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VROC issue with Toshiba Drives

AJane
Beginner
3,121 Views

Hello,

I have an issue with Intel VROC showing my Toshiba XG5 drives as unsupported. Specs are below:

Asus Prime x299-deluxe: Intel 7920x

(1) Asus Hyper M.2 x16

(4) Toshiba XG5 265 GB NVMe KXG50ZNV256G

(1) VROC VROCSTANMOD

(4) Micron 8GB 2666MHz DDR-4

The Hyper M.2 X16 card is reading correctly and once the CPU configuration is set for VROC, the VROC menu shows all four drives are connected at the correct speed. The VROC key is also showing connected and is confirmed as the Standard Key. Under the drive details for each slot, I am getting a Status of unsupported.

The official 3rd part support for Toshiba drives are for the XG3 series. Since the publication of that intel document, toshiba has come out with the newer XG5 series (which is a refresh to their XG product line). There is a lack of organization for Intel VROC documentation, but from the product briefs and several different Intel documentations I have read that the 3rd party supported drives are what are stated and similar based on models.

Edit: I forgot to add my question. When will I be able to use my drives in RAID configuration. I have already invested in these drives and need to know whether is was a waste because of a minor model difference.

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9 Replies
idata
Employee
1,604 Views

Hello ajanetsian,

 

 

Thanks for sharing your question with the Intel community.

 

 

As you have mentioned the XG5 drives have not been tested or validated to work with your

 

VROC key.

 

 

I will be doing further investigation with the engineering team on your question about the timeframe for your drives to be supported.

 

 

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Juan N.
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AJane
Beginner
1,604 Views

I understand your response, and it is absolutely correct that according to the documentation, (explicitly) the Toshiba XG5 drives are not validated by Intel. What I don't understand is that throughout this community, there are questions regarding compatibility and they are all met with the same response, that there are too many different 3rd party drives to test and that is why the list provided are drives that are compatible.

Everytime someone posts a question stating they want to use consumer Samsung 9xx drives, the response is ultimately, use the business Samsung pm series drives. My configuration of VROC is not that far fetched from what is documented . I am not demanding a Patriot drive or an ADATA drive work with VROC with full compatibility. I am simply wanting to install the current revision of the Toshiba XG series. I have done research regarding compatibility and based on the miniscule, loosely worded documentation, the 3rd party list is to be used as a basis on what should be compatible.

Based on your response, Unless I spend money on older technology ;specifically getting the obsolete XG3, any other drive, regardless of the small changes, would be incompatible? Since the time I purchased my XG5 drives, Toshiba has released the XG5-P. After Intel decides to make the XG5 drive supported, will this new -P drive be unsupported?

I accept your answer as the most correct way to give a canned response, but the answer is unacceptable. The time, effort, and money put into this technology, only to be restricted by a model revision is asinine.

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AJane
Beginner
1,604 Views

Good Afternoon,

It has been one week since your reply and I have yet to receive any update. Please respond with an update regarding this issue.

Thank you

Asbed J

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idata
Employee
1,604 Views

Hello ajanetsian,

 

 

The engineering team just answered about your concern with the following statement:

 

 

"The [Toshiba] XG5 is actually supported at this time. We are working on updating the list. There is no current communication for how often the list will be updated."

 

 

Hope this information helps to clarify your question.

 

 

If you have any additional question please let me know.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Juan N.
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AJane
Beginner
1,604 Views

Good afternoon,

what does that mean for me as the end user? Will I boot into my computer today and see the xg5 as a supported drive? Or will I have to wait until a bios update to reflect the new bros supported drives( which would take months for Asus to develop and release)?

I am pleased with your response and will mark is as a correct answer as soon as I am certain my investment will be actually used.

Thank you

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idata
Employee
1,604 Views

Hello ajanetsian,

 

 

Thanks for your patience in this matter.

 

 

Engineering has been doing additional research on your configuration to find the root cause of this issue.

 

 

Regularly the Intel® VROC Standard key should not have no problem recognizing the Toshiba GX5.

 

 

However, after checking your configuration we found that you are using an X299 chipset with an standard VROC key. With the X299 chipset the only validated VROC key to work is the Intel only key with Intel SSDs. The configuration you are using has not been tested or validated by Intel and it is not guaranteed to work.

 

 

The tested, validated and guaranteed to work configuration with your chipset is using an Intel only VROC key and Intel SSDs.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Juan N.
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AJane
Beginner
1,604 Views

So, let me understand.

The immediate response given was that the Toshiba XG5 was unsupported. I provided specific system details and was told it was an incompatibility issue and that I should have purchased the obsolete XG3 to have VROC functionality. At that point I had the opportunity to return my VROC Standard Key, but since it was stated it was a drive compatibility issue, I kept the key in hopes that the XG5 would become compatible. Now, after the return period has lapsed for my VROC key, I am now given a totally different response for my configuration to not work? Why wasn't it brought up from the first post that no 3rd party drive will ever work on my system? That would have saved everyone a whole week of needless researching and waiting. Now I have a Standard VROC key which might not work after the additional investment of Intel drives to replace my useless Toshiba Drives.

Also, I made my choice based on the very little information given regarding Intel VROC. There are cases where a x299 platform has used non intel drives. https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/Intel-VROC-Tested-X299-VROC-vs-Z270-RST-Quad-Optane-vs-Quad-960-PRO/ASUS-Hyper-M2-X1 Intel VROC Tested!...Quad 960 PRO | ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 … https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/Intel-VROC-Tested-X299-VROC-vs-Z270-RST-Quad-Optane-vs-Quad-960-PRO/ASUS-Hyper-M2-X1 https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/Intel-VROC-Tested-X299-VROC-vs-Z270-RST-Quad-Optane-vs-Quad-960-PRO/ASUS-Hyper-M2-X1

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idata
Employee
1,604 Views

Hello ajanetsian,

 

 

Unfortunately that is the case regarding the compatibility between your Chipset, your Toshiba Drives and the Standard VROC key. Since the delay to answer your original question costed you the timeframe to have the VROC key returned we can do a very one time exception for you.

 

 

I will be sending you an private message with all the details.

 

 

Thanks for your patience.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Juan N.
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idata
Employee
1,604 Views

Hello ajanetsian,

 

 

This is a message to follow up on your issue. Is there any additional question I can assist you with?

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Juan N.
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