Intel Optane Memory and Cache (Need Help)

[Mami-san]

Hey everyone! I'm Mami. I'm new here.

 

I need some help with my Intel Optane Memory. I am trying to use it to cache my HDD. I'm not sure how to. It says that my motherboard is Intel Optane Ready. When I tried turning Raid Mode and M.2 Optane Genie on, the OS on my primary bootdrive(M.2) will not boot and the BIOS keeps popping up. So then I try to set it back to AHCI mode and it booted. Then when I tried to set it to Raid Mode again, it didn't work. Then when I went to go set everything back to default, my computer blue screened and I had to format everything and install my OS again. Losing nearly everything I had.

 

Help me please? I would very much appreciate it! Thank you everyone!

[Electronics Wizardy]

Changing from ahci to raid will often keep it from booting due to the different drivers.

 

Id just leave it in ahci and use a different program to cache, like storage spaces in windows, or you can reinstall.

 

Also keep backups of you files so you don't lose them.

[Mami-san]

Yeah because it said my motherboard was Intel Optane Ready. Then I saw videos that kept telling me to set it to Raid mode. But yeah I'll try that later afterwork. Thank you so much!

 

Anyone else feel free to help me more. Because I was thinking since this thing was Optane Ready. It would have made things easier for me but I guess it didn't >.<

[porina]

Don't change the setting in the bios yourself. If you run Intel's Optane installer, it will make the changes to both the OS and bios for you.

[nick name]

Unless you install Windows with RAID drivers then you're not gonna get it to run the Optane.  Optanes runs in RAID.  So when installing Optane with an existing AHCI Windows install you're probably gonna be SOL.  There are some folks that report getting Windows to install RAID drivers by deleting the AHCI drivers in Device Manager > setting the PC to boot into Safe Mode > booting into BIOS and changing to RAID > booting in Windows Safe Mode to allow Windows to install the RAID drivers > rebooting normally.  I, however, couldn't get that method to work.  And I spent 10+ hours on the problem. 

 

Also, you need to have your boot drive set to GPT and not MBR.  That's an easy switch that Windows can do for you with command line.  mbr2gpt.exe is the command.  

 

I ended up giving up on getting Optane to work with a pre-existing Windows install that uses AHCI.  You're probably gonna have to do a fresh Windows install with a RAID setup to get Optane to work.  

 

Edit:

 

Here is a method I haven't tried yet.  I did try something similar in registry, but not this:

 

https://www.overclock.net/forum/20-hard-drives-storage/1227636-how-change-sata-modes-after-windows-installation.html

 

[Mami-san]

Yeah I'm back home. I'll be trying these methods. Again, thank you so much everyone. If some of these don't work for me, I'll let you know. 

[nick name]

That last method I mentioned in my previous post edit didn't work either.   I created another post under Storage Devices you may wish to keep an eye on though nobody has contributed there yet.  Your post re-invigorated my efforts to get Optane running with an existing AHCI Windows install.  

 

 

[porina]

You don't need to waste time changing anything. I set up all my systems as AHCI. If you run the Intel Optane setup software, it will both reconfigure Windows drivers and bios settings for you. It really is that easy and I've done it multiple times, most recently to try out Optane memory as cache for a gaming HD. It sucks by the way, and I will replace it with a SSD at some point.

[nick name]

1 hour ago, porina said:

You don't need to waste time changing anything. I set up all my systems as AHCI. If you run the Intel Optane setup software, it will both reconfigure Windows drivers and bios settings for you. It really is that easy and I've done it multiple times, most recently to try out Optane memory as cache for a gaming HD. It sucks by the way, and I will replace it with a SSD at some point.

Can you link the correct driver please.  I've made numerous, bordering on countless attempts and I can't get this to work.  

 

Edit:

I am running into the same problem with the Intel Optane progam as I was without.  The problem is that once the switch is made in BIOS to RAID the PC will not boot.  The furthest it gets is to Automatic Repair and a brief screen of Microsoft blue, but the repair icons never load and the PC reboots itself to cycle through the same failed steps again.  When I used the Intel Optane program to load the drivers it seemed to install something in Windows once I switched BIOS back to AHCI, but in the Intel Optane program it stated that the drivers failed to load properly.  

 

I just can't get the PC to boot when BIOS is set to RAID and as such it won't load the RAID driver in Windows.  

[Mami-san]

I can't even run the Intel Optane Setup Software. It keeps saying my BIOS isn't configured.

[porina]

7 hours ago, nick name said:

Can you link the correct driver please.  I've made numerous, bordering on countless attempts and I can't get this to work.  

That is difficult, as I don't recall which one I used. I also had trouble identifying the correct download when I did it as some seemed to be only for caching OS drive. 

2 hours ago, Mami-san said:

I can't even run the Intel Optane Setup Software. It keeps saying my BIOS isn't configured.

A assume it is the system in your profile? I'll need to refresh myself on details later.

[nick name]

8 hours ago, porina said:

That is difficult, as I don't recall which one I used. I also had trouble identifying the correct download when I did it as some seemed to be only for caching OS drive. 

A assume it is the system in your profile? I'll need to refresh myself on details later.

Oh, no.  It's a system that doesn't belong to me.  

 

 

[Mami-san]

Update: I actually got it working somehow. I don't know how but suddenly it's letting me run the Software. 

 

Again. Thank you everyone for your input. I really appreciate it! =^_^=