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53 Posts
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1309393
Dell XPS 15 (9530) Flawed mSATA Setup
I have had my new XPS 15 for 4 days now, and overall it is a very impressive machine. I got the mid-range one (with 1TB HDD). However, I would like to let the community know about some issues I am having, and to post publicly that this particular machine is shipping with a flawed setup.
My model comes with 16GB system memory. It has a 32GB mSATA drive intended to be used for Intel Rapid Start and Intel Rapid Storage. The mSATA is partitioned with 8GB for Intel Rapid Start and 22GB for Intel Rapid Storage. However, Intel clearly documents that you need a partition equal in size to the system memory for Intel Rapid Start to work. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CDIQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.intel.com%2Fsupport%2Fmotherboards%2Fdesktop%2Fsb%2Frapid_start_technology_user_guide_for_uefi1.pdf&ei=m1OHUpzGAdPpkAfE8YGIDg&usg=AFQjCNH7Rh6iQN6hSR0Ry3oBF6kGmxgjaA&sig2=e--yKMT7hoApFUI_7kMyEA This makes sense because what it is doing is writing an image of system memory to the SSD.
Consequently, Intel Rapid Start does not work on the midrange XPS 15 9530.. I noticed this because it starts slower than my old Inspiron 15 with its Crucial SSD.
Unfortunately, one cannot fix this by repartitioning the mSATA. If you dedicate 16GB on the mSATA to Intel Rapid Start, only 14GB remain for Intel Rapid Storage, which requires a minimum of 18.6 GB to work.
Dell needs to ship this model with a larger mSATA for both technologies to work.
Now I really would not care personally, as my intention was to recycle my 512GB Crucial M4 as a boot drive by performing a clean Windows install on it. This would allow me to dedicate the entire mSATA to Intel Rapid Start. Unfortunately, this system does not ship with Windows Install disks. And I can't seem to order one as Dell's system does not recognize my Service Tag. I've tried to use the factory reinstallation disks I made to reinstall on my SSD, but they won't let me reinstall to a smaller drive. I could destroy the final 6.96 recovery partition, shrink the main partition, and then clone the drive with Clonezilla, but my intention was to keep the original disk as backup, and the SSD would not be aligned properly.
Another issue I had was the McAfee firewall that came preinstalled prevented me from setting a second network to private. I uninstalled this after failing to find a solution. Windows Defender seems to be adequate antivirus, and its much easier to set the 2nd network to private with Windows firewall.
Overall I am very happy with my new computer, but I don't think I'll be really happy until I can switch back to SSD. I may solve this by ordering a 1TB Samsung EVO, but that puts me up to the price point of the top XPS 15 9530, and I didn't want to go there. And I would still have the alignment issue if I clone the drive. So hopefully my service tag will get recognized soon allowing me to order Windows reinstallation disks.
wmarsh
53 Posts
1
January 14th, 2014 19:00
Well, you can uninstall Rapid Start from Control Panel, Turn it off in the BIOS, and delete its partition using diskmgmt.msc.
Then you can either create an 8GB storage partition (is this useful?) or use the Rapid Storage utility to reconfigure Rapid Storage so that it uses the entire mSATA as cache.
billroberts10
16 Posts
0
January 15th, 2014 20:00
thx for the tip - was originally thinking doomsday OS reinstall but have, per your advise, ended up splitting the drive into 2 swap file drives, one for my primary OS, and the other for a Hyper-V imagine per a Windows 7 install that I use for work.
It was a little tricky though... Rapid Storage configuration wasn't as intuitive to work with per reconfigure, but in the end, nailed it :)
thx again!
Loyal2Dell
7 Posts
0
February 16th, 2014 00:00
Hi wmarsh
Thanks for the nice tips abo32 this fantastic XPS. I installed a 120 GB SanDisk extreme II SSD in my XPS and I will use the mSata as storage as well. Both SSDs will give adequate space for my use. Thanks for your steps to make the mSata usable.
Is it possible to Setup a Raid 0 between the mSata and a 32GB partition of my SanDisk? If possible, such 64GB Raid 0 drive will be best as a system drive. I usually backup my data so Raid 0 won't be too risky to lose data.
