Rapid Storage Technology
Intel® RST, RAID
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Accelerating with Solid-State Drives Query

RAshc
Beginner
662 Views

I had an old version of RST (14.8.16.1063 I think) but it did​ offer me the facility of enabling acceleration using my Solid-state drive. However, I just updated to version 17.8.0.1065, as my old version stopped working. Now I find that 'Enable acceleration' option has disappeared. Can anyone tell what's happening here and why?

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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Bad decision; you should not have upgraded your RST that far. The latest versions of RST do not support Intel SRT, the feature that allowed all or part of a SATA SSD to be used as an acceleration cache for a SATA HDD. In the newer versions of RST, support for Intel SRT was replaced with support for Optane Memory-based caching.

...S

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RAshc
Beginner
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​Hi n.Scott.pearson,

 

many thanks for your reply. Many thanks to Intel, too, for disenfranchising me from SRT. Why didn't Intel mention this? How was I suposed to know?

 

Can I recover this situation? Is it possible to uninstall the version of RST that I've got and install a version that does support SRT? If so, what is that version and is it safe?

 

Kind regard

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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Well, it depends upon the pedigree of the RST firmware provided by your BIOS. If it contains Optane support, it will not contain SRT support. Optane support was introduced with the 7th gen Core processors and corresponding chipsets.

 

As for drivers and software, yes, you can simply uninstall the newer package and reinstall an older package. Since Optane arrived (and SRT departed) in the 7th gen, to get the best version that still supported SRT, you want something from the 6th gen. Here is a good version to try (latest available for the 6th gen. NUCs): https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26138/Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-RAID-for-NUC6i3SY-NUC6i5SY-NUC6i7KYK?product=89187.

 

Hope this helps,

...S

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RAshc
Beginner
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​Hi n.scott.pearson,

 

many thanks for your reply. This is getting way too complicated for me. I did have the option on my original version of RST to enable 'Enable acceleration'. I didn't enable it as I posted a question regarding caching to the forum which didn't really get answered. My question was that if my SSD was being used to store cached elements of Windows 10 then what happened if I did a Windows Update? Would the new and updated Windows 10 components be automatically updated in the SSD? Well, as I said I didn't get an answer to that one so I didn't 'Enable acceleration'. Now that it's disappeared as an option I don't think that it worth my while trying to resurrect it. I wish Intel would be a bit more forthcoming about what can run on what and when.

 

Anyway, thanks for all your help.

 

Kind regards 

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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No problem. To answer your question, it is certainly possible that portions of your file system are represented in the Optane Memory acceleration cache and not (yet) represented on the physical HDD. It doesn't matter, however, because all R/W operations are routed through the acceleration cache. Remember that, while acceleration (caching) is active, you do not see the physical Optane Memory Module or the physical HDD; you instead see a single drive that logically represents the pair of devices. Where problems can occur is if you, for example, remove the Optane Memory module from the PC without first disabling acceleration/caching. In this case, because there are portions of the file system in the cache and not on the HDD, the HDD will appear to be a corrupted mess. Some folks take a defensive approach and disable acceleration/caching while doing any major updating (applying BIOS updates, applying major Windows 10 updates, etc.).

 

...S

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RAshc
Beginner
625 Views

 

​Hi n.scott.pearson,

many thanks for your info. I'm not sure my PC ever had an Optane Memory module. It is an old PC (Dell XPS 8700 bought in 2015). RST has only ever referred to the SSD as SATA SSD, no mention of Optane.

 

Anyway, it looks like Intel have abandoned me when it comes to SRT and it looks like RST, itself, is being abandoned by Intel according to their website: 

(Link: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000055419/technologies.html)

 

Thank you, once again, for all the info you've sent me. I wish Intel had been as helpful.

 

Kind regards.

 

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
625 Views

No, you misread the announcement. They are just replacing the RST/Optane Win32 app with a new app implemented using Microsoft's Modern App (Metro) APIs. Instead of receiving the app as part of the RST driver package, you download it from the Microsoft App Store. This download will happen automatically (during next reboot) after you install the driver package.

 

...S

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RAshc
Beginner
624 Views

​Hi n.scott.pearson,

 

 

many thanks for the clarification. Either way it looks like SRT has been completely lost for me (thanks Intel).

 

 

Kind regards

 

 

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