SSD Caching help

[at80eighty]

Hey all

Been trying to check if SSD caching works on my system, however when i click on the Intel Rapid Storage Technology application, there is no "Accelerate" tab displayed, so im just really unsure about what to do next

the app says "Your system is configured to enabled advanced SATA features for optimum power management and increased storage performance" yet i dont seem to have access to the Accelerate function

any help appreciated

[oops - think i posted in the wrong forum; can any mod move this to the Storage forum? Thanks]

 

[Dribble]

In the BIOS have you set the SATA storage configuration to RAID for the intel chipset?

 

[at80eighty]

Hm no Dribble, I havent - I might be very wrong on this, but wasnt it supposed to support even without RAID?

 

[bankster55]

Yes, thats correct - you dont have to have a RAID array, can use separate drives, but you MUST be in RAID mode, which means you will have to reinstall Win 7 with RAID set in bios. And if you use SSD as O/S drive, you have wasted your time, since it already is caching. Should also be using Intel 10.5.XXXX drivers

and must have SRT sw installed

http://download.intel.com/support/m...ntel_smart_response_technology_user_guide.pdf

 

[at80eighty]

Thanks Bankster - im still fresh into my install, so i can still give it another go without too much pain. I'll try it over the weekend

 

[jiffylube1024]

Yes, thats correct - you dont have to have a RAID array, can use separate drives, but you MUST be in RAID mode, which means you will have to reinstall Win 7 with RAID set in bios. And if you use SSD as O/S drive, you have wasted your time, since it already is caching. Should also be using Intel 10.5.XXXX drivers

and must have SRT sw installed

http://download.intel.com/support/m...ntel_smart_response_technology_user_guide.pdf

I have never used SSD caching as I have a P67 chipset board not a Z68, but unless there's something special about using SSD caching, there is a way to get your system running with AHCI or RAID mode without reinstalling Windows, and it's very simple.

Here's a quick guide:

http://windows7themes.net/switch-to-ahci-after-install-windows-7.html

In a nutshell, here's the steps:

*After you have installed Windows on a drive in IDE/SATA mode, complete the following steps:

1. Open REGEDIT (enter regedit.exe into search field)
2. Uncollapse the registry keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci
3. Modify the key “Start” to “0″


reboot your computer, go into the BIOS, and change your hard drive mode in the BIOS to AHCI or RAID mode. Now, in Windows, it will detect the new hard drive controller. You may need to install AHCI/RAID drivers for your chipset.


That's it!


>> For Z68 I'd do those steps, only when changing to RAID mode, also enable SSD caching.



Give this a try before reformatting, as it only takes ~5 mins total.

 

[Kenmitch]

And if you use SSD as O/S drive, you have wasted your time

I don't have a Z68 chipset but as far as I can tell from looking at a couple of guides and an Intel PDF this is true.

The way it is suppost to work is loading the OS onto a large HDD then setting up a small SSD to cache it giving a performance boost. I'm not sure if it's even possible to do it the other way around. ??? Guess you could try and see. Not sure if it's possible to use another small SSD to cache the HDD with the OS loaded onto another SSD. If I had a Z68 chipset I'd try it but I'm sticking with my P67 for the life of S1155 most likely.

 

[boochi]

You can use a SSD for caching on any motherboard, with or without RAID if you want to go the software route. Check out a new program still in beta but free to try called FancyCache.
http://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/fancy-cache/

 

[Dribble]

Not sure if it's possible to use another small SSD to cache the HDD with the OS loaded onto another SSD. If I had a Z68 chipset I'd try it but I'm sticking with my P67 for the life of S1155 most likely.

That's what my setup is - a 120GB SSD for my O/S, and a 1TB HD with a 60GB SSD caching it for my games and other stuff. Works great

 

[Kenmitch]

That's what my setup is - a 120GB SSD for my O/S, and a 1TB HD with a 60GB SSD caching it for my games and other stuff. Works great

Nice to know it'll work in this configuration. Seems like a good way to utilize the older smaller SSD's when users move on to larger SSD's for the OS

 

[Dribble]

Nice to know it'll work in this configuration. Seems like a good way to utilize the older smaller SSD's when users move on to larger SSD's for the OS

I bought the small SSD specifically for this job. A 1TB HD is silly cheap, so adding a fairly cheap vertex 2 is still less then the raptor drive it replaced, yet I get most of the performance of a 1TB SSD which would cost thousands - it's a no brainer really.