Finally got it to work
I had a devil of a time getting this thing to work, but finally got the SSD cache and SSD Boot on the same SSD. It took a long time because I did everything wrong. Here are detailed instructions. Just a disclaimer, this is all from my memory, so some things might be hazy or a little off.
Equipment: 3TB WD Red Drive, Samsung 840 SSD 250GB, ASROCK Extreme6 MOBO, Windows 7 64 home premium OS DVD.
Summary of Main Problems:
The first problem is the 3 TB drive. It needs to be formatted as GPT. Normal Windows 7 MBR format can only go up to 2.2 TB. You need a UEFI capable motherboard in order to boot off a GPT hard drive. You need to select the DVD drive option on Windows 7 install that says "UEFI".
SSD has to be unallocated when setting up the cache. After you setup th RST, then you can allocate the rest of the SSD for the OS install.
When you download RAID drivers
I had trouble getting it to boot from the SSD. Normally, you choose which hard drive to boot from. However, if you set it up with GPT, it needs to boot from the windows boot manager (Boot Option 1). There is another folder in the bios, Hard Drive BBS Priority, that you choose which device to boot from (SSD or HDD). You have to go to a folder in the BIOS that indicates which order to boot.
One other thing, under no circumstance should you ever contact ASROCK tech support. They are complete morons who know nothing about SRT and do not believe you can install windows on a GPT formatted drive. Also, they will question why you don't just put the OS on the SSD and be done with it.
1) Setup system in RAID mode in BIOS
2) Make sure that HDD and SSD are connected to MOBO to the Sata3_1 and Sata3_0 ports so that you can do RAID.
3) Go to Advance storage setting and make sure HDD is setup for Hard Drive and SSD is setup as SSD
4) Go to Boot screen. There is a folder that sets priority for and go to the folder and have it setup for the HDD as boot.
5) When you boot, you should see a screen that says RAID drives with non-raid disks and that you can hit CNTL-I to setup Raid volumes. Do not setup any Raid volumes.
6) Then hit F11 to get boot options
7) Windows 7 should be able to install on the HDD. As a precaution, unplug the SSD cable so that Windows does not load the boot sector on the SSD.
8) Place the windows disk in the DVD player. You should have an option that says "UEFI" then the DVD player. If not, reboot computer and it should appear. UEFI is required for GPT install. Windows 7 is not able to install OS on GPT formatted drive without UEFI.
9) If you see the drive, then you should select the HDD and install. I don't think you need Raid drivers at this point.
10) During install, if it complains about a partition, see if there is a partition on the HDD from a previous install (about 128 MB). If there is , delete that partition and try again.
11) Once windows is installed, install your internet and install the intel RST:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/De...2595&lang=eng&wapkw=stor_allos_12.0.0.1083_pv
11b) While you are at it, download the raid drivers for the 64 bit system onto a USB stick. This will be required for the SSD OS install. I don't remember, either you download in ZIPPED format or you download in non-zipped format. I did both.
12) If you get a newer version of windows rst, make sure it says 64 bits.
13) Reboot and plug in the SSD
14) Go start menu and search for format. Select format partition
15) Go to SSD, make sure there are no partitions on it.
16) Also,make sure all the space on the SSD is unallocated. Do not create any simple volumes
17) If you have a partition you want to kill on the SSD, then type cmd, right click, select run cmd as administrator, type in diskpart, list disk, select disk ? (SSD DISK), list disk, (Verify you chose the right disk) then clean.
18) Go to Start/Orb button, search, type in intel, choose Intel Rapid Storage Technology and launch it.
19) I never saw an accelerate button, but under performance, there is an enable acceleration button. If you don't see enable acceleration, then something is wrong
To see acclerate option, you need the following condtions to be met.
a) SATA set to RAID
b) Have a SSD and primary hard drive connected in the right slots on the mother board
c) Intel RST should be installed.
d) No partitions on the SSD
e) SSD needs to be unallocated. It should not be assigned to a drive or volume.
f)Z77 or Z68 Motherboard
20) Once you enable acceleration, make sure to choose 64 GB as your max size. Don't blindly hit the option to maximize as that might create too big a cache. I stuck with the default of enhanced, but you can also choose maximize
21)If you screwed up, then you can disable accerlation and then reset the volume
22) With acceleration enabled, you should see on the intel RST GUI a picture of your Volume 0001 as the cache volume of your SSD
23) Go to Format, create a simple volume with the rest of your SSD.
Now it is time to install windows OS on the SSD. The Caching you made will remain. Whenever you reboot.
24) Reboot, enter the Bios (F2). Change boot priority to the SSD in Hard drive BBS Priority. Boot 1 should still be Windows boot manager if you are using GPT. Save and exit
25) Load windows 7 Setup disk into the DVD.
26) If you have GPT format for the SSD, choose the UEFI again.
27) Go through windows setup, if you cannot see the SSD, then you need to load drivers.
28) Put the USB with the 64 bit raid drivers in. Select the folder that you want windows to search. Don't select the root file, you have to select the exact folder you have the drivers in. All the folders will look empty.
29) Once you select the correct folder, click OK or something for windows to start searching that folder.
30) Select the Raid driver that shows up.
Now you should see the RAID
32) Reboot, double check that you booted up with the SSD by hitting the start/orb and checking again
33) Do search and type in windows experience index. Disk data transfer rate should be at 7.9.
