Dell XPS L421X mSATA question

[eugehet]

Hi All,

I have Dell XPS L421X. It comes with a normal 500GB SATA drive and a 32gb mSATA. The mSATA is not visible to the intel smart response technology that configures it to RAID.

I want to try to do is disable this intel smart response technology and use the mSATA to install OS and programs and the 500 SATA for RAID.

I've read somewhere in posts that we should not install Intel AHCI drivers, but instead should install Microsoft AHCI drivers. Is there something definitive about this?

And its not possible to say partition 100GB of the mSATA for boot, OS and programs, and use the remaining 28GB as a cache and utilize Intel Smart Response Technology to cache the data disk right?

Thanks for any response in advance!

 

[midreef]

Hi All,

I have Dell XPS L421X. It comes with a normal 500GB SATA drive and a 32gb mSATA. The mSATA is not visible to the intel smart response technology that configures it to RAID.

I want to try to do is disable this intel smart response technology and use the mSATA to install OS and programs and the 500 SATA for RAID.

I've read somewhere in posts that we should not install Intel AHCI drivers, but instead should install Microsoft AHCI drivers. Is there something definitive about this?

And its not possible to say partition 100GB of the mSATA for boot, OS and programs, and use the remaining 28GB as a cache and utilize Intel Smart Response Technology to cache the data disk right?

Thanks for any response in advance!

The mSATA is 32GB, I do not think you can create a 100GB boot on the mSATA. Depending on the Windows version you are installling in the XPS platform, 32Bits Windows 7 & 8 should take up 16GB of space, and 64bits Windows 7 &8 should take up 20GB of space. Using a 32GB mSATA as boot will leave you very little space on the boot drive after installation.

 

[eugehet]

I have just upgraded the mSATA to 128GB and leaving the 500GB for data storage. Installing win 8 64bit on the 128GB. Its now lightning fast.