Have you tried this before? Let me know if you have any tips for me
Thanks
Haitham
wmarsh
53 Posts
0
February 16th, 2014 05:00
I have not tried Raid 0. I prefer to run AHCI mode and leave the drives independent. Allows me to sort better what I put where.
briguy453
2 Posts
0
March 1st, 2014 21:00
If you're even semi-technically inclined, I personally recommend the mid-range model (1TB HDD + 32GB SSD for caching) which can be easily upgraded (in multiple ways). I personally replaced the mechanical drive with a Samsung 840 EVO 1TB SSD and completed a clean install of Windows 8. The hardest part of this whole experience was getting the back off - and that wasn't difficult, just annoying. I had zero problems installing Windows 8, as the key is auto-detected... Though I will say I used a tool to capture my Windows 8 Key before making any changes (never a bad idea).
The total cost involved (XPS plus the 1TB SSD upgrade) was roughly equivalent to the cost of purchasing the 512GB SSD model through Dell, but I have twice the space on my SSD vs what ships with Dell. Also, this setup leaves my mSATA slot ready and waiting for an upgrade. I have plenty of SSD storage and my laptop is now fully booting in roughly 12 seconds and feels snappier than you would believe. When the price in right, I'll be picking up a Samsung 1TB mSATA drive, yielding me a total of 2TB SSD storage.
(Watch a few of your favorite retailers for a good sale on an SSD. Of note: the "laptop kits" are NOT required for installation in the XPS 9530 mid model.)
Regards, Brian
RomanLu
5 Posts
0
March 10th, 2014 10:00
Is there a official statement from dell about this problem?
Is the warranty void if you change the msata ssd?
halo9
8 Posts
0
March 23rd, 2014 20:00
I have been chasing an official response for a few months now and nothing yet, but will not let down until I get some feedback. Will keep everyone posted.
Regarding warranty, I have been told by Dell that only the ssd warranty will be void. This makes sense to me as you are changing the ssd over. You still have a warranty on the new ssd you replace it with so all is good. You just need to deal with another company for the ssd, that's all. If anything else goes wrong with the laptop though (i.e. faulty screen, usb, power, etc) then this is still covered under Dell warranty as the ssd has nothing to do with these parts functioning.
josephecks
9 Posts
0
April 4th, 2014 10:00
Hi there,
I took delivery of my XPS 15 this morning, the midrange 1 TB + 32GB SSD config. I have a Crucial 480GB mSATA SSD that I plan to install. Do I need to go through this process of removing the Intel RST? I've booted into the UEFI and can see the option to switch to AHCI but if I do this the laptop will no longer boot (not even into Safe Mode) - I just end up back at the advanced boot options. If I change the SATA Drive setting back to Intel Rapid Start it boots fine.
Or is this process unnecessary for me and I can just switch out the mSATA drive for my own and then clone Windows from the HDD using Paragon or something?
Many thanks,
Jospeh
wmarsh
53 Posts
0
April 4th, 2014 11:00
Yes, you do need to remove Intel RST before switching the mSATA or you will corrupt your HDD. Its working as a disk cache.
To switch to AHCI, you need to reboot Win 8.1 into safe mode. During the process, the machine powers off and reboots. You need to get into the BIOS (F2) and switch to AHCI at that time. Then it will reboot without requiring reinstallation, as I previously posted.
You may have trouble cloning to your Crucial mSATA as it is less than 1/2 the size of the HDD. More power to you if it works. But I tried cloning to a 512 GB Crucial M4 using Clonezilla and found it impossible even with the advanced settings.
josephecks
9 Posts
0
April 4th, 2014 12:00
Hi wmarsh, thanks for your reply (and patience)
I've removed Intel RST from the laptop, and followed your instructions for switching to AHCI but once the laptop boots after making the changes in the UEFI I'm presented with ":( your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We are just collecting some error info, and then we'll restart for you'
The laptop restarts a couple of times before going to the Windows advanced boot options. If I go back into the UEFI from here and change AHCI back to Intel Rapid Start it boots fine. As this option is still here have I missed something when removing RST from the laptop?
