Off-topic: Can anyone help me get Intel RST working?

I'm trying to set up Intel Rapid Storage Technology, but it won't accelerate my drive (although strangely, it's quite happy to accelerate my Z: drive). I've asked on a few technology forums for help, but there's been nothing forthcoming. Can any Logos users help me out? There are more details here, if you're interested:

http://superuser.com/questions/619567/what-could-cause-intel-rst-to-not-recognise-a-drive

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Lee

The usual drill:

1. Update RST (try WHQL 12.7.0.1036)

2. Flash motherboard BIOS (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4326#bios). Note that hardware rev. 1.1 and 1.0 are different.

If that doesn't help, you'd have to look at the specific Seagate model and see if there's any issue there. A more exotic option is to try to update your motherboard's Intel OROM. This last bit is only for hardcore geeks. You may be able to find pre-modded BIOS files online, somewhere.

Mark Barnes

If that doesn't help, you'd have to look at the specific Seagate model and see if there's any issue there. A more exotic option is to try to update your motherboard's Intel OROM. This last bit is only for hardcore geeks. You may be able to find pre-modded BIOS files online, somewhere.

Thanks for the advice. Some googling on this topic led me to the www.win-raid.com forum, which looks the best place for help with this problem. Hopefully they'll be able to get to the bottom of it. In the meantime I will try the new version of RST (still not on Intel's site, for some reason). My BIOS is already up-to-date.

(‾◡◝)

I have had similar problems but with different configurations - don't know if it is/was a controller or a software issue. Too many drives seem to confuse one or both.

Try shutting down the computer, disconnect the Z: drive from the SATA port, reboot, and then see if you can accelerate the drive. If so, shut down, reconnect the Z: drive, and reboot.

Lee

1. Some Seagate drives have had problems in the past with certain configurations. I would look at Seagate's support site to see if a firmware update is available. I also would not rule out updating the firmware on your M4 (although that would clean out all the data).

2. The latest and greatest WHQL RST drivers are still unofficial, in limited release.

3. Some users have had to mod their motherboard BIOS with the latest Intel OROMs to get full compatibility. It carries a risk.

John

I'm trying to set up Intel Rapid Storage Technology, but it won't accelerate my drive (although strangely, it's quite happy to accelerate my Z: drive). I've asked on a few technology forums for help, but there's been nothing forthcoming. Can any Logos users help me out? There are more details here, if you're interested:

http://superuser.com/questions/619567/what-could-cause-intel-rst-to-not-recognise-a-drive

Go to the RAID tab in your BIOS. Is the drive recognized there?

There are a couple of possibilities. The cache and cached drive must be on Sata ports on the Intel chipset. Many MB's have extra ports using other chipsets.

Neither drive can be a part of an existing array (unless you accelerate the entire array).

The drive must be clean. If there is any problem at all with the partitioning or data on the drive, RST will refuse to work with it. If it was previously in a RAID array of some type. If it contains botched partition tables (MBR) or invalid or corrupt UEFI data (GPT). If the dirty flag is set on the drive (Computer was shut down abnormally). How was the drive formatted?

If you have data on the drive you need to keep, run checkdisk (error checking in Win 7/8) on the drive with the FIX option. That may or may not correct the problem.

If the data on the drive is not critical, wipe everything: Open DISKPART with admin privileges. Select the disk, and type "CLEAN" at the prompt.

Help with DISKPART here.

Mark Barnes

Try shutting down the computer, disconnect the Z: drive from the SATA port, reboot, and then see if you can accelerate the drive. If so, shut down, reconnect the Z: drive, and reboot.

Good suggestion. It still doesn't work, though.

(‾◡◝)

Sorry. It's a simple fix that has worked for me in the past. One additional thought: I have had miserable luck trying to set up RAID on the Marvel sata III ports on GigaByte boards (they are ok for a single ahci drive, however) ... Intel ports work superbly in RAID configurations.

BTW, if you are going to upgrade your GB bios as suggested above, you can get the latest beta bios here. Note that "Gigabyte Latest Beta Bios" comes from actual GB engineers whereas "Gigabyte Modified Bios" can come from anyone (caveat emptor). I typically use the latest beta and have rarely had any problems.

