Intel Optane M Series, Optane H Series Installation Manual

Intel® Optane™ Memory M and H Series
Installation Guide
May 2019
Revision 5
Document Number: 571964-005US
Revision Number
Description
Revision Date
001
Initial release
October 2016
002
Section 3.2.1, removed reference to Intel’s NUC utility
June 2018
003
Added Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application and Intel®
Optane™ Memory H Series
April 2019
004
Added detailed content on the Data Drive Acceleration capability
May 2019
005
Updates to Intel® Optane™ memory H Series’ Enable Acceleration process Minor formatting changes
May 2019
Revision History
Intel may make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice. Designers must not rely on the absence or characteristics of any features or instructions marked "reserved" or "undefined". Intel reserves these for future definition and shall have no responsibility whatsoever for conflicts or incompatibilities arising from future changes to them. The information here is subject to change without notice. Do not finalize a design with this information.
The products described in this document may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications. Current characterized errata are available on request.
Intel technologies’ features and benefits depend on system configuration and may require enabled hardware, software or service activation. Performance varies depending on system configuration. No computer system can be absolutely secure. Check with your system manufacturer or retailer or learn more at www.intel.com.
Intel disclaims all express and implied warranties, including without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement, as well as any warranty arising from course of performance, course of dealing, or usage in trade.
Contact your local Intel sales office or your distributor to obtain the latest specifications and before placing your product order.
Intel is a trademark of Intel Corporation or in the US and other countries.
*Other brands and names may be claimed as the property of others.
© Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
Installation Guide May 2019 2 571964-005US
Intel® Optane™ Memory
Contents
1 Overview .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 4
1.1 About this Document ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Minimum Requirements ................................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Hardware ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Driver/BIOS .................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Operating System ...................................................................................................................................................................... 6
2 Intel® Optane™ Memory SW/Driver Package ............................................................................................................................. 8
2.1 Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management Application ........................................................................................... 8
Enabling Acceleration ............................................................................................................................................................. 9
Disabling Acceleration ......................................................................................................................................................... 13
Uninstalling the Application ............................................................................................................................................. 15
2.2 Intel® Optane™ Memory Application .................................................................................................................................................... 17
Platforms Starting in AHCI mode (Intel® Optane™ Memory M Series Only) ........................................ 17
Platforms Starting in Intel® RST Premium Mode ................................................................................................. 21
Enabling Acceleration .......................................................................................................................................................... 25
Disabling Acceleration ......................................................................................................................................................... 28
Uninstalling the Application ............................................................................................................................................. 30
2.3 Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Application ................................................................................................................................ 34
Enabling Acceleration .......................................................................................................................................................... 38
Disabling Acceleration ......................................................................................................................................................... 42
Uninstalling the Application ............................................................................................................................................. 44
3 Additional Features/Capabilities ............................................................................................................................................... 48
3.1 Data Drive Acceleration (DDA) ................................................................................................................................................................. 48
Hardware/Software Requirements .............................................................................................................................. 48
Enable/Disable Acceleration ............................................................................................................................................ 48
3.2 Pinning.................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 49
4 Troubleshooting ............................................................................................................................................................................. 50
4.1 Device Detection Issues ............................................................................................................................................................................... 50
4.2 Cache Rebuild Occurs On Reboot ......................................................................................................................................................... 50
4.3 Intel® Optane™ Memory Application Installation Failures ....................................................................................................... 51
Unsupported CPU .................................................................................................................................................................. 51
Unsupported Chipset ........................................................................................................................................................... 51
Unsupported Operating System ................................................................................................................................... 52
Unsupported BIOS ................................................................................................................................................................. 52
Unsupported System Drive .............................................................................................................................................. 53
Error Checking System Compatibility ........................................................................................................................ 55
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology is Already Installed ...................................................................................... 56
Intel® Optane™ Memory is Currently Enabled ....................................................................................................... 57
4.4 Hardware Failure .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 57
Fast Media Missing At Boot ............................................................................................................................................... 57
Slow Media Missing At Boot ............................................................................................................................................. 58
Media Failure and Data Recovery .................................................................................................................................. 58
Media Replacement Procedure ...................................................................................................................................... 58
5 Windows Recovery Environment .............................................................................................................................................. 60
5.1 Preparing the Windows* 10 OS Recovery (Advanced) .................................................................................... 60
May 2019 Installation Guide 571964-005US 3
1 Overview
Intel® Optane™ memory is a system acceleration solution that can be used to increase responsiveness on supported Intel platforms. This solution uses the PCIe NVMe media that is based on Intel® Optane™ technology,
along with the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) driver. It is a dual-media solution (fast media for caching + slow media for storage capacity) that is presented to the host OS as a single SSD.
