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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I guess the decrease of performance I'm experiencing is due to the fact that the Intel Rapid Storage Technology is no longer active.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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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

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