How to reinstall OS on system having msata SSD for caching facility - Recommended Steps

Note: Please do not dispatch parts if customer reports that during OS reinstallation the system is asking for msata drivers or drives are not detected.

Please try this on all systems where msata SSD is used as a Cache device.

Models that use Msata SSD

Inspiron SE Turbo Series, XPS 8500, AW Auroro R4, new XPS 14 and XPS 15, AW M18 MLK, AW M17X R4, Vostro 3360, Vostro 3460, Vostro 3560, XPS 2710

Start

1.    Ensure Sata mode is set to RAID in BIOS or in some systems Intel Smart Response Technology

2.    Go to RAID BIOS and disable accelerate option for SSD (Only if HDDs are not detected while OSRI) (Use Ctrl+I)

3.    Initiate OSRI

4.    Install all the drivers including Intel Rapid Storage Software

5.    Then follow the steps below:

Next

1. Run the Intel RST software through the All Programs menu or the task bar icon.
2. Click Enable acceleration under either the Status or Accelerate menu. 

1. Select the SSD to be used as a cache device.
2. Select the size from the SSD to be allocated for the cache memory.

Note Any remaining space on the SSD may be used for data storage using the simple data single-disk RAID 0 volume that is automatically created.

3. Select the drive (or RAID volume) to be accelerated. It is highly recommended to accelerate the system volume or system disk for maximum performance.
4. Select the acceleration mode. By default, Enhanced mode is selected.

Note Enhanced mode: Acceleration is optimized for data protection. Maximized mode: Acceleration is optimized for input/output performance.

1. Click OK. The page refreshes and reports the new acceleration configuration in the Acceleration View. Your system is now successfully configured with the Intel Smart Response Technology.

Once this is done the SDD drive will not be visible in windows.

Please provide feedback if this article helps.

Note: Please do not dispatch parts if customer reports that during OS reinstallation that the drives are not detected

Manual way of doing this:

KCS Article ID: 558071 - mSATA Solid State Drive (SSD) Crash or Removal From System Will Cause the Intel Rapid Storage Technology - Option ROM Screen and System Can't Successfully Boot.

Security error while logging into Datasafe online or ICARE

Issue : Customers might report an security certificate  error while logging into Datasafe online Webportal

I Workaround : Click on Continue to this website to continue to perform the operation

Actions: The issue has been escalated to the vendor and the Vendor engineering teams have been engaged to resolve the issue

Note : The following issue is also seen when you login to ICARE 

No Boot Device Found issue with Inspiron 5423(14z Ultrabook)

I came across a case where an OOB Inspiron 5423(14z Ultrabook) was not booting to Windows and system has 500GB SATA HDD and a 32GB SSD. SSD was not getting detected in BIOS, whereas SATA drive was getting detected. “No Boot Device Found” was the error msg on boot. Followed following troubleshooting steps to resolve the issue:

Went to BIOS>Changed SATA operations to AHCI, system gave BSOD

Restarted the system

Went to BIOS>Load Defaults

And issue was resolved and now mSATA drive was detected and system was booting fine to windows.

mSATA drive partition not detected

Issue: Customer would report the 32GB mSATA SSD partitions are not seen in the disk management.

Root cause: On the new Inspiron systems that are being shipped with mSATA SSD in addition to the primary SATA hard drives, the 32GB of SSD would not be detected in the disk management. It is partitioned with 8GB for Hibernate and the remaining size for ‘Cache’ following Intel’s requirement for Intel® Smart Response Technology.

mSATA SSD is used as a cache to speed up performance and boot the system back quickly from hibernation.

Solution: Inform the user it is as design and all Dell platforms with 32GB mSATA can only see 8GB from HDD management tool. Refer them to the below Intel Rapid storage Technology page to view the partition details of the SSD.

BSOD on Audi Inspiron SE 7520 - Critical Alert

System Model: Inspiron SE 7520

Issue: BSOD seen on system related to AMD video driver.

Fix – Please update the AMD HD 7730 Video driver from SDC

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/DriverFileFormats?DriverId=N8PHN&FileId=2991137295&productCode=inspiron-15r-se-7520&urlProductCode=False