Hello,
Because there seems to be a lot of confusion about what can and what can't be achieved on Z68 in terms of SSD cache (Smart Response Technology) and MB manufacturers and even Intel are providing incomplete or sometime just false info/documentation, I am just reporting the following:
My setup:
- 1x 96GB Kingston SSD
- 1x Samsung F3 1TB
- Asrock Z68 Pro3 - cheap, rubbish MB with awful design - hate it, but well.. it works)
My goal:
Divide single SSD disk as follows:
- partition for OS (Windows 7) and the small, frequently used programs (AV, Office, etc).
- rest of the space on SSD - 18GB (maximum possible) - dedicated for STR cache. This cache will be used to speed up 1TB F3, which contains programs and games (i.e. this huge Steam directory).
Unfortunately the way to achieve this is a bit tricky - if you just install OS on SSD and then try to configure SRT cache - it won't work. Intel tool won't even show "Accelerate" tab.
In order for this to work, you must _first_ initialize STR cache on SSD, then instal OS on the 'data' part such prepated SSD. Sadly, SRT configuration can't be done from Options ROM (Ctrl-I).
The only way to achieve this is:
- temporary install Windows on any spare HDD, instead of SSD
- instal Intel Rapid Storage tool and initialize SRT cache on SSD - configure 18GB for SRT and rest of the space dedicate to normal volume (this will wipe content of SSD!)
- disconnect this temporary HDD and boot into Windows setup from DVD (in the Options ROM you should see that SRT cache is now enabled on your SSD)
- instal Windows on SSD (most likely you will need to provide ICH storage drivers on USB stick during setup) - you should see that setup detect 'data' portion of SSD only (SSD capacity minus ~18GB). Cache portion is completely invisible to OS.
- once installation is finished, instal Intel Rapid Storage tool - you will see that SSD cache is up and running and you can use it to accelerate your HDD! At the same time your OS resides in 'data' volume on SSD.
I believe this is the best possible setup (unless you can afford dual-SSD configuration- with boot/cache separated, of course
). It gives you a great OS performance and you can utilize SRT to accelerate all this stuff residing on your multi-TB HDDs
Note: one SSD cache disk can only accelerate one physical HDD (in pass-through mode) or one RAID volume (where multiple HDDs are allowed).
Because there seems to be a lot of confusion about what can and what can't be achieved on Z68 in terms of SSD cache (Smart Response Technology) and MB manufacturers and even Intel are providing incomplete or sometime just false info/documentation, I am just reporting the following:
My setup:
- 1x 96GB Kingston SSD
- 1x Samsung F3 1TB
- Asrock Z68 Pro3 - cheap, rubbish MB with awful design - hate it, but well.. it works)
My goal:
Divide single SSD disk as follows:
- partition for OS (Windows 7) and the small, frequently used programs (AV, Office, etc).
- rest of the space on SSD - 18GB (maximum possible) - dedicated for STR cache. This cache will be used to speed up 1TB F3, which contains programs and games (i.e. this huge Steam directory).
Unfortunately the way to achieve this is a bit tricky - if you just install OS on SSD and then try to configure SRT cache - it won't work. Intel tool won't even show "Accelerate" tab.
In order for this to work, you must _first_ initialize STR cache on SSD, then instal OS on the 'data' part such prepated SSD. Sadly, SRT configuration can't be done from Options ROM (Ctrl-I).
The only way to achieve this is:
- temporary install Windows on any spare HDD, instead of SSD
- instal Intel Rapid Storage tool and initialize SRT cache on SSD - configure 18GB for SRT and rest of the space dedicate to normal volume (this will wipe content of SSD!)
- disconnect this temporary HDD and boot into Windows setup from DVD (in the Options ROM you should see that SRT cache is now enabled on your SSD)
- instal Windows on SSD (most likely you will need to provide ICH storage drivers on USB stick during setup) - you should see that setup detect 'data' portion of SSD only (SSD capacity minus ~18GB). Cache portion is completely invisible to OS.
- once installation is finished, instal Intel Rapid Storage tool - you will see that SSD cache is up and running and you can use it to accelerate your HDD! At the same time your OS resides in 'data' volume on SSD.
I believe this is the best possible setup (unless you can afford dual-SSD configuration- with boot/cache separated, of course
Note: one SSD cache disk can only accelerate one physical HDD (in pass-through mode) or one RAID volume (where multiple HDDs are allowed).
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