Intel Turbo Memory + Advanced Format HDD in Windows 7 **SOLUTION**

Discussion in 'Windows 7' started by Kouryu, May 6, 2012.

  1. Kouryu

    Kouryu MDL Senior Member

    Jan 19, 2011
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    #1 Kouryu, May 6, 2012
    Last edited: May 6, 2012
  2. bobcat

    bobcat MDL Novice

    Aug 15, 2009
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    Thanks a lot!

    The solution is working on Win7 x64 + Turbo Memory 4GB on my Thinkpad X200s.
    I combined unpacked Turbo Memory driver files from C:\Windows\Temp with driver's 8.9.8.1005 files from C:\SWSETUP\SP48491 - did 'only folders' copying.
    Then I installed this combined driver with key -nopin, to switch off cpu eating application pinning service.
    Thanks a lot for your work, Kouryu!
     
  3. Kouryu

    Kouryu MDL Senior Member

    Jan 19, 2011
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    #3 Kouryu, Aug 12, 2012
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2012
    (OP)
    interesting, so the setup -nopin turns off user pinning with the 4GB card???? :eek:
    so does that mean you can use readyboost like the 2GB and smaller modules?

    I don't like the user pinning option either, the service eats up CPU because it's buggy, so I have to kill it once in a while (I too upgraded to the 4GB card recently)
     
  4. bobcat

    bobcat MDL Novice

    Aug 15, 2009
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    Yes, you understand right. This -nopin key is undocumented but working good ;)
     
  5. Kouryu

    Kouryu MDL Senior Member

    Jan 19, 2011
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    thanks a lot! I will go reinstall the drivers now because readyboost works so much better for system performance overall (which is the idea of having a flash cache in the first place!)

    for reference to others who like the idea of user pinning and want to use it with their smaller cards... use the "-up" option (without the quotes)
     
  6. buddey

    buddey MDL Novice

    Aug 15, 2012
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    Very interesting!

    I thought you guys would be interested to know that I'm using a 2gb turbo memory card in Windows 8, and it seems to be running fine. The turbo memory program doesn't necessarily report everything as enabled, but I have a NV Cache tab show up for my hard disk, and Readyboost definitely works.

    I don't remember the exact hoops I had to go through installing it but I think I installed an older version of the intel drivers as well.

    Now that I know about the -nopin option, I just might have to go hunting for a bigger capacity card to try!

    Might be of interest too, I'm actually using it on a Dell Studio 1747 which is a PM55 chipset which doesn't officially support Turbo Memory.
     
  7. Kouryu

    Kouryu MDL Senior Member

    Jan 19, 2011
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    I tried the -nopin option the other night... didn't work for me.... I even tried uninstalling the drivers and reinstalling it... perhaps it's because it saw the card having the pinned software on it already? I don't know, perhaps I need a fresh install of windows to see if I could get readyboost back! :sad:
    for now I reinstalled it normally and just using user pinning and readydrive

    I can assure you though that the older official/non-OEM drivers DO NOT work with a 4K sector drive... you need to use these newest drivers I linked

    but it's good to hear that this card will still work in 8! :bounce4:
     
  8. buddey

    buddey MDL Novice

    Aug 15, 2012
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    That's too bad that -nopin didn't work. I wonder, are you supposed to put it in at the driver install step? Or when running the Readyboost control utility?
    I think I remember (could be wrong) that IMD-0 didn't show up at all until I activated Readyboost from the utility.
     
  9. Kouryu

    Kouryu MDL Senior Member

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    IMD-0 worked fine, always (as long as it sees a pagefile on C drive the first time it ran)... readydrive is enabled by default
     
  10. buddey

    buddey MDL Novice

    Aug 15, 2012
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    So IMD-0 is present under Disk Drives in Device Manager?

    If that's the case, you could probably find it in Disk Manager as an unidentified disk/partition. Then you should be able to manually set it up for Readyboost if necessary by formatting it and turning on Readyboost from the disk's properties in Windows Explorer.

    After that you can use Disk Manager to remove the drive letter from the disk, and it will still continue to function for Readyboost, and will show up under Resource Monitor as "\Device\HarddiskVolume1\ReadyBoost.sfcache" or something like that, which is how the Readyboost set up by the Turbo Memory utility shows up too.

    What I'm not too sure about is the exact format the drive should be formatted as. I think Fat32 with 16kb allocation units seems to be the fastest, although you can test for yourself with CrystalDiskMark after formatting the partition.
     
