SSD Cache question

[DynoNobel]

Mother-in-law baught my wife an ultrabook. ASUS zenbook ux302lg. Originally had a 750GB HDD and a 16GB SSD cache. She had the HDD removed and replaced with a 240GB SSD where the OS (Win8.1) was installed. In reality the store she bought it from obviously talked her into this as I'm certain she had never heard the term HDD or SSD before that day.

So as far as I understand (Not a tech expert by any stretch of the imagination) it would be pointless or even impossible to set up caching between two SSDs as they are both the same speed (or similar). Is that correct? If I'm wrong, should I be installing Intel Smart Response software and looking into setting that up?

Assuming my original assumption is correct...what do I do with this 16GB SSD. I'm guessing this is not a 2.5" SSD such as the 240GB that was installed. Does it function like a regular drive? Can it be used for storage or is there a more practical use for it? or does it now serve the purpose of adding a little extra weight to the laptop so that it doesn't fly away in a strong wind?

It is discoverable in Disk Management but not displayed in "This PC" as a usable drive.

 

[ronintexas]

The caching drives greatly improve the HDD performance - I have never heard of someone using a caching drive for a SSD....

 

[jimpz]

You are correct in your assumption, it should appear as a separate drive & you can just use it as storage.
That said, I wouldn't be happy with the person who recommended replacing the HDD w/ an SSD.
The reason to use a small SSD as a cache is to get very near the performance of an SSD.

 

[DynoNobel]

You are correct in your assumption, it should appear as a separate drive & you can just use it as storage.
That said, I wouldn't be happy with the person who recommended replacing the HDD w/ an SSD.
The reason to use a small SSD as a cache is to get very near the performance of an SSD.

Ya I hear ya. It is what it is though. I'm not complaining...free laptop.

I have the original HDD that was in it, I could swap it back out and use the SSD for something else, but My wife is really happy with it and has been using it for a months now so I don't really want to reinstall the OS if all is well.

So how come I don't see the 16GB SSD as a usable drive?

 

[jimpz]

If you go to Control Panel/Administrative tools/Computer management/Storage/Disk management, see if a 16gb drive shows up there, it may need to be initialized & give a 'letter'.

 

[ronintexas]

Check your BIOS - Smart Response Technology (SRT) needs to be disabled to use it as a storage device.

 

[DynoNobel]

Yes it shows in Disk Management. It shows as Disk 1, Basic 14.91 GB, Online - Healthy (Primary Partition). These is no drive letter assigned and my only option available is to Delete Volume.

I'm going to check the BIOS for Smart Response Technology setting and see what it says

 

[DynoNobel]

Can't find anything in the BIOS to do with Smart Response Technology. I read online that I could take the SSD out of cache mode in Windows using the Intel SRT software. The software is not even installed on the laptop...I'm guessing it was from factory at which point the 16GB SSD was formatted, then when the store swapped the Primary drive and re-installed Win8 the Intel SRT software was never installed again.

Should I download and install the software and see what it says about the drive, if it recognizes it? Or is there something I can do from Disk Management? As I said my only option was to "Delete Volume".

 

[ronintexas]

I am OCD.....I would install the software and see what it says. If it says it isn't setup as a caching drive, then uninstall the software and in disk manager - delete the volume. I would assume if it was working somehow, and you changed the volume, it would create major headaches....