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Thread ID: 147856 2019-05-13 12:08:00 Dell Inspiron 14z 5423 bk T (215) Press F1
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1460699 2019-05-13 12:08:00 Got this Dell laptop with me, according to the Specs, it has a Hitachi 500GB HDD and a Samsung SSD PM830 mSATA as shown in Device Manager. BIOS setsup shows a 32GB SSD.

But I couldn't find any 32GB SSD in Windows Explorer, Disk Management shows Disk 1 as 8.00 GB unallocated.

Where is the 32 GB SSD?
bk T (215)
1460700 2019-05-13 21:42:00 It may be a chip embedded onto the motherboard, or could be a removable mSATA which if it is requires a part strip down to get to it.

Have a look at the video around 2.25 www.youtube.com



Just found the following article, may be of some use --Dunno ? I-would-like-to-use-32GB-mSATA-SSD-in-14z-5423 (www.dell.com)
wainuitech (129)
1460701 2019-05-13 22:43:00 Maybe intel rapid storage is in use and the mSATA is caching the 500GB ? Total guess on my part though. A quick google seems to confirm that's how they are configured
I can't see a 32GB drive as being much use otherwise though.
dugimodo (138)
1460702 2019-05-14 00:23:00 After some Googling, I changed the Intel Rapid Storage to ACHI, rebooted and the 32GB SSD showed up.

Installed Win10 onto the SSD and it's really fast, compared to the 500 HDD.

Now, as dugimodo said, can't do much with 32GB these days, is it possible to install all other programs on the 500GB?
bk T (215)
1460703 2019-05-14 01:52:00 Windows 10 1903 + drivers takes approx 21GB.

You can change the location of where you store Programs by default BUT I'm not going to suggest how, as there are many reports If you google (and done this myself playing about) that when you do it really screws things up (read as an unbootable PC) not going to get the blame if it bricks the OS ;)

Some programs when you install do allow you to select a different Drive, but not all.
wainuitech (129)
1460704 2019-06-11 02:19:00 Maybe intel rapid storage is in use and the mSATA is caching the 500GB ? Total guess on my part though. A quick google seems to confirm that's how they are configured
I can't see a 32GB drive as being much use otherwise though.

Changed to ACHI and the 32GB mSATA showed up. Installed Win10 on it and it worked, very fast. But as suggested, 32GB isn't of much used these days.

So, changed it back default, i.e., use it as caching.

I don't quite understand how this caching works? Does it help to improve the performance of mechanical HDD?
bk T (215)
1460705 2019-06-11 02:30:00 Yeah intel rapid storage uses a small fast drive as a cache for the larger slower mechanical drive. Frequently accessed files should get put on the cache and act almost like an SSD. The SSD is invisible to the user and just works to speed up the C: drive. It's the same thing they do with optane drives these days but I've never seen much of a market for it. Just putting in a larger SSD and using that as the boot drive is better in every respect except perhaps price. It can make a system boot up at very close to SSD speeds though.

And if you want the compromise you could just buy a seagate firecuda SSHD which has it's own built in SSD cache and saves you having to mess with intel rapid storage.
dugimodo (138)
1460706 2019-06-11 03:11:00 Thanks, dugimodo.

Using the Windows Media Creator Tool to download Win10 ver 1903 onto a USB, installed to the 500GB HDD. installation went through smoothly.

Went to Updates and it says that 'you have some missing updates' (something to that effect), downloaded and installed and it says that it has to restart to complete the installation. Clicked Restart -- it went through the 'normal' procedures ... and it is still spinning with "Getting Windows ready, Don't turn off your computer' It's there for almost an hour now, and still spinning ....

Why still need so many updates even with the latest installation files?
bk T (215)
1460707 2019-06-11 03:28:00 It's there for almost an hour now, and still spinning . . . .



Thats not a good sign .
1101 (13337)
1460708 2019-06-11 07:37:00 Cache .

Its like going to the pub and ordering a beer, even before you have sat down the barmaid assumes you want another one and pours one for you leaving it on the bar ready .

Now of course you might not want another one, or you might want a different beer so that is where the guesswork comes into cache .
gary67 (56)
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