Intel Rapid Start Technology vs Win8 Hybrid Shutdown/Fast Startup

[wpcoe]

I finally enabled Hybrid Shutdown and Fast Startup on Win 8, and have a shortcut on my desktop for Hybrid Shutdown: C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /s /hybrid /t 00

My motherboard also supports Intel Rapid Start Technology, so I installed it and enabled it in UEFI ("BIOS").

They each require 12GB SSD space for a total of 24GB, which seems a bit excessive.

This Microsoft blog page explains what Hybrid Shutdown/Fast Startup are, but what exactly does Intel Rapid Start Technology (IRST) do?

I subjectively tested:

1) Enable Hybrid Shutdown/Fast Startup and disable IRST
2) Disable Hybrid Shutdown/Fast Startup and enable IRST
3) Enable both
4) Disable both

1, 2 and 3 all seem to be equally quick to shutdown, and to start up, so apparently the two are redundant?

4 definitely seems slower to boot, so they *do* do something.

I'm leaning toward uninstalling IRST, but again, I'm not sure what exactly it does.

Any recommendations?

 

[OSULugan]

IRST is Intel Rapid Storage Technology, not Start. IRST provides SSD caching for your normal HDD for all of your computing needs (not just startup/shutdown).

I would think that would give you much better overall performance than the Hybrid Shutdown/Fast Startup of Windows 8, which is likely just using your SSD to cache startup files.

 

[wpcoe]

IRST is used as an acronym both Intel Rapid Storage Technology and Intel Rapid Start Technology.

Not to be confused with Intel Smart Response Technology (ISRT), which is the SSD caching utility.

Not at all confusing, is it?

So, what exactly does Intel Rapid Start Technology do that is better/worse/different from Win8 Hybrid Shutdown/Fast Startup?

PS: A correction from my initial post. The Win8 hibernation file (which is necessary for Hybrid Shutdown/Fast Startup) only takes about 9.4GB of disk space for my system with 12GB RAM.

 

[OSULugan]

IRST is used as an acronym both Intel Rapid Storage Technology and Intel Rapid Start Technology.

I stand corrected. I had googled your motherboard and verified that it supported Intel Rapid Storage Technology prior to posting, but didn't do full dilligence to find out if it supported something else with the exact same acronym.

That being said, with Intel Rapid Storage Technology enabled on my system, my bootups happen much more quickly than with it disabled. I haven't timed them to get an exact measurement. You might try setting that up and comparing against your other numbers, and see if a more general solution would give you acceptable performance for startup times.

As for the differences, here are a couple of good articles:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/08/delivering-fast-boot-times-in-windows-8.aspx

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us...nology/responsiveness-technologies-brief.html

From a cursory read, it appears that the Intel method is dumping large portions of non-critical memory from being written to the pagefile, depending on the OEM implementation of IRST, to allow for less memory writes/reads for startup. This probably handles a lot of the extra RAM that Windows uses to keep "closed" apps in the background for quicker re-start.

It appears that the Windows 8 method changes the startup routine by leaving the kernel session open, rather than closing it out. So on a startup, all of the kernel operations don't have to re-run, and you could lose some of the advantages of a full kernel startup as a trade-off to allow for quicker startup.

 

[wpcoe]

From a cursory read, it appears that the Intel method is dumping large portions of non-critical memory from being written to the pagefile, depending on the OEM implementation of IRST, to allow for less memory writes/reads for startup. This probably handles a lot of the extra RAM that Windows uses to keep "closed" apps in the background for quicker re-start.

It appears that the Windows 8 method changes the startup routine by leaving the kernel session open, rather than closing it out. So on a startup, all of the kernel operations don't have to re-run, and you could lose some of the advantages of a full kernel startup as a trade-off to allow for quicker startup

Thanks for that second Intel .PDF link. The part that makes it even clearer to me what else IRST does:

Intel Rapid Start Technology User Interface enables users to configure Intel Rapid Start Technology operation. Configuration options are: Enable/Disable entry based on timer; set the Intel Rapid Start Technology entry timer from immediate transition up to 4 hours after entering sleep; Enable/Disable entry based on critical battery level (laptops only).

