XPS 8940, IRST missing?

Optane memory is not installed if you didn't specifically order it. Why are you removing a drive? You should explain so users here can help. You could disable your computer and possibly void your warranty. The system files are usually on the NVME SSD drive which makes it the boot drive.

Right click on the Start button and open Disk Management to see all your drives. 

An M.2 NVME SSD and Optane use the same slot. You can only have one or t'other, not both.

An M.2 NVME SSD is typically used as the PC's boot drive while Optane (an optional config) is used as a cache to speed up performance of a slow HDD boot drive.

Optane only stores certain files Windows needs frequently and rapidly. So you have to disable Optane via IRST (break the RAID array) before you can safely remove the Optane module. Otherwise, the files stored on Optane will be lost and Win 10 won't be able to boot from the HDD.

As @Mary G indicated, unless you have Optane you won't have IRST and you shouldn't install it.

@Ozbloke 

@RoHe 

@Mary G 

The intel  pre install F6 driver for IRST and Optane are one and the same. The Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) Floppy Driver (18.1.6.1039) supports the configuration and enabling of system acceleration with Intel® Optane™ memory and maintenance of RAID 0/1/5/10.  Therefore the manual is correct. The SetupRST.exe is the new installer that will install the Intel RST driver and start the process of installing the Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application from the Microsoft Store

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19512/

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Sorry guys, still not quite with it.

The drive is described thus in Device Manager: NVMe CL1-3D512-Q11 NVMe SSSTC 512GB. Intel Optane Memory and Storage Management is installed but not IRST. Is that how it should be?

I am not wanting to remove the drive, merely trying to get a handle on the newer technology with which I am not familiar.

Chill out Mary. The question was purely hypothetical. Just reading through the manual to gain a better understanding of the technology.

@Ozbloke 

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If you install the intel driver assistant and you have optane it will install the driver that you indicate is missing.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html

Thanks guys, but I am obviously not explaining things properly... my bad.

The machine is just 2 months old and I haven't changed anything. I would have thought that the machine would come from the factory with all required drivers and applications installed. However, seeing how the manual mentions IRST and that is not installed, I'm checking to see if it should be.  

I am experiencing no issues, just wondering why IRST is not installed and asking if it should be... is it necessary for me to install it or not? That's the question.

@Ozbloke 

Xps 8940 Documentation

CL1-3D512-Q11 NVMe LITEON 512GB  2230

https://www.liteon.com/en-us/newscenter/news/580

SSTC = Solid State Toshiba Corporation

Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation announced today that it will officially change its name to Kioxia Holdings Corporation on October 1, 2019. The name Kioxia

https://www.ssstc.com/about-us/company-profile

https://www.ssstc.com/product/business-client-ssd/client-cl1-m-2-2230-3d-tlc-gen3-4-pcie-ssd

M2 SSD uses the INTEL RST F6 mass storage driver which is the same driver used for Optane Cache as well as regular hard drives and SSD's.  The RST raid application is not needed when there is only 1 drive.SATA drives cannot be in a RAID container with PCI-E NVME SSD drives. This is NOT Optane cache.

It comes in 128G, 256G, 512G

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The reason we know its not optane is because of the size. Optane is either 16 Gb or 32 Gb.