When this new memory media is installed between the processor and slower storage media, the computer can
store commonly used data and programs closer to the processor. In doing so, Intel® Optane™ memory accelerates your computer’s access to frequently used documents, pictures, videos and application files and remembers
them even after you power it off.
1.1 About this Document
This document provides the platform requirements and installation process for Intel® Optane™ memory products. Including available applications to manage these devices and the following products:
Intel® Optane™ memory / Intel® Optane™ memory M-series products when paired with a SATA “slow
media” drive (HDD, SSHD, SATA SSD) and
Intel® Optane™ memory H10 with solid state storage (or Intel® Optane™ memory H-series). This device
contains Intel® Optane™ memory media and Intel® QLC 3D NAND media on the same drive
NOTE:
Differences between the setup and settings that apply to only one of the products above will be noted The Intel® Optane™ memory H-series is only available as part of a complete system purchased through
your local retailer/online system vendor.
o When purchased, the system will be configured and enabled properly to ‘pair’ the Intel®
Optane™ memory portion of the device with the Intel® QLC 3D NAND portion of the device
o If there are issues or a need to disable acceleration it is recommended to work with your
system vendor due to customizations specific to the platform
o Details provided in this document are for reference for experienced users only
1.2 Minimum Requirements
Hardware
Intel® Optane™ Memory / Intel® Optane™ Memory M-Series
For the latest platforms supported please visit
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000026040/memory-and-storage/intel-optane­memory.html
1. The system should contain at least the minimum system memory required by the operating system.
Consult the computer system and OS vendor for more details.
2. Fast media (cache device): Only one Intel® Optane™ technology NVMe memory module.
An M.2 connector is required for the Intel® Optane™ memory module; it can be down on the
motherboard or on a PCIe adapter card plugged into a remapped PCIe x2 or x4 slot.
Installation Guide May 2019 4 571964-005US
Intel® Optane™ Memory
3. Slow media (disk to be accelerated): Only a single pass-through disk can be accelerated.
The acceleration of RAID volumes or other multiple disk configurations is not supported.
Please see below for supported slow media options:
Note:
Slow media can contain the Operating system (“System Drive Acceleration”) or only data (“Data Drive
Acceleration”/DDA)
Only one Intel® Optane™ memory volume is allowed per system. If more than one volume is detected
during boot, the second volume will be placed offline.
Intel® Optane™ Memory H Series
This product is only available as part of a complete system purchased through your local retailer/online system vendor. For a sampling of some products available please visit:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/memory-storage/optane-memory/optane-memory-h10­solid-state-storage.html
SATA HDD – single pass-through SATA SSD – single pass-through SSHD – single pass-through
When purchased, the system will be configured and enabled properly to ‘pair’ the Intel® Optane™ memory portion of the device with the Intel® QLC NAND portion of the device.
If there are issues or a need to disable acceleration, (reinstall the OS, Backup data, etc), it is recommended to work with your system vendor due to customizations specific to the platform before beginning.
Details provided in this document are for reference for experienced users only.