Intel Rapid Start Technology BIOS component transfers active memory pages from system DRAM to SSD after the system has been in Sleep mode (S3) for a preset period of time. Lastly, the hardware is transitioned to an S4 power state -- enabling an OEM to deliver a zero power standby state -- while the operating system remains in its Sleep mode.

I'm still not clear on how to implement the IRST. If IRST is installed and active, does it do its magic every time I choose Sleep?

Win8 Hybrid Shutdown/Fast Startup is just that -- a modified shutdown & startup, whereas IRST is a modified sleep mode. Win8 also has a modified Sleep mode: Hybrid Sleep, but it doesn't selectively choose which RAM to write to disk, which is IRST's strength, it seems.

I don't use sleep for long time periods -- usually only when I want to step away and return shortly to resume working -- so not sure IRST is all that valuable to me. Especially at the cost of so much SSD space.

Hmmmm. Wait a sec. Something doesn't add up. The Intel .PDF says that IRST "reduces the amount of system memory that must be saved to the SSD." Then why am I required to allocate 12GB SSD space to IRST for my 12GB RAM? Win8's hiberfil.sys is only 9.5GB for my 12GB RAM.

 

[OSULugan]

Hmmmm. Wait a sec. Something doesn't add up. The Intel .PDF says that IRST "reduces the amount of system memory that must be saved to the SSD." Then why am I required to allocate 12GB SSD space to IRST for my 12GB RAM? Win8's hiberfil.sys is only 9.5GB for my 12GB RAM.

Yeah, that part didn't make much sense to me, either. They tout that IRST allows you to reduce the SSD partition size in a few areas of their explanation, but at the end still state that the SSD partition size should be equivalent to the amount of DRAM in the system. Doesn't seem to add up.

 

[rottenmutt]

Intel Rapid Start flushes what is cached in memory, which could be nothing.

i just want to know why Intel Rapid Start and window hibernate can't share the same partition/file. just don't make sense to have two hibernate files/partitions.

 

[ViRGE]

Intel Rapid Start flushes what is cached in memory, which could be nothing.

i just want to know why Intel Rapid Start and window hibernate can't share the same partition/file. just don't make sense to have two hibernate files/partitions.

The issue is that Rapid Start operates at a lower level. Using the Windows hibernate file would require both the ability to read/write NTFS, and to somehow poke the Windows kernel to let it know that you've changed the contents of the hibernate file. Whereas the Rapid Start mechanism is entirely independent of Windows, and can be handled by the chipset/CPU without needing much in the way of cooperation from the OS.

 

[erickcid]

YMMV, from my limited experience with these technologies, they are interesting, they work as advertised, the system boots and reboots like a demon, that said, I wont use them. I am not in that big of a rush, I already have a decent SSD, and I have had a couple of occasions where this technology proved to be more annoyance than benefit. Depending on your arrangement it can be difficult to get into Bios, no big deal, there are ways around that, the bigger issue is, in default and customary behavior, the system will no longer perform a true and traditional startup, shutdown, reboot, things which for a person constantly messing with their system are necessary. The extra efforts required to ensure my machine does a true clean reboot and or shutdown just weren't worth the time savings to me, not on a desktop anyway. Im sure all this can be "shortcutted" and made easier, but I just didnt care that much. If this was a laptop that would not be constantly tinkered with I would use, or if I used my computer for actual business or work, I might use them, but even then, I would be leary of not getting proper reboots.

 

[rottenmutt]

if you have installed Intel rapid start, you can disable MS hibernation with "powercfg -h off" which will remove the hiberfil.sys.
rapid start is suppose to resume as fast as the computer resumes from sleep.
i don't know why Microsoft has not allowed for a hibernation partition to be created?