Mark Barnes

1. Some Seagate drives have had problems in the past with certain configurations. I would look at Seagate's support site to see if a firmware update is available. I also would not rule out updating the firmware on your M4 (although that would clean out all the data).

My motherboard's BIOS and drives' firmware are all up to date.

The latest and greatest WHQL RST drivers are still unofficial, in limited release.

These drivers took a long time to install (5 minutes), and gave an error saying the install had failed. However, when I rebooted, Device Manager showed they were in use. This might give me another avenue to explore.

Some users have had to mod their motherboard BIOS with the latest Intel OROMs to get full compatibility. It carries a risk.

Thanks for the idea. I've been doing some reading on that, and it looks like a possibility. I don't want to try it until I've ironed out the other problems, though.

Mark Barnes

Go to the RAID tab in your BIOS. Is the drive recognized there?

Yes.

The cache and cached drive must be on Sata ports on the Intel chipset.

According to my motherboard manual, I have 3 SATA II ports (plus the mSATA) and 2 SATA III ports, all run by the same controller. It says it's possible to configure RAID across the two types of port, but all my HDDs are in SATA II ports anyway.

The drive must be clean. If there is any problem at all with the partitioning or data on the drive, RST will refuse to work with it. If it was previously in a RAID array of some type. If it contains botched partition tables (MBR) or invalid or corrupt UEFI data (GPT). If the dirty flag is set on the drive (Computer was shut down abnormally). How was the drive formatted?

If the data on the drive is not critical, wipe everything: Open DISKPART with admin privileges. Select the disk, and type "CLEAN" at the prompt.

This is an interesting suggestion. The drive was cloned from another drive in my computer. It's possible the cloning botched something. I should just about have enough spare disk space to use Ghost to create an image of the disk, then repartition and reformat the drive using DISKPART, then copy the files back manually (rather than cloning). I'll do that if error checking doesn't help.

If you have data on the drive you need to keep, run checkdisk (error checking in Win 7/8) on the drive with the FIX option. That may or may not correct the problem.

I ran the long test on SeaTools on the drive last night. It froze after an hour, with no indication of why. Perhaps that points to something. I'm running CHKDSK /f now.

Lee

I ran the long test on SeaTools on the drive last night. It froze after an hour, with no indication of why. Perhaps that points to something. I'm running CHKDSK /f now.

Run the Seatools in DOS mode, in another computer, for the Seagate drive. If something unexpected happens during the diagnostic, you know you have a bad drive.

John

I ran the long test on SeaTools on the drive last night. It froze after an hour, with no indication of why. Perhaps that points to something. I'm running CHKDSK /f now.

Could be that SMART is reporting errors. Even an insignificant error would take it offline in a many RAID setups.

Ever use CrystalDiskInfo? Its a free little utility that makes it easy to view SMART data on Windows systems. If it reports anything other than "GOOD" for the status, that is probably your problem.

Mark Barnes

Thanks for the continued suggestions. SMART doesn't report any errors. CHKDSK /f found some errors and fixed them, but that didn't help. I'm trying CHKDSK /R now.

FWIW, this is what happens every time I install any of the Intel RST drivers manually.

<edit>This error only occurs when the new drive is plugged in (even if no volumes mounted). If the new drive is not plugged in, I have no difficulty installing drivers.

So... it looks like I need to backup the drive and CLEAN and re-partition it.</edit>

Mark Barnes

If the data on the drive is not critical, wipe everything: Open DISKPART with admin privileges. Select the disk, and type "CLEAN" at the prompt.

We have a result. CLEAN has fixed the problem. Thank you (and everyone else) for the help.

I looks as though the partition table was corrupt in some way. As I delved deeper, other errors occurred (I've already mentioned I couldn't update the drives when the disk was connection, but I also couldn't dismount the volume, for example. Even to run CLEAN I had to boot to a command prompt - not even safe mode would work). So the problem was obviously with the disk rather than with RST.

Anyway, thanks again. The Logos forums have succeeded where the tech forums couldn't!

John

CLEAN has fixed the problem.

That's great news. And its good that you had everything cloned or backed up so never would have lost any data.