Dell Inspiron 17R SE - Enabling mSATA Caching

Hi

I've just got a 17R SE and fitted a 32gb mSATA drive. Bios is set to AHCI (as its either AHCI or IDE). Drive 1 is the stock 1tb SATA, Drive 2 is empty.

How do you enable caching on the mSATA drive, as apparently the Intel Rapid Storage Technology only shows the 'Accelerate' button if the BIOS is in RAID mode? I've tried multiple versions of RST, all of them see the SATA and mSATA drives but no accelerate option.

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

You will have to set your SATA in bios not to IDE or ACHI but to Intel Fast Response Technology. Then reboot in Windows 7.

As you already installed Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers, get in the intel RST menu, then it should detect your mSata drive and your drive.

Select your hard drive you want to use caching, and you will see a new button pop-up in the Intel RST software, which is accelerate.

 

Maybe a stupid question, but I assume if you replace the OS HDD with an SSD, you can install the OS on the SSD, and then enable mSATA caching on the HDD in the second bay?

 

Yes you can

 

You can. But why? You run everything (OS, programs, personal files) off the large SSD at its wonderful speed. Why add a layer of caching overhead?

The mSATA SSD cache (typically 16-32GB) is useful only in conjunction with a large "spinner" HDD.

 

Why? Well, as far as i can recall, the person was asking if he could cache the 1TB HDD with the mSata SSD. Which is logic... so, again, what is your point here?

 

You need to read the post again, he was responding to:

<quote>Maybe a stupid question, but I assume if you replace the OS HDD with an SSD, you can install the OS on the SSD, and then enable mSATA caching on the HDD in the second bay?</quote>

mSATA caching is only of benefit when the OS is on a conventional hard disk but here the proposition is to ditch the HDD and put the OS on an SSD. Therefore the cache is no longer necessary or desirable.

Ian

 

Not sure if I'm on a different BIOS (A2), but my 17R SE only has SATA the two options - AHCI (which its set to) and IDE. Perhaps the option has been removed?

 

Well, i think you are wrong. I did this configuration, and if you use your SSD as 1st device and have the OS on it, and have the HDD on the 2nd bay and use acceleration on the HDD (you will not be able to use acceleration on the SSD anyway) you will still benefit from the caching on the HDD, and it's a good gain for games that takes a large amount of space that you play less often (like steam for example).

So saying it's useless, i wouldn't say so, if he already has it in the laptop, he can use it to cache, and measure the performance gain, or use it as a 2nd drive as a small SSD... his choice, but not useless as i did this for a couple of weeks and i could measure a good benefit from caching the HDD in the 2nd drive bay.

 

Tried downgrading to Bios version A1 from the dell website, still only AHCI and IDE unfortunately. I guess the BIOS for the UK version must be different for some reason?

 

Ok, so I missed some action here I see.

Rassal has it right, what I wasasking about was using the SSD as an OS drive, and the second Hard Drive - the HDD in bay 2 as storage, with the mSATA used as a cache for the HDD

 

Thats exactly what I have, SSD in bay 1, HDD in bay 2 with mSATA card. Only SATA options in the BIOS are for IDE or AHCI so I can't enable acceleration to use the mSATA drive for caching.

 

That is wierd. I have bios A01 and in Sata bios options, i have:

1) IDE
2) AHCI
3) Intel Rapid Storage Technology (or wording different).

Are you sure you have the 17R SE? If so, i would probably call Dell and try to get support, as i just played around with my 17R SE and i scrapped everything on all my HDD/SSD and restarted from scratch and i was able to install windows on SSD, then install intel rapid storage technology driver and then enable acceleration on my HDD and it partitioned automaticly the mSata SSD accordingly.

Did you call Dell?

 

Hi Adam, I am having the same issue that you are and have posted in various forums including this one. I called the Dell support line and all the 7720 models support Msata caching. So there must be a problem with the Motherboard. I tried flashing my board a few times to no avail. The Dell support are sending a tech guy to try and fix it. So I don't think there is a solution that we can do ourselves.

 

Hi
Thanks for the reply, it must be a certain batch of the 7720s I guess. I'm speaking to Dell support via email at the moment, I'll let you know what solution they suggest to me.

