topic Re: HDD SSD SATA incompatible according to Intel Rapid Storage Technology in Rapid Storage Technology

HDD SSD SATA incompatible according to Intel Rapid Storage Technology

NH — Sat, 11 Nov 2017 16:08:34 GMT

Hi there,

I have been noting that my Alienware laptop (Windows 10 64 bits) is running much slower than it used to be. It includes a 500Go HDD which is used as the storage disk, and a second disk, a 32Go SSD which purpose it to improve the system performance.

I guess the decrease of performance I'm experiencing is due to the fact that the Intel Rapid Storage Technology is no longer active. As you can see in the screenshot below, the SSD is reported as "incompatible" (in French).

I have been looking for solutions on many forums, but nothing worked. What is weird is that the SSD seems not detected by the Windows Disk Manager (screenshot below).

Does anyone see any way how to fix this issue ?

Thank you for your help

Re: HDD SSD SATA incompatible according to Intel Rapid Storage Technology

n_scott_pearson — Sun, 12 Nov 2017 22:17:39 GMT

My question to Intel - which I asked them to answer a couple of weeks ago (but they declined to do so) - is simple: In the new releases of Intel RST (including the latest chipset revisions), has Intel dropped support for Intel SRT? That is, has Intel dropped support for the use of all or a portion of a normal SSD (SATA or NVMe) as a high-speed cache to accelerate the performance of a HDD?

If the answer to this question is yes, it might explain what has happened (presumably as a result of an upgrade of the Intel RST software) to your system...

...S

Re: HDD SSD SATA incompatible according to Intel Rapid Storage Technology

idata — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 21:06:48 GMT

Hi BillNa: Thank you very much for contacting the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology communities. We are sorry to hear the application is not working properly.

In order to try to fix this problem we just need to verify some details about your system, please provide the RAID report:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006351/technologies.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006351/technologies.html

Any questions, please let me know.

N. Scott Pearson: There are no reports or any information stating that the tool dropped support for the use of a normal SSD as a high-speed cache to accelerate the performance of a HDD. Remember that the acceleration feature it will not work when using an NVMe unit.

Regards,

Alberto R

Re: HDD SSD SATA incompatible according to Intel Rapid Storage Technology

NH — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 21:23:24 GMT

Hi all,

Thank you both for your replies.

Alberto, here is the System Report :

-------------------------------------------------

System Report

System Information

OS name: Microsoft Windows 10 Famille

OS version: 10.0.14393 9200

System name: TERMINATOR

System manufacturer: Alienware

System model: M17xR4

Processor: GenuineIntel Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9 2.401 GHz

BIOS: Alienware, A10

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise Information

Kit installed: 12.8.0.1016

User interface version: 12.8.0.1016

Language: English (United States)

Driver version: 12.8.0.1016

ISDI version: 12.8.0.1016

Storage System Information

Controller name: Intel(R) 7 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller

Type: SATA

Mode: AHCI

Number of SATA ports: 4

Number of volumes: 0

Number of spares: 0

Number of available disks: 2

Rebuild on Hot Plug: Disabled

Manufacturer: 32902

Model number: 7683

Product revision: 4

Direct attached disk: WD-WX81A82J2335

Direct attached disk: S0XLNSACC38620

Disk on Controller 0, Port 0

Status: Normal

Type: SATA disk

Location type: Internal

Size: 466 GB

System disk: Yes

Disk data cache: Enabled

Command queuing: NCQ

SATA transfer rate: 3 Gb/s

Model: WDC WD5000BPKT-75PK4T0

Serial number: WD-WX81A82J2335

SCSI device ID: 0

Firmware: 01.01A01

Physical sector size: 4096 Bytes

Logical sector size: 512 Bytes

Disk on Controller 0, Port 3

Status: Incompatible

Type: SATA SSD

Location type: Internal

Size: 30 GB

System disk: No

Disk data cache: Enabled

Command queuing: NCQ

SATA transfer rate: 3 Gb/s

Model: SAMSUNG SSD PM830 mSATA 32GB

Serial number: S0XLNSACC38620

SCSI device ID: 3

Firmware: CXM13D1Q

Physical sector size: 512 Bytes

Logical sector size: 512 Bytes

ATAPI device on Controller 0, Port 2

Location type: Internal

SATA transfer rate: 0 Gb/s

Model: HL-DT-STDVD+/-RW GA31N

Serial number: K0ICB214907

Firmware: A201

Empty port

Port: 4

Port location: External

Re: HDD SSD SATA incompatible according to Intel Rapid Storage Technology

idata — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 00:46:39 GMT

Hi BillNa: Thank you very much for providing the report. Based on the information on it, the SATA mode is set to AHCI, so, what we need to do will be to change the SATA mode to RAID , then re-install Windows from scratch and after that enable the Intel® SMART Response Technology on Intel® RST, to optimize the performance.

If you want to change the state of the SSD, you can always try a low level format on it, but the SATA mode will still be set to AHCI.

Any questions, please let me know.

Regards,

Alberto R

Re: HDD SSD SATA incompatible according to Intel Rapid Storage Technology

NH — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 13:53:02 GMT

Thank you for your reply.

It now works fine but I did have to reinstall Windows with the Alienware disk.

Windows 8 is now my OS, and I am afraid to upgrade to Windows 10.

Do you know if it is an issue to switch to Windows 10 ?

Kind regards

Re: HDD SSD SATA incompatible according to Intel Rapid Storage Technology

idata — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 20:48:54 GMT

BillNa: You are welcome. Thank you very much for providing those results. In regard to your inquiry, what we recommend is to get in contact directly with Dell to confirm if they validated Windows® 10 as fully compatible with your platform, I looked for drivers and the only operating systems showing are Windows® 7,8 and 8.1:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/alienware-m17x-r4/drivers http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/alienware-m17x-r4/drivers

http://www.dell.com/support/incidents-online/us/en/04/contactus/dynamic http://www.dell.com/support/incidents-online/us/en/04/contactus/dynamic

Any questions, please let me know.

Regards,

Alberto R