Does Intel VROC do something on SSD bootability

[HAl-S]

Hello Intel Community:

I know that Intel VROC is used to control the RAID of several PCIe SSD. However, my question is that:

Does the existence/nonexistance of VROC affect if the PCIe SSD can be bootable or not?

I did many research on the web, contacting the Tecnical support of my Workstation PC manufacturer, but unfurtunately, I cannot get something useful. Their tecnicians have lack of this specific question, and only have knowledge on useing Intel VROC for RAID.

Any help please?

Thanks

[SMuns]

If the NVME drive it mapped with VROC in BIOS to boot from VROC whether pass-thru or raid mode.

You must use VROC driver. Windows NVME driver will not detect drive at all.

Regards,

Shawn.

[HAl-S]

Hello ShawnMunster

I think your respond is very important and need a little bit addition. This will help many others who are intersted in adding new M.2 PCIe NVMe drives to their systems.

Personally, I am one of those. I tried to do this with (adapter card+M.2 NVMe SSD). I spent more than one month with no successful even my workstation system is new.

I did not left any try on the net and manufacturer community to overcome the issue that while trying to install the fresh copy of Windows on this SSD, the SSD is not recognized.

I tried to load the interprise Intel RST latest drivers with no hope. I can say that, this is not mine problem, but there are many others facing this issue with no solution. 

This makes me investigate all possible issues that may affect the recognition of these PCIeSSDs, and existing/notexisting Intel VROC is one of these issues.

My system has VROC empty slot, and this makes my suspecious if the Intel VROC is used for activating RAID between several disk drives ONLY, or it also makes these SSDs be visible to windows installation process also.

My anticipation is that:

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

If Intel VROC MUST be presents in these systems (where adapter card is used into one of the PCIe slots to add the M.2 NVMe SSD), then, the driver needed to introduce while installing windows will be Intel VROC driver NOT the Intel Rapid Storage Tecnology driver.

Are you able to agree with my anticipation above please?

Thanks a lot for your great respond

[SMuns]

Hi hms.81

You are correct with below statement.

Are you running full UEFI, I had to turn on secure boot to get my drives work correctly, no CSM.

Have you tried the drive in another system.

Regards,

Shawn.

[HAl-S]

Certainly, because modern machines should use UEFI.

However, I was able to install using the original manufacturer installation media USB. That i, I did not use Windows Installation media available on the Microsoft website.

This means that, there are some drivers already inserted in the installation media of the manufacturer those makes windows installation reads the PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD. This also means that, it is not related to the SSD manufacturer.

After a lot of tries with the BIOS configurations. I can confirm that in normal conditions, to install these drives (NVMe) onto PCIe slots the with the UEFI, the PCIe NVMe driver is the most important thing need to be available. Some systems then, will need Intel Rapid Storage Technology Enterprise, and others will need Intel VROC, may be others systems of external PCIe controller card will require other suitable driver.

I do not have other system to try on

Thanks

Hassan

[SMuns]

Hi Hassan,

What brand is the PCI-e card?

Regards,

Shawn.

[HAl-S]

VisionTek PCIe adapter card. with part number 900989

[SMuns]

Had a card like that it did not work with my older system as boot drive, data drive was fine though.

I like the ASUS Hyper M.2 card might work better for you.

[HAl-S · Accepted solution]

ASUS Hyper M.2 is working only for ASUS motherboard accourdingto my best knowledge.

However, I ordered the interposer card of my manufacturer:

Dell Ultra-Speed Drive Quad PCIe x16 Adapter Card Up to 4x NVMe M.2 SSD Support

I think this should be sufficient.

Thanks for your suggestion.

[idata]

Hello hms.81,

I was reviewing your community post and we would like to know if you need further assistance or if we can close this case. We will be looking forward to your reply.Best regards,Josh B.Intel® Customer Support TechnicianUnder Contract to Intel Corporation