Optane memory software install issue (partition cannot be resized)

[ILast]

I'm attempting to install the software on Windows 10 64x system but it states

'The last partition on your system drive cannot be resized, which is required to enable Intel Optane memory.'

Im guessing there is a partition somewhere that i need to unlock or something but i honestly have no idea what i am doing or how to fix this.

Any help?

Attached intel log file and dxdiag.

[idata · Accepted solution]

Hello Ianlast,

This error occurs when there is an unmovable recovery partition at the end of your current drive. Since active recovery partitions are protected by Windows* and cannot be moved nor resized, Intel® Optane™ will be unable to write it's required metadata information at the end of your disk.

Ideally, you should try to move the recovery partition 5MB away from the end of your drive. If this is not possible, you would need to consider deleting the recovery partition altogether and creating a recovery disk in it's place.

While we don't provide support for this action directly, the following article may help:

- http://Geek. https//www.howtogeek.com/139710/remove-your-pc%E2%80%99s-recovery-partition-and-take-control-of-your-hdd/ Remove Your PC's Recovery Partition and Take Control of Your Hard Drive - by How-To Geek*.

- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/instantanswers/3a747883-b706-43a5-a286-9e98f886d490/create-a-recovery-drive Create a recovery drive - Microsoft* support.

On a personal note, in the past I've had great success performing this type of operations using http://www.partition-tool.com/ EaseUS Partition Master*.

NOTE: Any links provided for third party tools or sites are offered for your convenience and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Intel® of the content, products, or services offered there. We do not offer support for any third party tool mentioned here. You should always make sure to back up any important data before troubleshooting your storage devices.

Feel free to let us know if you have any remaining questions or doubts.

Best regards,

Carlos A.

[ILast]

That worked! Thanks for that!

Anyhow, it appears i have a new problem. I installed the software but for the setup its telling me i have an unsupported bios and unsupported system drive. I have literally just flashed my bios to be the most up to date version and my motherboard is definately listed as being supported so im not sure what is going on. And i have no idea what it means by system drive being unsupported.

[RXION]

using win10 x64 on gpt,I've met the same issue, but I can't find the recovery partition in disk manager(seems that there isnt't one),.

I have tried to make a recovery disk on my mobile hdd hoping that after finishing I can choose delete the old recovery disk,yet no.

[idata]

Hello hhhhhaaa,

Looking at your logs I don't see any mention of a recovery partition getting in the way. Instead, it seems that our installer was not able to shrink your regular partition for some reason.

In this case, you will need to do this manually, but don't worry, it should be simple enough:

1. Right click on your start menu icon at the bottom left of your screen and select "Disk Management" from the drop down menu.
2. Locate your boot drive and right click on the last partition. It will probably be labeled as your primary partition somewhere. Select the option to "Shrink Volume."
3. "Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB: 20." Then click on "Shrink"
4. Run the installer again or enable Optane™.

Optional steps:

1. Open disk management again, locate the partition that we shrunk, right click on it and select to "Extend Volume" this time.
2. By default, the wizard will have the space available to extend the volume already inputted, you'll simply need to select next until it completes.

Please let us know if this works for you.

Best regards,

Carlos A.

[RHOWA2]

Thank you,

Okay once I delete the recovery partition do I need to create a need partition at the end of the primary drive?

Also after the deletion of the recovery drive creating a recovery USB will I be able in the future to do another recovery USB if need be?

[idata]

Hello AUTOBOT,

After deleting the recovery partition you may extend your existing partition all the way to the end of your drive and let the Optane™ software resize it for you. Alternatively you may do this manually by leaving 5 MB of unallocated space at the end of your drive.

You may create a recovery drive (or USB) by following the very simple steps https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/instantanswers/3a747883-b706-43a5-a286-9e98f886d490/create-a-recovery-drive provided by Microsoft*:

"A recovery drive can help you troubleshoot and fix problems with your PC, even if it won't start. To create one, all you need is a USB drive.

1. From the taskbar, search for Create a recovery drive and then select it. You might be asked to enter an admin password or confirm your choice.
2. When the tool opens, make sure Back up system files to the recovery drive is selected and then select Next.
3. Connect a USB drive to your PC, select it, and then select Next > Create. A lot of files need to be copied to the recovery drive, so this might take a while.
4. When it's done, you might see a Delete the recovery partition from your PC link on the final screen. If you want to free up drive space on your PC, select the link and then select Delete. If not, select Finish."