I think I must have misunderstood what cloning drives like this does. I was under the impression that the software would create a partition the size of whatever is on the disk and then clone that. A fresh install of Windows shouldn't be a problem though
Thanks
wmarsh
53 Posts
0
April 4th, 2014 12:00
Here are directions to switch to AHCI adapted from here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2751461?wa=wsignin1.0
1. Remove or disable Intel Rapid Storage (presumably you have already done this).
2. Open an elevated command prompt and run the following command to enable SafeMode boot:
bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal
3. Restart the computer and boot to the system BIOS.
4. Change the ATA Drive setting to AHCI Mode, press enter to accept the change.
5. Click Yes to the Warning about the detected mode change on the embedded ATA controller.
6. The system will boot normally to the Modern App Start Menu in SafeMode.
7. Open an elevated command prompt and run the following command to remove the the SafeMode boot option:
bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
8. Restart the computer and boot normally, the system will boot successfully to the Modern App Start Menu.
josephecks
9 Posts
0
April 6th, 2014 10:00
This is the process I was following, my problem was that I couldn't switch from Intel RST straight to AHCI. I first had to switch to ATA and then to AHCI (I still don't know why RST was still appearing in the list)
With that sorted I installed the mSATA SSD with no real troubles, the orange tape over it was a bit fiddly to reattach. Windows booted with no trouble and there was my SSD.
Things went a bit cataclysmic after that. I *think* my HDD's partitions were messed up while I was creating a recovery USB and meant the laptop wouldn't boot at all. Error 0xc000025 winload.efi missing - ironically suggesting I insert recovery media, the very thing I was trying to create.
I tried many times to install Windows 8 again over this from a USB but it would always skip right past it in the boot priority and go straight to booting to the broken HDD. After lots of toiling I decided to try and boot to Fedora which I had on a USB stick, after a couple of attempts I was able to do so, I then formatted the 1TB HDD and after that was able to re-install Windows (to the SSD this time). The whole process from start to finish took about 12 hours (most of which was sat at a computer trying to figure out what to do) but I feel like I've come out the other side as a more rounded individual...
Thanks for your help wmarsh, you're a credit to these forums!
halo9
8 Posts
0
April 9th, 2014 21:00
Just an update on Dell's response to the issue with this system. This was passed on to me and has come from Dell's engineers.
HDD + 32GB mSATA config can support both Intel Rapid Start and Intel Smart Response.
After the iRST driver ver 12.7, it needs min 12GB cache area.
Smart Response does not require dedicated cache just for itself.
Also Intel Rapid Start requires only 8GB. It does not have to be the same amount of main memory.
Now lets have a look at point 4. in the release notes. Minimum of 16GB (not 12GB as Dell states) and not enabled yet and is only targeted for version 13, which is not even released yet.
4. Support for 16GB minimum cache requirement for SRT “Dual Drive SSD cache” will not be enabled in the RST 12.8 release and is targeted for RST 13.0 release.
I got some feedback directly on Intel's community regarding Dell's answer and their minimum specs and the response was:
Based on your description I have to point something you said and that where the issue lies.
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology requires 18.5 GB as minimum capacity of a SSD to cache the system and the Intel® Rapid Start Technology requires a hibernation partition with equal to or larger than the amount of system memory. This means that the total should be 34.5 GB of the SSD while your system has a SSD with 32 GB capacity.
I am sure the system can work with both technologies when having the correct configuration but I regret to say that with your current configuration is not possible to use both.
So do we trust Intel or Dell? I have reported back to Dell and am waiting to see what they say to their initial response.
wmarsh
53 Posts
0
April 10th, 2014 05:00
Good job halo9!
I don't waste time calling tech support unless I need an RMA, but I'm glad you do.
Its nice to see Intel supporting us here.
I am very happy with my XPS15. But I have it switched to AHCI mode and have a 1TB Samsung EVO both in mSATA and SATA3 slots -- with both Rapid Start and Rapid Storage turned off.
kpawel
2 Posts
0
April 13th, 2014 18:00
I apologize for asking off topic question.
I am contemplating purchasing new XPS 15.
However, is it possible or advisable to replace standard 32 GB mSATA with a 128GB and reinstall OS on the mSATA? I wanted to run OS and software off mSATA and utilize the 1 TB as a storege. I do have Win 8 Pro upgrade available.