[Mordachai]

Are all of the devices on the Intel CH-10 controller? You've not got some part of it attached to the Marvell?

[EarthDog]

The Marvell controller sucks...thats why!

[Eldonko]

That is prob the issue, both drives have to be on the Intel ports.

Originally Posted by Mordachai

Are all of the devices on the Intel CH-10 controller? You've not got some part of it attached to the Marvell?

[Artemis-X]

Originally Posted by Eldonko

That is prob the issue, both drives have to be on the Intel ports.

lol man ... no idea what you guys are talking about. 1 the cables run the same way that my old HDD was connected via sata 6.0 or w/e thingy
if thats not what you guys are talking about then i has no clue lmk if theres a way to find out

[Eldonko]

Look in your manual at the sata port page. There will be 2 ports that connect directly to the chipset, they will say Intel Z68 sata 6gb/s ports or similar. Ensure that your caching SSD and the HD that you want cached are connected to those 2 ports.

[Mordachai]

@Artemis - most Z68 mobos have 4 SATA III (6Gb/s) ports, plus 4 SATA II (3Gb/s). 2 of the Sata III ports will be attached to the native Intel chipset. 2 are attached to a built-in Marvel controller. You must ensure that all drives - HDD and SDD that you wish to link for acceleration, are on the Intel side of things.

Usually your mobo will have some markings to indicate which is which. Or their website / manual certainly will.

And as Earthdog subtly hinted, the Marvel controllers suck ass.

[Artemis-X]

Originally Posted by Mordachai

@Artemis - most Z68 mobos have 4 SATA III (6Gb/s) ports, plus 4 SATA II (3Gb/s). 2 of the Sata III ports will be attached to the native Intel chipset. 2 are attached to a built-in Marvel controller. You must ensure that all drives - HDD and SDD that you wish to link for acceleration, are on the Intel side of things.

Usually your mobo will have some markings to indicate which is which. Or their website / manual certainly will.

And as Earthdog subtly hinted, the Marvel controllers suck ass.

as awesome as it would of been if this was the prob. it wasn't both are on the intell thingy

[Mordachai]

Bummer!

I assume that your BIOS for the ICH10/Z68 chipset is set to "RAID" not 'AHCI' or 'IDE'?

[Artemis-X]

yup its raid

[Eldonko]

Do you have the latest driver from Intel? Sometimes you can get issues like that with an older version.

[Artemis-X]

Originally Posted by Eldonko

Do you have the latest driver from Intel? Sometimes you can get issues like that with an older version.

i'm pretty sure i have everything up to date.... basically the problem here is this my hdd died i got a different one while i wait for the RMA

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145473
^link to new one

old one is the one in my sig

i got the new one on sale at fry's for 109 (this week lucky cuz of the hdd crisis)

i did everything i did before just that this time when i was installing the OS i installed it under raid instead of doing that registry edit i did before because i had the OS already installed

[Technowitch]

Eldonko: I also just joined today to thank you for your invaluable information on how to enable Intel Rapid Storage on an already existing Windows 7 installation. I, too, was getting the BSOD at boot whenever RAID was selected in BIOS...and finally you gave me the clue here with that registry entry that the problem was Windows failing to install the driver at boot.

Anyway, I'm using an OCZ 60GB SATA III SSD and it's working like a dream now. You have my deepest gratitude.

[Eldonko]

No problem m8, happy to help. I just remember being totally confused when I set this up for the first time so I thought I would post a short guide to save others some time.

[DigitalMonkey]

I forgot to ask this.
Will I have any problems or conflicts if I set a 240GB SSD for OS and 60GB SSD (cache) + 2TB HDD (storage)?

If not, should I setup SSD + HDD combo first before OS drive?
Also, will it be possible to do the SSD caching on X79? Or is it to early to tell?


Thanks

[Mordachai]

Mixing free SSD and ganged SSD+HDD is known to work. I haven't done it, but I imagine it's very easy. The main thing is to set your BIOS to RAID before installing everything. Otherwise you have to do the registry hack thing to make it work.

I don't know about the X79 support for SSD caching. From what I understand it's a marketing limitation, not a chipset limitation. So... guess it depends on if they think they can wring more money by having two tiers / a later chipset that forces you to buy again (maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong about this).

[wingman99]

Originally Posted by DigitalMonkey

I forgot to ask this.
Will I have any problems or conflicts if I set a 240GB SSD for OS and 60GB SSD (cache) + 2TB HDD (storage)?

If not, should I setup SSD + HDD combo first before OS drive?
Also, will it be possible to do the SSD caching on X79? Or is it to early to tell?


Thanks

You don't need a SSD cache if your using a 240GB SSD for OS

[DigitalMonkey]

Originally Posted by wingman99

You don't need a SSD cache if your using a 240GB SSD for OS

Im using the SSD to cache my HDD (storage). Please re-read what I posted previously.

[EarthDog]

You would have to put the SSD+HDD on the Intel ports then put your other SSD on another SATA3 port. But I believe it can be done, yes.

[Eldonko]

Should be no problem. Like ED said, put the caching SSD and the storage drive on the Intel ports.

Originally Posted by DigitalMonkey

I forgot to ask this.
Will I have any problems or conflicts if I set a 240GB SSD for OS and 60GB SSD (cache) + 2TB HDD (storage)?

If not, should I setup SSD + HDD combo first before OS drive?
Also, will it be possible to do the SSD caching on X79? Or is it to early to tell?


Thanks

[muqtar]

LOL TechnoWitch. My wife and I chuckled at your post a moment ago as I prepared to post in this thread.

ElDonko - this thread, specifically your advice and concise information helped me get through this task. I knew I wanted to enable smart response, but didn't know what I was getting into when I bought the drive at MicoCenter. I got home and began reading story after story of people messing up their machines trying to make it work.

Steps

1.) Flashed my ASUS BIOS to version 606.

2.) Downloaded IRST Version 10601002 from ASUS. (I thought this software would be available from intel.com, but could not find it anywhere - imperative that users check their motherboard manufacture's site and ensure that the BIOs and IRST software are compatible. Installed the IRST software which seemed to load the software package and install the appropriate drivers.

3.) Performed the Registry hack to enable the RAID driver in Windows. The explanation that the driver isn't enabled by default when Windows is installed with AHCI or IDE mode was critical.

4.) I was confused when you said "install the driver". I went ahead, rebooted and set the SATA controller to RAID mode in the BIOS. Once Windows loaded, it automatically installed the driver. This was a small leap of faith, but I saw what you meant when I was done.

5.) I shut down and plugged in my SSD.

6.) Booted up and all drivers finished installing. I loaded the Intel software and although it saw both drives, I couldn't read any info from either in the Intel SRT software.

After working through the knot in my stomach, I reviewed this thread for the 40th time on my phone. I rebooted and went into the BIOS where I noticed my SSD was on Sata 1 and my HDD was on Sata 2. I powered off and switched it so that my HDD was on Sata 1 and SSD was on SATA 2.

Powered up, and everything looked proper. I was able to enable acceleration and I can confirm that my newly built rig (this was the last finishing touch) is using caching properly. It made a HUGE difference.

I am sincerely grateful to your guide. Its easy when you already know how to do it, but the halls of the internet are littered with the corpses of folks like me who tried to wing it and went down in flames. I do appreciate it.

Respect,
Muqtar