Hybrid drive with a spare Intel X25 80GB SSD

[davide445]

After upgrading the C drive of my old PC to a Crucial MX300 275GB I've a spare Intel X25-M G2 80GB.

It's a SATA II MLC drive, and was thinking if make sense and it's possible to create a hybrid drive using Intel Rapid Storage with the HDD, a Toshiba DT01ACA300 3TB.

My PC use Win10 and is old so with SATA II interfaces, but I suppose I can use the SSD as a fast read cache for the bigger HDD.

 

[VirtualLarry]

What chipset / mobo do you have, and what CPU?

Not all Intel platforms are supported. You need RAID / RST / SRT support in the chipset/BIOS, and then you need a "Core" CPU. Celerons and Pentiums, need not apply.

 

[davide445]

The PC is the old HP Compaq Elite 8100 CMT, CPU i7-860 chipset Q57

 

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/prodbrief/323191.pdf

Looks like "no".

 

[davide445]

I can't follow you, in the document RST is declared as supported, I'm missing something?

 

[VirtualLarry]

But not SRT. RST is the RAID feature, SRT is an additional component of RST, that allows for SSD caching of HDDs. At least, that was my memory of things.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/smart-response-technology.html

 

[davide445]

Ahhh now I got it thanks.
SRT is supported from the following chipset generation so no luck for me.

 

[VirtualLarry]

SRT is supported from the following chipset generation so no luck for me.

Yeah... Sorry!

It really wasn't all that great anyways. It's much better just to get a decent-sized SSD, and use that as the primary OS drive.

 

[cfenton]

You could use Primocache if you're willing to spend $30. I haven't used it myself, but if memory serves several people on these boards use and recommend it.