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1TB HDD + 24GB SSD

5K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  DVIELIS 
#1 ·
Hello, i just purchased a new laptop Asus N551JK-CN103D which comes with a 1TB hdd and 24GB SSD(or mSSD) which I think can be used as cache. I have a couple of questions but here is how I setup my laptop, it initially came with FreeDOS.

1. When doing a fresh install of Windows 8 I noticed there were 2 x Unallocated Space, one for the 1TB drive and one for de 24GB SSD
2. I formated the 1TB drive into the following -> Two primary partitions ( 1 for windows and programs, 1 for personal stuff), and it automatically created some smal partitions for Recovery,System, and MRS or something like that (can't remember), which I left untouched as they are important i gathered.
3. I also created a second drive from the SSD . So in the end I hate Drive 1 (5 partitions, 2x primary,recovery,mrs,system) and Drive 2 (2 partitions, MRS and primary of 22.2GB)
4. Installed Windows 8 on one partition from the 1TB hdd.
5. Updated windows 8.
6. Updated to windows 8.1
7. Installed drivers.
8. Now i wanted to install intel RST to use the SSD for cache for the 1TB but I do not have the correct options. From my understanding I need to set SATA configuration to RAID. As i gathered it is a bit tricky after installing the OS, need to edit some registers. I went to BIOS out of curiosity and under SATA configuration I only had AHCI(selected) and IDE, no RAID. Why is it so ?

Tomorrow I am going to return the laptop as it has light bleeding (DOA policy), and will exchange it with another same model.

Can you please guide me on how to correctly set up my computer ? It will also come with FreeDOS , and I will install a new copy of Windows 8. I want to be able to use the SSD as cache for the 1TB drive, or can I use it for something else ? Here is how I now think i should do it.

1. Enter BIOS before uninstalling FreeDOS and change SATA mode to RAID. (But what if the option is not available again ?). I will asume it is in the next steps.
2. Boot from windows 8 CD and do a clean install.
3. Partition the drives the same as before ( ok or not ?. should I leave the 22.4GB of SSD unallocated ?)
4. Update windows 8 so i can update to windwos 8.1 from store.
5. Update to windows 8.1.

Untill now I only had systems with a simple HDD on them, and I am not very sure how to best setup the system to use both the 1TB and 24GB SSD, any help is much appreciated. Thank you

PS: Here is a SS for RST as it currently appears:

 
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#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by ansin View Post

Anyone with the knowledge to jump in ? That would be much appreciated, and sorry for the double post, i'm just looking for a solution before I start anything on the new machine. Thank you again.
Why RAID ? it should be AHCI. You don't have 2 drives, it's a combo with SSD integrated and used for cache only. You don't install anything on that part.
 
#4 ·
Well , I was under the impression that there were 2 drives, and under the instructions in Intel RST i gathered that sata mode needs to be set to RAID in order to be able to accelerate a drive using the SSD. In that case, when I do a clean windows install, should i format and create a partition from the SSD space ? Or i just leave it unallocated and Windows knows to use it as cache ?
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by ansin View Post

Well , I was under the impression that there were 2 drives, and under the instructions in Intel RST i gathered that sata mode needs to be set to RAID in order to be able to accelerate a drive using the SSD. In that case, when I do a clean windows install, should i format and create a partition from the SSD space ? Or i just leave it unallocated and Windows knows to use it as cache ?
Open partition manager and get a clear view of how many drives you have. Also, I don't think you can 'accelerate' HDD by doing RAID configuration among it and an SSD. I assume you'd get 1TB drive with 2% of it being faster. I have only theoretical knowledge of RAID configurations, but let me suggest you - stick with the classical solution - SSD for Windows & software and HDD for everything else.
 
#6 ·
I can't really check partition manager as I am at work atm, but in device manager there were 2 drives (port 4 and 5). Also I would much rather install OS and Photoshop or the like on the SSD, it's just that 22GB is not enough for that.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by ansin View Post

I can't really check partition manager as I am at work atm, but in device manager there were 2 drives (port 4 and 5). Also I would much rather install OS and Photoshop or the like on the SSD, it's just that 22GB is not enough for that.
I see..
Install PS on the HDD then, because as I said - if that RAID 0 config is possible at all, you'd get virtually no performance improvement. If you want some HDD caching to be done by the SSD, you could search for some software to do that, but the inbuilt HDD cache is faster than SSD, it's just smaller, so I also don't really see an improvement there too.

Or you can always get a bigger SSD and live happily ever after.
 
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