with regard to the 32gb ssd cache drive on my sleekbook 4-1130us

[reston29]

In the process of upgrading my envy 4 to see if i can get a few more years out of it.  Have already upgraded to Win10 and the anniversary update seems to work ok.

Have read many discussion posts on users unable to work raid configuration after upgrade to win 10.

My upgrades consist of the following:

• 2x8 gb of ram upgrade
• samsung 256gb SSD
• new battery

My question is would I be better from a performance standpoint removing the 32gb cache drive?  I'd like to open this machine just once so your comments will be timely.

Thank you all for your contributions.

[Huffer]

Yes you have no further need for that thing. Remove it. You cannot use it as acceleration cache since the IRST app will detect an SSD and refuse to accelerate an SSD with another SSD. But you say you got Windows 10 installed with the 32 gig mSSD still in place? How does it show up in the device manager? If it is a standalone drive you could theoretically  initialize (mount) it and format it and use it for storage but it is no faster than the SATA SSD you have so what good does a 32 gig hard drive do? 

[reston29]

Thanks for the comments.  That 32gb LITEONIT drive does not show up on devicee manager, I am betting because it is part of the raid array, which, from the previous notes I have seen on this forum, no one can access or modify.   To see actual status info, I like to use an application (FREE) called BELARC advisor?   Incredible detail, much more than you can get hunting in windows menus.

I had read some time ago someone else said to remove the m2 drive  so that is where I am heading.  Given where storgae technology is going, I am just trying to get a little more time out of a pretty decent laptop.  I stand by HP.

Thanks for the help, will update after I give this little machine a little upgrade.

Jim

[Huffer]

If it is in a RAID array with the internal drive you will hose the software installation if you uninstall it so go easy. 

[reston29]

My understanding is that the 32gb drive acted as a fast cache to the hard drive. This was the basis of my question, better to remove it, or let it be when I install a new SSD?

[Huffer]

And I am understanding that you put in the SSD and left the 32 gig in the laptop and installed Windows. If the 32 gig and the SSD are linked together in a RAID array, removing the 32 gig will break the array and your laptop would no longer boot. That is why I asked you to check disk management and device manager. We need to figure out if it is bound to the SSD you have in there now. Or have you not yet installed the SSD? The 32 gig should not form a RAID with the SSD. If it has, something is odd. If you are just now installing an SSD remove the 32 gig before you do. 

[reston29]

Have only imaged the hard drive to SSD. Have not cracked the case.

It sounds like my plan in to remove both HDD and 32gb drive, install the SSD and determine if it's operational?

Haven't modified the base configuration at all other than win 10. Will also upgrade ram from 6 to 16 gb.

Standing by.

[Huffer]

Yes that is how I would proceed. 

[reston29]

Just wanted to give you a quick thank you.

I did as described above and had no problems with installing the new memory, removing the 32gb drive, and installing the new samsung 850 250gb drive.

Interestingly, once installed, you use Samsung magician to configure the drive.  I, like others, ran into the issue of AHCI support.  Well, the consensus appears that under Win 10, and for this laptop, you run it as a SATA drive.   The read/write samples seem to be off the chart, and the boot time is now down to 25 seconds. 

This is probably all I am able to do without building a new desktop.  Again, many thanks for the support.

Jim

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

SATA = AHCI. The Samsung Magician has problems with the RAID storage controller. Thinks it is not AHCI, but it is. As you can see, the SSD runs fine.  The RAID is AHCI compliant so all the SSD stuff like TRIM and NCQ works fine. If the answer has solved your problem please click "Accept as Solution" so that others will be able to find it more easily. 

Glad to have helped.