NOTE: Any links provided for third party tools or sites are offered for your convenience and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Intel® of the content, products, or services offered there. We do not offer support for any third party tool mentioned here.

Best regards,

Carlos A.

[RHOWA2]

Thank you,

just purchased EaseUS Partition Manager,

It allows me to move the partition of the recovery drive by sliding the bar to the right...Is that what you meant this "move the recovery partition 5MB away from the end of your drive"?

[idata]

Hello AUTOBOT,

You're correct. All that you need is 5MB at the end (right side) of your drive. This is where Optane™ Memory will write it's metadata to pair itself with your boot drive.We noticed in your screenshots that you also have an external drive connected to your computer. To avoid issues, it's generally recommended to disconnect any secondary drives from your computer until after you have enabled your Optane™ Memory module.Please let us know if this helps.Best regards,Carlos A.

[RHOWA2]

thank you

I have not received the memory module yet just getting for it it should be here any day now.

I thought as much about removing the external drive.

On another note I have some unallocated space at the beginnng of the disk no drive letter what should I do with that? ...Expand the primary till it goes away?

So the screen shots I have yet to actually activate the change But the 1st shot is before and the 2nd is what it would look like if I just moved the recovery partition i.e.to the right.

But I will probably just delete it all together and extend the partition and let optane do the rest.

Honestly, hope all this is worth the effort, when I first preordered it thought it wag going to be a simple install.

Been researching for quite a while so I will be know what to do when it arrives.

Already downloaded the user guide Apr 2017 rev 1.0.2.

[idata]

Hello AUTOBOT,

We're sure you can't wait until it arrives. It's much better to research and get ready before hand than to get caught off guard.You should be able to simply extend your partition to the right until there is no wasted space there. Normally you wouldn't be allowed to do this, but Partition Master* is quite nice that way.There is another detail we just noticed while taking a second look at your screenshots. For your Optane™ memory to work, Windows must be installed in a GPT partition. Your current system drive seems to be using MBR (which is a really old standard, think 1983, believe it or not).Thankfully, since you're already using the EaseUS* software, this should be very, very simple:- http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/GPT-disk-partition-manager/convert-mbr-disk-to-gpt-disk.htm How to convert MBR disk to GPT disk with EaseUS* partition software.Another thing you may want to verify is that your BIOS is updated to an Optane™ Ready version, and that you have CSM (or Legacy BIOS) disabled. If this is enabled or set to "auto", you may encounter an error message while enabling your system acceleration. You may be able to change this using your partition software, but I'm not familiar enough with the steps. Their support team may be able to help (just ask them "how do I migrate my Windows* installation from BIOS to UEFI?"). Or you can follow https://superuser.com/questions/389971/how-to-move-an-existing-installation-of-window-7-64bit-to-uefi-from-legacy this guide that was written for Windows* 7 but works for 10 as well.NOTE: Any links provided for third party tools or sites are offered for your convenience and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Intel® of the content, products, or services offered there. We do not offer support for any third party tool mentioned here.Best regards,Carlos A.

[RHOWA2]

Thank you Carlos,

for the new information on the MBR and CSM, checked the bios and it allows me to disable.

I have flashed to the latest Asus Maximus IX hero bios version 0906 containing Optane support

Yes the MBR conversion looks like a simple task with EaseUS. Looks like the setting is a already UEFI.

Just received the shipment confirmation and Fedex tracking for the 32 GB Optane, will do the install over the weekend and will post my results afterwards.

So thank you again for your help...after all, we are embarking on cutting edge technology.

Have a great rest of the week.

[idata]

Hello AUTOBOT,

We're always glad to help. Do let us know how things work out or if you need any help along the way.Best regards,Carlos A.

[RHOWA2]

Thank you Carlos for all your help very valuable information provided.

The Optane 32 GB memory arrived Thursday and I installed Friday 02-Jun-17 eve.

Let me say that WOW the Optane memory upgrade is well worth the investment in time and money...what a difference my WD Black 1tb now acts like an SSD!

