SATA Transfer Rate is SATA 2 speed and it should be SATA 3 speed, Could someone assist me?

[Scooter2478]

Hello PC community,

I have an MSI Z170A Gaming M5 motherboard with intel z170 chipset which supports SATA 3 6GB/s speeds. I have 2 HP(MB2000EBZQC)/Seagate Constellation ES ST2000NM0011 drives that were in RAID0 and I recently noticed the loading times were slower. Previously, the drives read as SATA 3 6GB/s. After running CrystalDiskMark my read/write scores were under 100mbps but when it was running at SATA 3 speeds it was 400+ mbps. I don't know what happened but Intel Rapid Storage Technology is reading the drives as SATA2 3GB/s. Here's what I had done so far; I reverted the BIOS back to a much older version, I had wiped all my drives, removed the RAID, added SATA 3 cables, re-installed windows 10 1809 version with the oldest Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers from MSI, In "Services" Optimize Drive to auto, and scanned for bad sectors with no luck. The drives are still read as SATA 2 3GB/s no matter what I do I can't get SATA 3 6GB/s . Any help would be appreciated since I can't find anything online for this issue.

System Specs;

Motherboard: MSI Z170A Gaming M5

PSU: Aero Cool 1000w

CPU: Intel core i5 7600k

RAM: 2x 8gb G.SKILL Aegis DDR4 3000 (intel z170 certified)

GPU: MSI Armor MK 2 Radeon RX 580 8gb

M.2 SSD: Western Digital WD Black WDC WDS256G1X0C

HDD: 2x 2TB HP/Seagate Constellation ES ST2000NM0011 (HP models MB2000EBZQC)

[n_scott_pearson]

Reinstall the latest BIOS. Disable RAID in BIOS (i.e. revert setting to AHCI). Install Windows 10 in UEFI mode. Do not install Intel RST. Test to see whether SATA III is then properly enabled.

H​ope this helps,

...S

[Scooter2478]

Thank you n.scott.pearson, I tried that but it didn't work. I would like to create another RAID0 with the 2 drives and I would like them to be SATA 6GB/s speed.

Whats odd is, I was able to press CTRL+I at system boot before the created RAID but now it won't work ever since I created the first RAID. I can create a RAID through the BIOS but not CTRL+I. I believe in the BIOS it does show an intel RST driver version. according to MSI's driver page for the Intel RST it says "Please refer to the BIOS note to download the correct Intel Rapid Storage Technology RAID driver for your system.

For Intel RST ROM 15.2 version" but none of the BIOS have anything in the note about Intel RST. I had posted on the MSI forum with no luck so I figured maybe someone on the Intel forum could help.

hopefully the image can be seen. In this image is the specifications of one of the drives which should be read at SATA 6GB/s speed so I know the drive isn't restricted to SATA 3GB/s.

[David_V_Intel]

Hello Scooter2478, Thank you for posting on the Intel ® communities. I would like to know exactly where do you see the SATA II speed instead of the SATA III and provide me with an system report which can be generated by following the steps in the link below: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006351/technologies.html Regards, David V Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[Scooter2478]

Sorry it took so long to reply. Here is the system report.

System Report

System Information

Status: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

OS version: 10.0.17763 

System name: CRYSTALDRAGON-1

System manufacturer: MSI

System model: MS-7977

Processor: GenuineIntel Intel64 Family 6 Model 158 Stepping 9 3.792 GHz

BIOS: American Megatrends Inc., 1.F0

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise Information

Kit installed: 15.2.0.1020

User interface version: 15.2.0.1020

Language: English (United States)

