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XPS8700 drive failure now msata SSD not present?
I had a disk drive go bad on my XPS8700. I ordered the USB drive to recover the system and in the process of debugging it and all I removed the msata SSD. I installed the backup onto the new replacment drive and only after installing everything I put in the msata SSD (32GB Liteon version).
Now I can not detect the Liteon SSD with the intel utility nor can I change it into a drive of any sort. I can see the msata drive only when I go into BIOS with the F2 key on startup. Look I can possibly live with the system like this but I'm not getting any benefit for having a SSD cache. At this point I'm considering installing a 128 or larger GB SSD in place of the small cache drive and use that for the "C" boot drive.
How can I recognize the mSATA drive? Disk management does not list it. The device manager also does not list it in the drives available. I'm afraid to get the bigger SSD as the system may not recognize that one either. I want to at least recognize the SSD then possibly upgrade it.
BTW - My Bios is setup as non RAID. Not sure how that occured but I hear switching back after the install is an open invitation for BSD! HELP!
jp_austin
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May 24th, 2016 07:00
Reinstalled the intel utility and now shows the SSD as incompatible. Still not showing up as a drive in explorer or the disk utility.
RoHe
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May 24th, 2016 11:00
I believe you have to install Windows with BIOS set to RAID in order to use the 32-GB SSD drive as the cache, as it was intended to be.
So I think you need to reinstall Windows again with the SSD connected and BIOS set to RAID.
Saltgrass
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May 25th, 2016 15:00
Ron is correct when he says the system is a RAID configuration and needs that enabled in the bios.
If you did not unwind the RAID prior to replacing the HDD it may still be linked to the old system. The Intel utility may be able to reset the mSATA so you can use it again. If not, possibly you can just format it and then set up the RAID again.
If the system is set as an array, the mSATA will not show in Disk Management so that in itself does not really mean anything. If you open the Intel utility, Check the Performance tab and see if there is an option to enable or disable acceleration. Also check if there is an option to
jp_austin
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May 25th, 2016 22:00
Any way to enable the raid without a complete re-install. It took a few days to get it back and running and I hardly want to go through that effort again!
Saltgrass
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May 26th, 2016 10:00
You could just remove the mSATA drive or format it and use it as some type of small storage device.
Personally, I would remove it. Having the configuration set up to accelerate the HDD may help some but I don't have any data on such.
RoHe
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May 26th, 2016 11:00
The 32-GB SSD is used to cache files that Windows needs quickly/frequently and to speed up booting.
So if you don't think it's worth the effort to reinstall in RAID, you can just ignore the SSD, and not even bother to remove it.
jp_austin
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May 26th, 2016 22:00
I managed to get it working!
1. I issued the command "msconfig.exe" from the run program section.
2. Setup to boot in SAFE mode.
3. While booting up hit F2 to go into BIOS. When in BIOS setup the disk controller for RAID as opposed to the AHCI.
4. When you boot into SAFE mode go to the C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology\IAStorUI Application
5. Select performance. I saw a link to disassociate the cache with the boot drive so I did that
6. Selected Enhanced mode acceleration
7. Go back and issue the command "msconfig.exe" from the run program section.
8. Setup to boot in NORMAL mode.
9 Reboot and all is good.
The first time it takes a while to boot but once the cache is full it's much faster booting!
jp_austin
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May 27th, 2016 09:00
I think it's faster than when I first received it. For some reason I think it was never configured correctly as the Intel app shows the drive and msata as a raid combo now and I never recall it ever looking like that. Very quick to boot up and run!