Okay now for my experience installing:

Good thing I had the EaseUS Partition Master installed (No affiliation) very simple to use and IMO a must have if Windows 10 64 is already installed.

Launched EaseUS program,

1st deleted recovery partition, rebooted...done

2nd expanded C to use up the recovery partition and any unallocated space, rebooted...done

3rd converted Drive from MBR to GPT Rebooted....

During reboot there is a DOS screen showing the conversion progress.*

When done, I shutdown the computer and booted into Bios settings, changed bios from Legacy to UEFI saved changes and exit.

Booted to Windows...admittedly a bit nervous at this point...success! windows booted all is good

*After conversion there will be newly created partitions. Leave those alone.

What I learned without getting to far into the weeds is not to install the memory chip until after Optane memory program has been installed....ran into a few issues.

after all the above has been done install Setupoptane.exe https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26730/Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-Intel-RST-?product=55005 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26730/Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-Intel-RST-?product=55005

reboot when prompted

since there is still no chip yet installed no need to click the Optane memory program just shut down and disconnect all power and install the M.2 chip.

boot to windows

click the optane memory program it will now see the chip but say that CSM needs to be disabled so yeah reboot again into the bios setup menu its there you should see that there are only 2 bios settings that need to be changed

(in my case Optane already changed the SATA settings but not the 2 remaining)

1) enable M.2 port remapping

2) Disable CSM

reboot yet again

Run Optane program follow all instructions, now, if I remember correctly there will be another reboot requirement (this should be the last)

when windows launches with Optane acceleration enabled you will now be pleased with the much improved OS speed.

One last thing for some reason the https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/memory-and-storage/optane-memory/intel-optane-memory-user-installation.pdf user and installation guide mentions installing RST Ch. 7 P. 41 but when I tried it would not install since Optane acceleration is already installed and running.

But all is good computer is running fast and smooth

[Kkoko]

hi autobot glad for you that you figured out how to enable your optane stick, i am still stuck and really don't know what did i miss, if you could please enlighten me i would be thankful, here are the details :

cpu 7700k

asrock z270 extreme4 latest bios

optane 32gb

seagate 8tb

32gb ddr4 gskill

my windows 10 64bit is uefi installed, csm is disabled in bios , optane is enabled along with remapping in bios

i have deleted the recovery partition as shown in the picture bellow, created 50mb unallocated space, can you see anything missing ?

regards

[RHOWA2]

Not sure really if there is anything missing disc 1 looks correct what is disc 0

mine only has disc 0.

Other than that is the computer booting to windows?

Edit...

If it boots to windows correctly have you tried to install optane setup?

[RHOWA2]

Also is your disk MBR or GTP (GUID Partition Table)

How to find out

1. Disk Management
2. On the left of the right lower pane,
   • right-click on Disk 0 and select Properties.
   • Select the Volumes tab.
   • The Partition style: entry will show as either Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID Partition Table (GPT).

[Kkoko]

my disk is gtp , disk 0 is the optane memeory i think, does it stay like that or do i have to format it ?

[RHOWA2]

Wow what time is it down under?

So it looks like you really need this program https://order.easeus.com/505/purl-store?cart=106499&x-source=e_epmstore EaseUS | Data Recovery, Backup, Partition Manager & PC Utility Software they take PayPal.

honestly like I mentioned before if windows is already installed, this program is a must, it will let you combine the unallocated space* at the end of the drive and optane will do the rest

* launch EaseUS partition manager

Highlight C right click select resize/move partition

use the the up arrow until the before and after are at zero

Apply wait till completed restart

Now for disk 0 Not sure is resize will work you may have to highlight c again and use the merge option apply wait and reboot??

This I have not done but I would also assume that after the merge has been done you may have to resize again??

[RHOWA2]

Just thinking if disc 0 is optane then I recommend removing the chip before running EaseUS.

I found that the chip needs to be installed after setup optane exe is launched

[RHOWA2]

here is the link again in AU dollar

https://order.easeus.com/505/?scope=checkout&id=r5a0YP9dp9&crel=currencyId https://order.easeus.com/505/?scope=checkout&id=r5a0YP9dp9&crel=currencyId