1. The system will contain the Intel® Optane™ memory H Series device. It contains both the “fast media” and
“slow media” on the same module.
a. The module will be located in an M.2 connector that supports PCIe x4. This slot will NOT be
remapped in the system BIOS (see Section 1.2.2.2)
b. Note: Until acceleration is enabled (as defined in Section 2.1.1) the operating system will show both
portions of the device as individual storage devices. Using the module in this state is not validated or supported; results are not guaranteed.
2. The device cannot be used to accelerate storage devices other than the Intel® QLC 3D NAND present on
the device.
Note: The slow media (on the Intel® Optane™ memory H Series) can contain the Operating system (“System Drive
Acceleration”) or only data (“Data Drive Acceleration”/DDA)
Note: Only one Intel® Optane™ memory volume is allowed per system. If more than one volume is detected
during boot, the second volume will be placed offline.
Driver/BIOS
Intel® Optane™ Memory / Intel® Optane™ Memory M-Series
1. UEFI-compliant system BIOS that includes the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) pre-OS UEFI
driver version 15.5.0.2875 release or later
Note: For best compatibility, Intel recommends having the same baseline (i.e. 15.x) pre-OS driver in the system
BIOS as the Intel® RST Windows runtime driver version (see item 4 below).
May 2019 Installation Guide 571964-005US 5
2. Intel BIOS SATA controller mode set to “Intel® RST…”
3. Hardware Remapping enabled on the PCIe slot connecting the Intel® Optane™ technology NVMe memory
module
a. Be aware that this setting will not be present in the system BIOS until the module is
installed/detected in the motherboard.
b. Consult the system manufacturer’s user guide/support site for what this setting is called as it may
vary from vendor to vendor
4. Intel® RST Windows* runtime driver version 15.5.0.1051 release or later
Notes:
The Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application (see Section 2.1) requires driver version
16.8.x or later
The latest driver can be found here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28650?v=t
Intel® Optane™ Memory H Series
1. UEFI-compliant system BIOS that includes the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel
driver version 17.x release or later
Note: For compatibility with this series, the pre-OS driver (i.e. 17.x) in the system BIOS must be the same baseline
as the Intel® RST Windows runtime driver version (see bullet 4).
®
RST) pre-OS UEFI
2. Intel BIOS SATA controller mode set to “Intel® RST…”
3. Hardware Remapping Disabled on the PCIe slots (there will be two PCIe x2 storage devices detected until
they are ‘paired’ in the operating system)
a. Be aware that this setting will not be present until the module is installed/detected in the system
b. Consult the system manufacturer’s guide/support site for more information
4. Intel® RST Windows* runtime driver version 17.x release or later
Note: The latest driver can be found here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28650?v=t
Operating System
Microsoft Windows* 10 x64 bit (Version 1703/Build 15063) or later required
Note: The Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application (see Section 2.1) requires Microsoft
Windows 10 x64 bit (Version 1803/Build 17134) or later.
Additional Requirements:
1. Ensure the system BIOS is in UEFI mode with CSM disabled before installing the operating system
a. Installation in UEFI mode will result in the drive partition being set to GPT which is required. MBR
partitions are not supported.
b. Note: All drives in the volume must be GPT partition structure. To check you can do the following:
1. Press “Windows Key” on the keyboard + x
2. Select “Run”
3. Type ‘msinfo32’
4. Under System Summary select BIOS Mode
2. Drive type Basic
a. Dynamic type drives are not supported
Installation Guide May 2019 6 571964-005US
Intel® Optane™ Memory
3. When installing the Windows OS, make sure to leave an “Unallocated” space with a minimum of 5 MB at
the end of the disk (max LBA).
a. This space is required for any drive that is being accelerated (i.e. the System Disk or Data Drive)
May 2019 Installation Guide 571964-005US 7
2 Intel® Optane™ Memory SW/Driver Package
2.1 Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management Application
This section provides an overview of the steps to configure Intel® Optane™ memory capable devices with the Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application on a computer with the operating system already
installed on a platform that meets the requirements outlined in Section 1.2.
The Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application supports more capabilities then just acceleration with Intel® Optane™ memory capable devices. This document will only focus on capabilities related to Intel® Optane™ memory.
Note: This application is only available through the Microsoft Store, there are no downloads available on the
Intel support site.
Intel® RST Windows driver must be installed before the Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application can be installed.
1. Go to https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28650?v=t and select/download the ‘f6flpy-x64.zip’
package.
2. Unzip the package to a location you will remember. Browse to the location if necessary.
3. Install the drive using the right click method.
a. Right click on the iaStorAC.inf file and select ‘Install’ from the drop down menu.
4. Restart the computer to complete the installation.
Download/install the application:
1. Navigate to and open the Microsoft Store application (Press the Windows key and type ‘Microsoft Store’)
2. In the Search field at the top of the screen type ‘Intel Optane Memory and Storage Management’ and
select the application
3. If your system contains the proper requirements you will be able to download and install.
In order to download the software, Windows* 10 x64 bit (Version 1803) or later must be installed. You can check this by doing the following (The Store should also tell you if these requirements are met.)
a. Press the ‘Windows key + x’ on the keyboard b. Select Run c. Type ‘winver’
4. Read and Accept the license, and the installation should be complete.
Installation Guide May 2019 8 571964-005US
Intel® Optane™ Memory
Note: After the installation is complete, when launching the application, you may encounter the following error
message.
In some operating system versions this error may occur when the application is not ‘Run as Administrator’. To run the application as Administrator:
1. Press the Windows key and locate the application (this may be under the Intel folder)
2. Right-click on the application
3. Select More in the drop over menu
4. Select Run as Administrator in the resulting menu
In later versions of the operating system, such as Windows 10 (Version 1809) and later, these extra steps are not required to run the application.
Enabling Acceleration
The images below are with the Intel® Optane™ memory H10 with solid state storage in the system. For Intel® Optane™ memory M Series products (accelerating SATA ‘Slow’ drives) the non-Intel® Optane™ memory device
would be listed as the corresponding supported SATA drive; PCIe SSD’s are not supported for acceleration with these devices.
Note: When enabling acceleration on the Intel® Optane™ memory H Series in a mobile platform, it is required
that the system be plugged in (using AC power)
1. Once the application opens you will see the storage devices and volumes currently contained in the
system in the ‘Manage’ tab.
2. Navigate to the ‘Intel® Optane™ Memory’ tab, where you will see the current state of the volume. The
drop down menu will display the available Intel® Optane™ memory combinations that can be selected.
a. If the word (SYSTEM) appears beside the compatible drive to be accelerated, this indicates that
the operating system is installed on that device.
May 2019 Installation Guide 571964-005US 9
3. Select the ‘Enable Intel® Optane™” button:
4. Confirm understanding that all data will be removed from the Intel® Optane™ memory, select ‘Enable’:
Installation Guide May 2019 10 571964-005US
Intel® Optane™ Memory
5. Acceleration is being enabled. The Intel® Optane™ memory ‘fast’ media and the ‘slow’ media are being
‘paired’ into a single volume.
6. A restart is required once volume creation is complete; do so by selecting ‘Restart’.
a. If the module contains at least 32GB of Intel® Optane™ memory capacity, just before entering the OS you
may see a screen that shows some finishing details of the enabling process. This is related to the scheduling of data cache and is not supported on 16GB devices.
May 2019 Installation Guide 571964-005US 11
7. After rebooting the system, enter the application and the volume will be shown in the Manage and Intel®
Optane™ Memory tab.
a. The volume will also be shown in the OS-related applications such as Device Manager and
Disk Management. The individual drives will no longer be visible in these windows.
