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Step-by-step guide to setting up SSD caching on Z68 and Z77

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Eldonko

Revolutionary Mule
Joined
Dec 17, 2004
Location
Calgary, Alberta
Thought I would post a short guide on setting caching as it can be sort of confusing the first time.

First a few notes:
1) Your caching SSD should be 64GB or less as this is the max that can be allocated. You can also use a larger SSD if partitioned.
2) You can cache 1 HD or RAID array only so ensure you have an OS partition and games/storage partition on the HD you want to accelerate. You can cache any type of RAID array except matrix.
3) RST takes a bit of time for the cache to get populated with your OS and utils you use most. It might not seem fast at first but it will get faster over time.
4) Ensure chipset drivers are installed before attempting any of this
5) If you have a Gigabyte board, use the SRT utility. It will do all this for you including the registry tweak if you didnt install Windows in RAID mode.

Enhanced mode vs Maximized mode:
Enhanced mode is more secure because if your SSD dies you wont lose any data. With maximized mode if your SSD dies you could lose data. Basically it works like this:

With enhanced mode read perf is improved but write perf is bottlenecked by the write perf of the HD so it will be a bit slower. With maximized mode the data is written to the SSD first and then synced to the hard disk later. Thus if the drive dies before it writes to HD you lose data.

There is only a minor difference between enhanced and maximized so you have to decide if you want to risk any data of the accelerated drive for that extra 2 seconds in boot time. The difference in performance between the two is shown here.

Procedure:
1) Plug your caching SSD and storage HD (the one to accelerate) into the Intel SATA ports. Do not use 3rd party like Marvel, it will not work.
2) Enter BIOS, change HD mode to RAID
3) Install OS
4) DL the latest RST driver from Intel. Dont bother installing from mb disk, it will be outdated. Grab it here.
5) Open RST utility, go to accelerate tab
6) Enable acceleration, select your OS/storage drive as the accelerated drive, select enhanced or maximized mode. Enhanced is the most secure, maximized is the fastest.
7) Reboot. If you get a message about boot options being changed or something and are unable to boot into windows go to the BIOS and check your HD priority. It often gets changed when caching is implemented so you just have to put your OS HD back at the top.

If you already have W7 installed and do not want to reinstall do this:
1) Do not connect the caching SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0

This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows.
2) Next install the raid driver.
3) Connect your caching SSD
4) Set up caching with RST util.

Any questions just ask. :thumb:
 
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What do you mean by 'most secure? If it isn't encrypted I don't see what that would mean? Or does it mean it is less likely for failure as it uses the SSD less often?
 
Most secure as in you wont lose your data. For example if your SSD dies you wont lose any data. With maximized mode if your SSD dies you could lose data.

There is only a minor difference between enhanced and maximized so you have to decide if you want to risk any data of the accelerated drive for that extra 2 seconds in boot time. The difference in performance between the two is shown here:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...8-review-sandy-bridge-platform-expands-4.html
 
Its only cached data though (which is mirrored from on the HDD)...so how is it more secure when the data is already on the HDD anyway? The cache is just a mirror.
 
The cache is a mirror for enhanced mode so it doesnt matter if the SSD dies or you unplug it. With enhanced mode read perf is improved but write perf is bottlenecked by the write perf of the HD so it will be a bit slower.

For maximized mode the data is written to the SSD first and then synced to the hard disk later. Thus if the drive dies before it writes to HD you lose data.
 
I did not know that! Thanks! After looking it up, its no different than the data loss with writeback cache enabled on a normal HDD. I guess the difference here is the sheer amount of data that is being cached vs write back on HDD...?

How often does it 'sync'? How big of a risk is it really?
 
The risk is very minimal really. You may want to use enhanced mode if you are working on an oc that may not be stable yet or if you have power outages on a regular basis but for most maximized mode is perfectly safe.

Not sure on how often it syncs. Intel's documentation only says that data is written to the SSD and "periodically" transferred to the HD. No idea how often periodically is though.
 
