Intel's Smart Response Technology setup on SSD

[kaotik123]

Hello,
I have an ASUS P8Z68-M mobo. I also have a 120gb SSD and a 3TB HDD. This is for use in a HTPC.

I am trying to setup ISRT. I have been told to install Win7 on the HDD and use the SSD for the ISRT caching.

But wouldnt it be better / more efficient if I installed Win7 on the SSD in a seperate partition and then used the rest of the SSD for ISRT?? (due to no interface changing and just the general improved speed over the HDD)

I am trying to improve boot times and speed up commonly used programs (win media centre).

Thanks

 

[ko888]

What is on the hard disk drive(s) that you want cached?

It is only frequently accessed LBAs (logical block addresses) from the hard disk drive(s) that get cached.

If it's just data, like a movie file, sequential accesses beyond a few MB in length isn't cached according to Intel.

If you just want to speed up OS boot time and application load time you're better off installing the OS and applications on the SSD and not bother with Intel Smart Response Technology.

 

[kaotik123]

Wow I didnt know that.. thanks for your reply. Much appreciated.

Well I didnt really want the movie files cached. That is pretty much all that will be located on the HDD.

So your saying that my system will boot faster / open programs faster if I just install Win 7 directly on the SSD, rather than install Win7 on the SSD and then enable ISRT on the SSD as well??

Thanks again

 

[ko888]

Wow I didnt know that.. thanks for your reply. Much appreciated.

Well I didnt really want the movie files cached. That is pretty much all that will be located on the HDD.

So your saying that my system will boot faster / open programs faster if I just install Win 7 directly on the SSD, rather than install Win7 on the SSD and then enable ISRT on the SSD as well??

Thanks again

There is no need to use ISRT at all. You do not want to introduce another point of failure into the system.

Do not enable ISRT.

Make sure the SATA controller is set to AHCI mode before you partition the SSD and install Windows 7. Proper partition alignment is critical to SSD performance.

 

[kaotik123]

Ok well at the moment Win7 has been installed on the SSD in RAID mode because I assumed I was going to enable ISRT.
So I will reinstall Windows on the SSD and change it to AHCI before I install.
I have read that this mobo supports UEFI (which I think improves boot-up speed). Is there anything I have to do in order to enable this function? Anything I need to change in the BIOS?
Thanks

 

[ko888]

Ok well at the moment Win7 has been installed on the SSD in RAID mode because I assumed I was going to enable ISRT.
So I will reinstall Windows on the SSD and change it to AHCI before I install.
I have read that this mobo supports UEFI (which I think improves boot-up speed). Is there anything I have to do in order to enable this function? Anything I need to change in the BIOS?
Thanks

AHCI mode is required for Windows 7 to be able to send the TRIM command to the SSD to do its garbage collection.

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is the graphical BIOS interface that allows the user to use a keyboard and mouse to navigate through the BIOS settings. You don't do anything to enable this feature. The motherboard either has this feature or it doesn't have it. It doesn't improve boot up speed in my experience.

 

[kaotik123]

Can't thank-you enough for your help.
I really appreciate it!!

 

[kaotik123]

Ok so now I have another issue... :S
I installed Win7 on SSD (boot up time not very quick at all, but oh well).. attached 3tb HDD to SATA connector on mobo...
But Windows does not recognize it. There is only the SSD recognized in My Computer.
When I load the Bios it recognizes it as 3tb.
I run Disk Manager and Initialize in GPT mode. (Disk Manager only recognizes 2.7GB). Disk Manager detects it as a 'Basic' Disk 0. The SSD is detected as Basic Disk 1.
I updated drivers to the latest Intel Rapid Disk Technology..
The HDD does not have an OS installed on it. It is brand new with no files, partitions etc..
But still It does not show up in My computer...
What am I missing here...??

 

[ko888]

3,000,000,000,000 bytes = 2.72 TB

Why?

Microsoft considers 1TB to be 1,099,511,627,776 Bytes

Hard drive manufacturers' marketing consider 1TB to be 1,000,000,000,000 bytes

Disk Manager is recognizing the full size of the hard disk drive.

Have you gone into Windows Disk Management to partition and format it? If it doesn't get partitioned and formatted it will never show up in My Computer.

 

[kaotik123]

3,000,000,000,000 bytes = 2.72 TB

Why?

Microsoft considers 1TB to be 1,099,511,627,776 Bytes

Hard drive manufacturers' marketing consider 1TB to be 1,000,000,000,000 bytes

Thanks for the info! Very interesting. Explains a lot.

Oops I feel stupid now..
I have the drive formatting at the moment..
Thanks lol

 

[kaotik123]

Best answer selected by kaotik123.