Installation Guide May 2019 12 571964-005US
Intel® Optane™ Memory
If you are using a device with 32GB or more Intel® Optane™ memory capacity, additional features such as Pinning and Optimization (cache) scheduling will be available. For these devices the ‘Intel® Optane™ Memory’ page will look similar to the
following image:
Disabling Acceleration
The images below are with the Intel® Optane™ memory H10 with solid state storage in the system. For Intel® Optane™ memory M Series products (accelerating SATA ‘Slow’ drives), the non-Intel® Optane™ memory device
would be listed as the corresponding supported SATA drive, as PCIe SSD’s are not supported for acceleration with these devices.
1. Navigate to the ‘Intel® Optane™ Memory’ tab and select ‘Disable’:
May 2019 Installation Guide 571964-005US 13
2. Confirm that you wish to disable acceleration; select ‘Disable’.
3. Acceleration is being disabled. The Intel® Optane™ memory ‘fast’ media and the ‘slow’ media are being
separated (un-paired).
Installation Guide May 2019 14 571964-005US
Intel® Optane™ Memory
4. Once complete, select ‘Restart’.
Uninstalling the Application
1. Verify that acceleration has been disabled before uninstalling the user interface (UI).
May 2019 Installation Guide 571964-005US 15
2. Right-click on the Windows start menu and select ‘Apps and Features’.
3. Search for ‘Optane’ and select ‘Uninstall’.
4. Once complete, a system restart is required.
Installation Guide May 2019 16 571964-005US
Intel® Optane™ Memory
2.2 Intel® Optane™ Memory Application
This section provides an overview of steps to configure Intel® Optane™ memory with the Intel® Optane™ Memory
application on a computer that already contains the Windows* 10 Operating System. Some motherboards may require a system BIOS update before the Intel® Optane™ memory SW/driver package can be installed. Consult the Motherboard vendor’s support website for the latest Intel® Optane™ memory supported system BIOS.
Platforms Starting in AHCI mode (Intel® Optane™ Memory M Series Only)
If the system BIOS supports SATA mode switching, the installer will automatically switch the system from AHCI to
‘Intel® RST Premium and System Acceleration with Intel® Optane™ Technology’ if required. If the system BIOS
does not support this, there will be error indicating the system BIOS is unsupported.
If this automated feature is not supported, you’ll be required to backup all system data and reinstall the operating system with the BIOS settings as noted in section 1.2.2
Note: This automated feature will only attempt to update the SATA mode setting and enable Hardware remapping on the PCIe port that contains the Intel® Optane™ memory M series module. As noted in section 1.2.3 it is also a requirement that the partition structure on the to-be-accelerated drive be GPT. If the Boot mode in the BIOS was set to ‘Legacy’ at the time of installation, the partition structure will be MBR and acceleration will not be possible until this is converted to GPT. For more information see: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000024558/memory-
and-storage/intel-optane-memory.html
Warning: Once the installer changes the SATA controller mode to ‘Intel® RST Premium and System Acceleration
with Intel® Optane™ Technology’ mode, DO NOT change the SATA controller mode back to ‘AHCI’. Doing so will prevent Intel® Optane™ memory from functioning properly and the system may not boot.
1. Go to https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28649?v=t and select the most recent
‘SetupOptaneMemory.exe’ package (this includes the driver and application)
2. Run the executable, click ‘Next’ to continue
May 2019 Installation Guide 571964-005US 17
3. The following message indicates that the system’s SATA controller is configured in ‘AHCI’ mode. This
screen informs the user that it will be automatically switching the SATA controller to RST Premium Mode. Click ‘Next’ to continue.
4. The following dialog box requires the user to read and accept the License Agreement. The user must
check the ‘I accept...box in order to click ‘Next’ and continue.
Installation Guide May 2019 18 571964-005US
Intel® Optane™ Memory
5. The following message allows the user to select where the software files will be loaded on the system.
The user can either navigate to a location using the ‘Change...’ button, or use the default provided. The user must click ‘Next’ to continue the installation.
6. The following window shows the progress of the installation.
May 2019 Installation Guide 571964-005US 19
Loading...
+ 44 hidden pages