7 Posts
0
3909
Intel Rapid Storage Technology and above 2.2TB hard drive issue
Hi,
I have a 4TB internal hard drive installed that Windows/Disk Management correctly lists as 3.76TB, however, Disk Part and various software lists incorrectly as 1.67TB.
I found out that any version of Intel RST below 10.1 doesn't support drives below 2.2TB. However, for my XPS 8100 the most recent supported Intel RST version that Dell and Device Manager says is installed (v9.5)
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-uk/product-support/product/studio-xps-8100/drivers
Whilst researching to find out what I could potentially do to solve this incorrect reading I found the below thread where two people said they'd updated to v12 with the same XPS 8100 as me.
I could leave it alone as the drive has been fine for almost 2 years, and has passed SMART and other health checks with no problems. However, a ChkDsk was automatically run at startup the other day. All issues were corrected, but it might indicate an issue that stemmed from the above issue?
Before I try updating the Intel RST I just wondered if there was perhaps anything else I could try or anything that I should do/know. I'm also wondering whether I should try and find Intel RST v12 (if possible) or just update to the latest version.
Thanks for any suggestions!
imawheel
7 Posts
0
December 14th, 2020 14:00
Hey @John-Jay
Well, based on that information I decided to just try a later version of Intel Rapid Storage Technology. I settled on v12.8 because it said it was compatible with XPS 8500 and that seemed to have more in common with my XPS 8100 than the v10.1 minimum that I would need, that said it was compatible with an alienware laptop.
Anyway, I installed it, my PC is still running fine and it seems like it was a necessary update based on a few changes I've noticed. DiskPart no longer reads the drive as being 1678GB, nor does HD Sentinel or a few other programs which are all correctly saying it's a 4TB HD. Strangely though when I go into the BIOS it still reads the total drive size as 1800GB and the WD Lifeguard help software lists the capacity as 1678GB. Why just those two places list it now when DiskPart etc don't I literally have no clue... Perhaps it's something to do with the fact that I originally formatted the drive before I updated the driver/storage controller?
HD Sentinel also lists the ATA checksum as 'valid' for both my drives now as well, whereas before it listed it as invalid. It also lists a couple of functions have been activated too that weren't before, but not really sure what they do!
So, it seems like it was a good decision, but I did run another ChkDsk and it brought up a few more problems with the file system that it corrected. I ran it twice after and there weren't any, but it's a little worrying.
I have ran full disk scans with WD lifeguard with no problems found and no other problems found by Crystal Disk, HD Sentinel etc.
I'm not sure what I can try now? It seems like there might be a problem with the file system, but not sure how to fix that aside from keep running ChkDsk every now and then and backing up constantly.
imawheel
7 Posts
0
December 12th, 2020 17:00
Yep, Windows 7 64 bit.
I've formatted it as GPT. It doesn't support UEFI, but I'm not booting from the drive, just using it to store data. I have a 256GB SSD that I'm booting from and works fine.
Strangely, Disk Part shows the size as 1678 GB and listing the Partitions in Disk Part shows it as a reserved partition of 128mb and a primary partition of 3725 GB. But elsewhere the drive capacity is listed as 3276GB with 1678GB available.
I'm pretty certain the limiting factor is the Intel Rapid Storage Technology I mentioned though. Just wasn't sure if I could install some other driver somehow that would make it work? Or whether I can safeguard myself if I install the newer version? Or perhaps I'll just clone the drive and install windows again if it fails to work. Assuming it won't brick my drive or anything?!
Vic384
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
3.2K Posts
0
December 12th, 2020 17:00
Vic384
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
3.2K Posts
0
December 12th, 2020 18:00
imawheel
7 Posts
0
December 13th, 2020 04:00
As well as the testimonies by the people in that thread I linked in my original post who also said that updating IRST corrected the drive size reading error I was also going by this post:
https://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/kb/intel-rapid-storage-technology-rst-drivers-and-support-for-disk-drives-beyond-22-terabytes-tb-218615en/
However, there is a bit of the difference in the fact that Computer Management does show the entire hard drive size (Disk 1/J: Drive) for me, whereas they were having the drive size misread in Computer Management.
The error is shown in Disk Part with the disk size as 1678MB (Disk 1/J: Drive). This is also what HD Sentinel, HWiNFO and various other programs are also reporting. E,g HD Sentinel says:
Detected Total Capacity = 1678 GB
Capacity should be = 3762 GB
Strangely though you list the partitions in Disk Part and it reports the correct size.
It is possible it is just some programs misreading the drive size and it is actually fine? HD Sentinel gives a warning about possible corruption/data loss though and I did get the automatic ChkDsk run the other day at startup. I've used 1.8TB so far and not noticed any file corruption yet.
