10 version 1511 build 10586.545 on Dell 15z 5523 and attempted to defragment c:/ drive (HDD). Noticed that both (c:/ - HDD & d:/ - SSD) drives were read as SSD so unable to Analyze or Defrag.
So, I attempted to install the latest drives from Intel site. Unfortunately, crashed my system. Required a new clean install.
Once new install, went to Dell site and installed SRT driver and Chipset drivers. Restart - checked bios - RAID drives and SRT enabled. Save & exit.
Went in to Cmd Prompt (Admin) - Diskprt - Clean. List Disk showed 2 drives both online with available space on both.
Went to Disk Management to initialize disk - Disk 1 setup - MBR style of partition.
Then on disk 0 (HDD) last partition chose “Shrink Volume…” from menu & shrank. Once completed, Extend Volume on disk 0 (HDD).
Ran SRT program - Enable Acceleration - selected total drive - Maximized Mode. Restart.
Finished.......but noticed the following.....
As you may have noticed, and my 2 questions - where is the 2nd drive (SSD) that is being used as cache - why is it not showing up in Device Manager, Diskpart, Disk Management and Defrag software??
Yet SRT shows everything working!!
And 2nd question why is Disk 0 type still showing as SSD??
BTW defrag last run shows a time b/c I defragged in Cmd Prompt - defrag c:/ u/v/.
Please note that I did not install Intel Rapid Start Technology b/c Intel no longer supports it & Windows 10 (Power Options - System settings) offers similar tech.
Therefore, using 2nd drive for cacheing only.
So ultimately, is SRT working?? How can I tell?? Thanks.
beamermt79
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August 26th, 2016 17:00
Hello! So its been a while since I did SRT but from what I understood of your post, you cleaned and set up the cache SSD AFTER installing windows? I've always done it before. You put in your install disk or USB and when the windows installer says welcome, you hit ctrl plus F10, do diskpart on both drives, install windows on your HDD and leave the SSD alone. Once windows is installed, you install all the drivers and so forth including the SRT from Intel and from there, it will allow you to 'combine' both drives using the SSD as a cache drive. You restart and poof you are done. In the pictures it looks like the SSD is still seperate from the HDD so while it may be using it as a cache, it could be messing up how windows see's your system? I'll be honest its been a few years since i've used it, but its food for thought.
cookoosnest
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August 28th, 2016 12:00
Hey, thanks for your reply.
I did do a new install after a Windows 10 upgrade when I saw in "Optimize Drives" that it was treating both drives as SSD. I subsequently attempted to update SRT driver which led to a catastrophic system failure. Upon installing a new"clean" copy, I did not F10. I did the SRT install after.
Is there a way to address this without a new install?? I rather not reinstall again b/c I finally have everything setup as I like it - software downloads, drivers, registry changes, etc.
As long as the SSD is being used as cache properly then I don't care if Windows sees the HDD as SSD & I will defrag in cmd prompt.
I did come across this post elsewhere:
"Was the 24GB disk being used as an SSD cache disk for the 750GB? If so, I've seen this happen before. I had to use Parted Magic to erase and setup my SSD again so it could be seen by Windows. For some reason, setting up an SSD as a cache drive will prevent Windows from seeing it unless you disable disk caching in Intel SRT prior to setting up the disk again."
Doesn't a clean in dispart prior to SRT setup address this issue?? Or is the setup in Disk Management deficit?? Is a 3rd party program necessary??
Thanks again for replying.
RoHe
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August 28th, 2016 12:00
If the small SSD is correctly set up as a cache drive, Windows will see it, but it won't let YOU see it. :emotion-5:
It's hidden from the user so only the OS can read/write to that drive.
And if it's set up correctly, your HDD will be seen as an SSD if you attempt to defrag it with Windows Defrag. Defragging an SSD can shorten its life so SSDs shouldn't be defragged. And when an SSD is in a RAID setup with a HDD, both drives are "SSD".