Intel Rapid Storage Tech, should this always be on?

[irsei]

Is it required or desirable to have this running in the background all the time, or it the kind of thing you can just configure once and then disable it until you need to change something?

 

[irsei]

Well, from what I've been able to surmise from other folks on other forums (nothing official) it looks like you have to keep this software on in the background for it to do what it says it does. (ie controlling raid and native command queuing)

Please, if anyone has their own info on this, let me know. :l

 

[Phynaz]

Don't touch it, leave it running.

 

[irsei]

cool. thanks phynaz.

however, recently, i noticed that it is no longer on by default when i turn my PC on, is this weird?
the icon still shows up in the system tray, but it says "not running" when i hover my cursor over the icon until i run it and then it turns green and starts running in the background.
for like the last two months, it was just on all the time no matter what i did.
i can't seem to find any preferences to toggle on the in-program menus, so anybody have a suggestion?

EDIT: OOPS, I figured out what was going on. Win7 shifted IRST to automatic (delayed start), so it was taking like five to ten minutes for it to turn on. I wasn't sure if that was such a good thing, so i changed it back to just plain automatic.

 

[thescreensavers]

You need RST app for NCQ? That sounds odd

 

[irsei]

This description of RST from Intel's website says that RST provides the benefit of NCQ "...through AHCI."

Why would intel bother releasing a special chipset driver to enable the benefit of AHCI if it wasn't necessary?

Maybe I'm totally wrong here, but if you (anybody who reads this) think I'm wrong, please point me to a document that I read about it.

here's what intel has to say... http://www.intel.com/support/chipse...pkw=(Intel+Rapid+Storage+Technology+Intel+RST)

On this page, intel specifically states that RST is necessary to take advantage of AHCI... http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-012305.htm

I don't know how much more proof I can give you, unless intel is blowing smoke up our rears, I think you have to install it to use AHCI for raid or NCQ.

I think maybe some folks may have gotten confused because AHCI is not absolutely necessary, and the benefits are not really tangible for all users. (probably most users)