RAID option ROM version: 15.2.0.2754

Driver version: 15.2.0.1020

ISDI version: 15.2.0.1020

Storage System Information

RAID Configuration

Hardware Information

Controller name: Intel Chipset SATA RAID Controller

Type: SATA

Mode: RAID

Number of SATA ports: 6

Number of volumes: 0

Number of spares: 0

Number of available disks: 2

Rebuild on Hot Plug: Disabled

Manufacturer: 32902

Model number: 10274

Product revision: 49

Direct attached disk: Z1P30D81

Direct attached disk: Z1P33DNA

Disk on Controller 0, Port 0

Status: Normal

Type: SATA disk

Location type: Internal

Usage: Available

Size: 1,863 GB

System disk: No

Disk data cache: Enabled

Command queuing: NCQ

Transfer rate: 3 Gb/s

Model: MB2000EBZQC               

Serial number: Z1P30D81

SCSI device ID: 0

Firmware: HPG2   

Physical sector size: 512 Bytes

Logical sector size: 512 Bytes

Disk on Controller 0, Port 1

Status: Normal

Type: SATA disk

Location type: Internal

Usage: Available

Size: 1,863 GB

System disk: No

Disk data cache: Enabled

Command queuing: NCQ

Transfer rate: 3 Gb/s

Model: MB2000EBZQC               

Serial number: Z1P33DNA

SCSI device ID: 0

Firmware: HPG2   

Physical sector size: 512 Bytes

Logical sector size: 512 Bytes

ATAPI device on Controller 0, Port 5

Location type: Internal

Transfer rate: 1.5 Gb/s

Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH15F          

Serial number: K6E84QM0723

Firmware: EG00   

Empty port

Port: 0

Port location: Internal

Empty port

Port: 0

Port location: Internal

Empty port

Port: 0

Port location: Internal

[David_V_Intel]

Hello Scooter2478, Thank you for your response. Have you tried checking for BIOS updates for your motherboard? If not, please try updating the BIOS version of it. For assistance with that, please contact MSI*. Also, try taking the BIOS back to defaults and check again to see if the SATA is still running at SATA II speed. Regards, David V Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[Scooter2478]

I had tried all BIOS versions and Intel RST for this motherboard. In a RAID or individually without being in a RAID the drives are SATA 3Gb/s. no matter what BIOS and Intel RST I use I still cant use CTRL+I but I had used CTRL+I once before to setup the RAID so is CTRL+I a one time use? . Switching to AHCI doesn't change anything. When I first installed the drives I had done a DiskMark benchmark on the drives in RAID0 and the score was above 400+mbps. When I had first noticed the speed change I checked Intel Rapid Storage Technology app and it showed Transfer Rate 3Gb/s (SATA II). After that I ran another benchmark and the score was arround 200+mbps. I recently looked at CrystalDiskInfo which shows Transfer Rate SATA/300|SATA/300 and HWINFO shows Serial ATA 3Gb/s @ 3Gb/s. So i'm thinking that its possibly the intel chipset because its max transfer rate is SATA 3 6Gb/s and its only showing max SATA 2 3Gb/s so shouldn't CrystalDiskInfo show as SATA600|SATA300 & HWINFO show as Serial ATA 6Gb/s @ 3Gb/s?

[Scooter2478]

I have loaded previous BIOS and worked my way up to the newest with no difference. I had also loaded BIOS with default settings and custom with no difference. I can't access the CTRL+I at boot for the Intel RST, which is odd since I was only able to do that once. The BIOS does show an Intel RST driver. When I do RAID now I only get 200+ mbsp at SATA 2 3GB/s compared to 400+ that I was getting previuosly at SATA 3 6GB/s. I'm stumped as to why im not getting full SATA transfer rate.

[n_scott_pearson]

Many BIOS have gone to a model where the BIOS extension is invoked directly from BIOS Setup, not via the CTRL-I. You need to ask your motherboard vendor how they have set it up...

...S

[Scooter2478]

I had contacted Seagate just to see if it could be my drives, heres the reply;

Thank you for contacting Seagate Support.

Some Seagate drives bear the Seagate name and logo, but they are actually the property of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), such as Dell or Hewlett-Packard (HP), and might have specialized firmware. These drives are sold as part of a larger piece of equipment such as a server, a PC, or notebook computer. However, sometimes, these servers or computers are disassembled and the hard drives end up being sold separately from third-party re sellers or online vendors such as eBay.

These OEM drives usually have specialized OEM firmware. Flashing an OEM drive with standard (non-specialized) firmware can permanently damage the hard drive. Also, providing standard firmware for OEM hard drives may violate the legal agreements Seagate has with OEM companies. For these reasons, Seagate offers no firmware support for OEM hard drives.

So, what i'm understanding is that the drives are SATA 3 6GB/s from seagate (image above in previous post) but HP installed firmware to "dumb them down" to SATA 2 3GB/s? WHAT THE HECK!? Why would they do that!?😖 I guess im stuck with SATA 2 transfer rate. Kinda sucks that I had paid for SATA 3 and got SATA 2 from newegg.com.

I really appreciate all the help from you forum users, Thank you👍

[David_V_Intel]

Hello Scooter2478, Thank you for your response. If you believe the issue is related to the chipset, my recommendation would be to contact the motherboard manufacturer and try re-installing the chispet driver, if this does not help then perhaps you can try to send in the motherboard so they can test with other hard drives. You can do this as well, if possible, connect other hard drive to see if the performance is the same. Regards, David V Intel Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation