Missing my SSD?

[7Virtues]

I bought this laptop:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8555792

on black friday for cheap - well now it finally came, and I'm new to windows 8, but I can't see any reference to this 24gb ssd (That I assume acts as a cache and not a true ssd)

if I go into my computer I see only the 500gb hd.

Is this normal?

 

[COLGeek]

I would assume if you accessed your BIOS, you would find it under the attached SATA devices. Also, if you are running IRST, it should be listed there as well (SSD caching).

 

[7Virtues]

I would assume if you accessed your BIOS, you would find it under the attached SATA devices. Also, if you are running IRST, it should be listed there as well (SSD caching).

What is IRST?

 

[COLGeek]

See here for more: http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-020784.htm

Basically, it is the Intel SATA/RAID drivers and the utilities to manage them.

 

[jaguarskx]

Yes, it is a cache. It is not an actual drive you can you.

However, if you can access it, then you can upgrade it to a larger capacity mSATA SSD (do a "mSATA SSD" search on newegg or amazon to get a list of them) so that you can actually use it as an OS drive.

The laptop will not know to boot from the mSATA SSD though so you need to read the following article on how to do so.

http://blog.laptopmag.com/triple-your-speed-how-to-install-an-msata-ssd-boot-drive-in-your-laptop?cmpid=492396

 

[7Virtues]

Yes, it is a cache. It is not an actual drive you can you.

However, if you can access it, then you can upgrade it to a larger capacity mSATA SSD (do a "mSATA SSD" search on newegg or amazon to get a list of them) so that you can actually use it as an OS drive.

The laptop will not know to boot from the mSATA SSD though so you need to read the following article on how to do so.

http://blog.laptopmag.com/triple-your-speed-how-to-install-an-msata-ssd-boot-drive-in-your-laptop?cmpid=492396

So its normal that it doesn't appear in my computer then?

 

[jaguarskx]

Yep. It is normal because the cache is meant to be for temporary data.

 

[7Virtues]

Yep. It is normal because the cache is meant to be for temporary data.

If I go into task manager - performance I can see the 24gb ssd, but nothing is ever written to it. Is that normal?

Says its a sandisk u100 24gb

 

[COLGeek]

That is normal as it is managed by the OS to cache frequently used files to speed up the system.

 

[7Virtues]

That is normal as it is managed by the OS to cache frequently used files to speed up the system.

So its okay for it to show nothing being written to it? How is it being used then?

 

[COLGeek]

An article that might help is below:

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/How-it-Works-Intel-SSD-Caching-148/

Another thread on Tom's might also help:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/297500-32-sandisk-readycache-work