Oh, this was the output from 'detail disk':
Disk ID: {F63F38.....}
Type : RAID
Status : Online
Path : 0
Target : 1
LUN ID : 0
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only : No
Boot Disk : No
Pagefile Disk : No
Hibernation File Disk : No
Crashdump Disk : No
Clustered Disk : No
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 3 J Data Disk NTFS Partition 3725 GB Healthy
I'm at a loss then if it's not IRST as that was the only thing I found, which appears to be incorrect on my PC, that could cause the problem regarding lack of support for hard drives larger than 2.2TB and has been mentioned by a few different sources.
imawheel
7 Posts
0
December 13th, 2020 05:00
The HOST BUS PCI-E adapter is a good shout and it'd give me SATA 3 speeds as well by the looks of it, but annoyingly I don't have any space for it. Well, unless I remove my USB 3.0 adapter from one of the slots, but I really need that to transfer files, as USB 2.0 would mean it takes forever to backup files to external drives etc.
It's actually a Western Digital Hard Drive, I just linked that Seagate page because I thought it was relevant. This was the post in the Dell community that linked to the seagate page, it was actually a reply by you.
https://www.dell.com/community/Storage-Drives-Media/Upgrade-from-Intel-Matrix-Storage-Manager-to-Intel-Rapid-Storage/td-p/4570722
The query was about updating Intel Matrix Storage Manager to Intel Rapid Storage Manager, but the info seemed to apply to me:
"Like other kinds of software, the Intel RST drivers are updated to keep pace with new technology. The Intel drivers found in retail releases of Windows 7 have a 2.2TB limitation. Rather than cut off the capacity at 2.2TB, the limitation expresses itself as the remainder above 2.2TB. In other words, the driver causes the Windows operating to see a 3TB drive as 746.52 GiB (or 800GB)."
Like I mentioned before though, Windows seems to report the drive size correctly, but DiskPart and various other programs are reporting the incorrect size.
I'm not sure what you mean by using a Seagate (or WD) driver though? I've clicked on the WD hard drive in device manager and clicked 'update driver' and it says I'm using the latest version. Or do you mean something else?
I also have a Samsung 256GB SSD installed as the boot hard drive with Windows etc on. The Western Digital 4TB hard drive is purely used to store data.
Here are the full details of my PC if it helps:
http://speccy.piriform.com/results/zvtLiGadxZcm8KxoWVSiKvZ
Speccy is also listing the 4TB as only 1678GB.
Thanks
speedstep
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
47K Posts
0
December 13th, 2020 05:00
The segate solution is a software driver.
only works with seagate drives.
The specific dell driver is for WINDOWS 10 64 bit.
This specific DELL Driver might work
https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER05405003M/4/Serial-ATA_Driver_6W1FP_WN32_17.0.2.1076_A00_01.EXE
Older DELL windows needs this driver No longer available at INTEL
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=rr3h4
Intel Intel Rapid Storage Technology, v.10.1.0.1008, A00
https://dl.dell.com/SATA/Intel_Intel-Rapid-Storage-Te_A00_R295887.exe
speedstep
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
47K Posts
0
December 13th, 2020 05:00
If its not a Boot Drive you can use the driver from seagate with a seagate drive. The other option is to use HOST BUS PCI-E adapter. Western Digital OEM's this from Highpoint.
https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_studio_xps_desktop/studio-xps-8100_user%27s%20guide_en-us.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0p06nmeC3A
EDIT This specific DELL Driver might also work
https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER05405003M/4/Serial-ATA_Driver_6W1FP_WN32_17.0.2.1076_A00_01.EXE
https://www.amazon.com/High-Point-Bananas-Leather-9042351/dp/B002VEWBGO
That way you are not using INTEL RST.
Boot Drive requires 64 bit windows with UEFI and GPT
Legacy MBR is not ever supporting INTEL RST larger than 2TB or booting larger than 2TB
https://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/beyond-2tb/
* Universal Extensible Firmware Interface
Seagate Extended Capacity Manager
The Seagate Extended Capacity Manager (ECM) allows your operating system (OS) to support large capacity disks that have the MBR partition style. You are able to use the disk space beyond 2 TB. This free space will be recognized as a separate disk, and will be usable by your operating system and applications as if it were a regular physical hard disk. (ECM User Guide)
imawheel
7 Posts
0
December 13th, 2020 06:00
imawheel
7 Posts
0
December 13th, 2020 06:00
John-Jay
358 Posts
0
December 13th, 2020 12:00
Hi, @imawheel ,
One thing to mention about Dell's Web-Site! It will ONLY list the Software/Drivers that bit has specifically tested to work with your Combination of PC & Windows.
Hence, if it is NOT on the Dell Web-Site (for your Combination), does NOT mean that it will NOT work - just that Dell has NOT tested it. Given the age of your PC (& its Operating System), there really is no merit in Dell carrying out such Testing!