 

Had a reply from Dell Tech suppport - "escalated the issue to the appropriate department and was advised that the "Intel Smart Response Technology" will only be seen in the BIOS if the system was purchased with a mSATA and configured for Smart Cache". So basically they are saying if you don't order the Dell mSATA card with the 17R then you can't add one at a later date?! Unfortunately there wasn't even an option to add one on the Dell UK store when I ordered the 17R.

 

Hi Rassal

Did your 17R SE come with a mSATA drive installed or did you add it later, as Dell are telling me if the 17R doesn't come with a pre-installed mSATA you can't add one at a later date?

 

My system was bought with a 32GB mSata card installed from Dell. Yes.

 

im confused....here ALL 7720 comes with the Msata3 SSD..........................isn't it so rest of the world ?????

 

No. I got my 7720 without mSATA. The seller upgraded the RAM to 16 GB and the laptop came with Ubuntu preinstalled.

 

Here in Norway we have 5 options when ordering inspiron 17R SE, only the overpriced version with 3D screen comes with mSATA. (+420USD for 32Gb mSATA and 3D screen? no, just no).

 

I'm planning to buy a 17R SE with storage configuration exactly like what this thread has been discussing. So I just want to make sure what I want is achievable before confirming the purchase.
The model that I would like to buy comes with a 1TB harddrive + 32GB mSATA. I then plan to buy a separate 256GB SSD for the remaining 2.5" bay. I want to set up Windows and all applications into the SSD and use the original 1TB harddrive + 32GB mSATA as a data storage. Is this configuration feasible??
If I understand correctly, in order for the Intel Smart Response Technology to works, I need to set the SATA mode to RAID in BIOS. I'm confused what this action means. Since there will be two 2.5" drives (the 1TB harddrive and 256GB SSD) inside the laptop, will setting SATA mode to RAID means merging these two drives into a RAID volume? (Hope these are not silly questions. I was never familiar with RAID setup.)

 

yes....make sure you order the mSata3, so you can let it work with the harddrive........ (which will work as your storage basicly)....win7 on SSD as you said.

and as Rassal wrote.................

You will have to set your SATA in bios not to IDE or ACHI but to Intel Fast Response Technology. Then reboot in Windows 7.

As you already installed Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers, get in the intel RST menu, then it should detect your mSata drive and your drive.

Select your hard drive you want to use caching, and you will see a new button pop-up in the Intel RST software, which is accelerate.

use your SSD as 1st device and have the OS on it, and have the HDD on the 2nd bay and use acceleration on the HDD (you will not be able to use acceleration on the SSD anyway)

 

Any other thought: I will buy another SSD for setting up Windows and all application. Is it possible to configure the laptop so that the original 32GB mSATA and 1TB harddrive to appear as two independent data drives, i.e. D: and E: in Windows?

 

Yes you can, just have to ignore the 32GB mSATA and 1TB when you install windows on your SSD, and just use that SSD when installing. Once in windows, you will then be able to go to the drive management, and partition your mSATA as a drive, your 1TB as another drive, and assign whatever drive letter you want for them, that easy.

 

Hi I just got an SSD for my Dell Inspiron 17R SE. It is currently configured with a 1TB 5200rpm and the 32gb Cache. Can someone please walk me through how i should install it and move my os over please?

Can I just put it in the spare bay and run a cloning software??

Thanks!

 

You can put the SSD in spare bay and clone it, but once done, you will have to put your SSD in BAY 1, leave your HDD out, perform your tests that OS is working and tweak your OS for SSD, once this is done, put your HDD in 2nd drive bay and reboot and configure your mSata to cache your HDD and format your HDD and voila!

 

Note that running an SSD in BIOS RAID (IRST) mode means you will loose TRIM support on the drive, which is not ideal.
I intend to switch my BIOS to ACHI mode, install a 128GB SSD for the OS, etc., use the 32GB mSata for Applications, & the 2nd HDD (750GB) for data.
Despite the data disk being a little slow I think this will be better than an SSD with no TRIM & a cached Data disk with IRST.

 

I too have the 32GB msata cache and 1T hdd ordered.

I also found a 64GB msata card from crucial for only $60 so I would really like to delete and reinstall everything when it shows up to remove all the bloatware. Then install the os on the 64GB msata card, partition the rest of it to be cache for the included 1T hdd. Is that possible? Or if not, is there any benefit to still getting the 64GB msata and just using all of that for cache instead of the 32GB one? In other words, will the computer even use the extra 32GB for cache or will it be just as fast?