I apologize for the stupid question...

But...

I was originally planning to purchase a 60GB Vertex 3 to cache my storage drive. I'll be running a Vertex 3 120GB as my OS drive already, so will I still be able to utilize drive caching on the storage drive only?

From your write up it sounds like maybe I won't....

-David
 
You dont want to reinstall the OS right? Im assuming you are on W7? Here is what you have to do

Do not connect the 60gb SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0

This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows. Next install the raid driver.

Now you can connect your caching SSD and at the same time also ensure your storage drive is is on an Intel SATA port. Then when you set up acceleration select your storage drive as the drive to accelerate.

Confusing but should be doable. LMK if you have questions. :)
I was originally planning to purchase a 60GB Vertex 3 to cache my storage drive. I'll be running a Vertex 3 120GB as my OS drive already, so will I still be able to utilize drive caching on the storage drive only?

From your write up it sounds like maybe I won't....
 
You dont want to reinstall the OS right? Im assuming you are on W7? Here is what you have to do

Do not connect the 60gb SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0

This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows. Next install the raid driver.

Now you can connect your caching SSD and at the same time also ensure your storage drive is is on an Intel SATA port. Then when you set up acceleration select your storage drive as the drive to accelerate.

Confusing but should be doable. LMK if you have questions. :)

Awesome!

I actually am just now building this computer, started assembling stuff this morning in fact... So I haven't even installed the W7 OS yet. I'm sleeving and shortening all the wiring, so I'm sure it'll take me most of the weekend.

But this will allow me to go back and add a Vertex 3 in the caching setup later...

Unless you think there is a benefit or much easier way of doing it NOW before the OS is installed?

Thanks for the input!

-David
 
If the OS is not installed dont worry about the reg tweaks and stuff and just follow the procedure in post 1. If the storage HD is on an Intel port it will show up in the list of drives that you can accelerate.
 
OK.. But in that method I will be utilizing space from the Primary SSD that will no longer be able to be used for regular program storage and such correct? My Primary is only 120GB, and I'd like to have enough room on it for the OS, Drivers, Hardware Management Utilities and my most used games and Apps.

In that case... I'd rather do it the other way where the second SSD's purpose is nothing other than to cache the Storage Drive.
 
The 120GB drive will have windows and whatever you want on there and will work independent of any caching. Anything you put on there will have nothing to do with the caching HD. The caching HD will be caching your storage HD data only. Pretty sure that is how it works anyway.
 
Ahh... OK... You meant to install the 120 SSD, the 60 SSD and the 2TB Platter Drive prior to the installation of the OS and it would allow me to configure it all later...

Got ya.
 
You dont want to reinstall the OS right? Im assuming you are on W7? Here is what you have to do

Do not connect the 60gb SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0

This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows. Next install the raid driver.

Now you can connect your caching SSD and at the same time also ensure your storage drive is is on an Intel SATA port. Then when you set up acceleration select your storage drive as the drive to accelerate.

Confusing but should be doable. LMK if you have questions. :)
If this works, where were you in the other thread talking about this?!!! :bday:
 
You dont want to reinstall the OS right? Im assuming you are on W7? Here is what you have to do

Do not connect the 60gb SSD yet. First apply the following registry tweak:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Iastorv
In the details pane, right-click "Start", and then click modify.
In the Value data box, type 0

This registry change enables the RAID driver in Windows. Next install the raid driver.

Now you can connect your caching SSD and at the same time also ensure your storage drive is is on an Intel SATA port. Then when you set up acceleration select your storage drive as the drive to accelerate.

Confusing but should be doable. LMK if you have questions. :)

I never did that but that may explain some things. When I first got SRT going I had to go through BIOS every time.

Gigabyte has a great tool for setting up srt though.
 
Me? Nope, I have only 1 60GB SSD so I cache my OS. When you set it up with the RST utility it has a list of the drives available to cache though so I easily could if I wanted to.
 
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