bobmitch

Just released...support RAID for SSD's.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=21593&ProdId=3440&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%207%20(64-bit)*&DownloadType=

I just installed and I keep getting a message saying I have to restart my system for these changes to take effect. What am I doing wrong or how many times do I have to restart? I made a system image so if this doesn't stop I'll just restore it.
EDIT:
Another observation: 
After restarting three or four times, all of my drives are listed as SCSI in 'Device Manager'. Do I need to go into Regedit to re-eneable AHCI?
Reference: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/61869-ahci-enable-windows-7-vista.html
EDIT:
Nevermind, I rolled back to 11.1.0.1006 and everything is back to normal.

squall-leonhart

I just installed and I keep getting a message saying I have to restart my system for these changes to take effect. What am I doing wrong

Life.

After restarting three or four times, all of my drives are listed as SCSI in 'Device Manager'. Do I need to go into Regedit to re-eneable AHCI?

This is expected, since 11.5 and higher raid drivers use the SCSIAdapter class in order to make use of a Lowerfilter to pass SSD related commands

I see! I'm not a technician so it's not hard to get me upset, dazed and/or confused. Although minor, I get better performance from the 11.1 drivers that are also supposed to send TRIM but I have no way to be certain.
https://skydrive.live.com/#cid=0E05CC3093A8ED8F&id=E05CC3093A8ED8F%21141

I shouldn't worry about such a small performance drop with still a very respectable transfer rate. At least I think it's a good transfer rate. It was the SCSI part that frightened me more than anything. Does this confirm that the 11.1.0.1006 driver did NOT pass the TRIM command? I'm not sure if I want to run the newer 11.5 driver until the Intel Driver Update Utility informs me that the 11.5 is available. Thanks for the responses. (I wish I knew how to attach an image to a post).

Do you think I'm better off using the new 11.5 drivers?

Since these drivers also change my HDD array and stand-alone HDD to SCSI will this affect their performance in a negative direction? I don't know how to keep these as AHCI. My understanding is that TRIM is only useful for an SSD.

I didn't check the performance on any of the HDD items since they're only used for storing Downloads, Wallpapers, RealPlayer Video and Screenshots. My OS and entire gaming collection resides on the Vertex3 array. The internal GC has done a good job of keeping my system stable and performing well for almost six months. I did get an error in Event Viewer for 'PerfOS' after reverting to 11.1.0.1006 that Microsoft says pertains to the 'Pagefile' system. I don't use the Pagefile anyway. Thanks for taking the time to answer questions from a low-level newbie like myself. I appreciate your help enormously!

Zuhl3156

I didn't check the performance on any of the HDD items since they're only used for storing Downloads, Wallpapers, RealPlayer Video and Screenshots. My OS and entire gaming collection resides on the Vertex3 array. The internal GC has done a good job of keeping my system stable and performing well for almost six months. I did get an error in Event Viewer for 'PerfOS' after reverting to 11.1.0.1006 that Microsoft says pertains to the 'Pagefile' system. I don't use the Pagefile anyway. Thanks for taking the time to answer questions from a low-level newbie like myself. I appreciate your help enormously!

A lot of testing on this page...
 
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=365227&page=2

Zuhl3156

All of this talk about BIOS modding and OROM is way over my head for now anyway. Changing my drives to SCSI is annoying to say the least. I don't understand the 'f6' download file, how to use it or install it or whether I really need to. At this point I really think I should leave everything alone before I end up with an unbootable useless system. At that point I would have to buy a 4 pound sledge hammer, beat everything into a pile of rubble and start over. 

I hear you!  Basically the F6 is installed a few ways.  When you are installing Windows..you choose custom and you can pre-load certain drivers before the install.  I use the F6 and Intel Chipset drivers and LAN drivers, primarily.  This way...they are installed while Windows gets installed...
 
Second way...uppack the F6.  Then go to device manager...choose the AHCI / RAID controller.  Choose update drivers.  In this particular case, if you point the installer to the F6, it will most likely NOT work and Windows will tell you that you have the most up to date drivers.  You have to state "Have Disk" then point to the F6 directory and the drivers get installed.
 
Caviat...some people have claimed that the reboot process was two, three and sometimes four reboots.  I don't get that.  I installed the drivers and rebooted...then rebooted a second time and things are fine after that.  Basically...I never installed Intel RST...just the drivers...and my speeds are great.
 
Here are more snapshots of my Device manager...
 
I posted the "Have disk" screenshot as well.  This is the way I, successfully installed the drivers
 
 

Everything looks good.  Your array shows properly.  Drivers are updated properly...all seems fine!

That tweaktowns package is named wrong, its actually 11.0.5.1001 and was released between 11.1.0.1006 and 11.2.0.1006
 
11.5.0.1207 is the only whql 11.5 driver available.

thats some pretty unusual performance decreases on the seagate array

Zuhl3156

squall-leonhart

thats some pretty unusual performance decreases on the seagate array

Yeah, I don't know what to make of it either. The drive is 0% fragmented.

The drivers specifically address RAID and TRIM for SSD.  Maybe different for mechanical drives.  My numbers look quite normal and even better for SSD, but remember I have single drives.  Give it a few days to normalize the system.  If the numbers don't improve...I'd go back to 11.2

Wiping the free-space was no help so I already went back to 11.2 and regained most of the Read performance but not so much with the Write. Since my SATA ports are all controlled by the Intel chipset, there will be no way to isolate the SCSI option to just the SSD array. Maybe my foolish excursion into this driver will help someone who actually knows what they're doing!

squall-leonhart

are you using anything to poll smart on those mechanical drives?

Not that I'm aware of. I have SMART disabled in BIOS and have no Gigabyte monitoring software installed.
 
EDIT:
 
Second thoughts:
My single HDD performed about the same as before the SCSI switch. These drivers would probably work fine for single drives. If I ever decided to break my HDD array, I would upgrade to these drivers. Before you follow my advice, remember I'm a self taught newbie!

If you're using the Vertex 3 drives, the current Firmware is 2.22 and that's all I really know for sure. Sorry I can't be more help.