  11. buddey

    buddey MDL Novice

    Aug 15, 2012
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    Kouryu, can I ask if that worked? I am curious whether IMD-0 does show up for a 4gb module, in which case I might buy one.
     
  12. Bat69

    Bat69 MDL Novice

    Nov 25, 2009
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    #12 Bat69, Sep 21, 2012
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2012
    hi guys,

    I have installed a 1Gb turbo memory module in my Dell latitude D830 in Windows 8 (only 1 Gb because I read it's the most recognized) following Kouryu's instructions and worked it. The problem is that it only display 513 MB like new disk and I only can format 511MB for Readyboost, the other 2MB doesn't let me touch it and I can't format it (I can't do anything with them) and in the hard disk options it shows only 387MB to NV cache. The NVcache it's off by default (I know it's able active it with group directives).

    I've observed with Readyboost ON (511MB only) and NVcache OFF the laptop boots very faster, but when I active NVcache it's not so fast. could I put the all memory (1GB) to Readyboost? How could I do it?

    sorry for my english it's not good

    thx a lot

    regards
     
  13. buddey

    buddey MDL Novice

    Aug 15, 2012
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    Hi Bat69,

    As far as I know it's not possible to put all the memory in a turbo memory module to Readyboost. It's split by default the way you see it. I think it only shows up as 387MB instead of 512MB of NVCache so that it can accommodate memory wear over time better.

    That's strange that NVCache off the laptop boots faster. Are you sure you're turning the NVCache on instead of off via Group Policy? As I know, NVCache is on by default, and the options in Group Policy are all for turning it off.

    You can also see if you have the option for Windows ReadyDrive Enabled Disk Power Savings Mode under Hard Disk in your Power Options.
     
  14. Kouryu

    Kouryu MDL Senior Member

    Jan 19, 2011
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    #14 Kouryu, Sep 29, 2012
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2012
    (OP)
    the D830 accepts the 4GB turbo memory module just fine... just unofficial/undocumented, like 8GB RAM is
    that's what I'm running on my D630 (I was using the 2GB module before)

    all santa rosa chipset laptops should run the larger modules just fine so long as it had support to begin with... there's even rare 8GB modules apparently but it's only half length mini-PCIe, so it won't work in these dells

    the 1GB and 512MB modules are next to useless
    2GB is a nice improvement

    and no buddey, I didn't care to reinstall windows so that I could reinstall the drivers without user pinning to find out if I got the IMD-0.... just uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers in an existing installation didn't give me that, and I don't want to waste my time dealing with it... so I'm still using user pinning, but I pinned all the tray icon apps in it so that during login/bootup, it speeds things up greatly... readydrive still works and does help the boot times a bit
    since bobcat said the -nopin option works, I guess it does work on a clean install
     
  15. buddey

    buddey MDL Novice

    Aug 15, 2012
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    Thanks for the update Kouryu!
    Yes, I think with a 2GB card running well, any further improvement will be very very incremental for me. It's almost more like a hobby at this point trying to shave a couple of seconds off start-up times, etc.
     
  16. Bat69

    Bat69 MDL Novice

    Nov 25, 2009
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    hi guys,

    thx for answer me.

    I've been testing switch ON and OFF the NVCache in Win8 and in mode ON I win about 5 secons booting my D830 :p

    How you say that 2GB module is better than 1GB one and even 4GB module is better than 2GB module, I'm going to looking for anyone that it's (how we say in Spain) good, nice and cheapper. If you know anyweb I accept suggestions :biggrin:

    thx
     
  17. layla

    layla MDL Novice

    Nov 4, 2010
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    #17 layla, Nov 22, 2012
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2012
    hey guys, can you tell if a 4gb intel turbo memory card will be of any use in a notebook with a SSD (slow old one with no trim option) installed?
    or its just useful for laptops with standard sata drives?
     
  18. Cayman44

    Cayman44 MDL Novice

    Jan 12, 2013
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    Kouyru - You are the man. The easy way worked perfectly. My early problem was getting the blue screen of death which occurred on attempts to load the turbo driver prior to this fix. My turbo chip was bad. After replacing it, reinstalling the Lenovo drivers WU did not work so followed your directions and all is well.
    Cayman44
     
  19. dith

    dith MDL Novice

    Dec 5, 2009
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    First of all, I also want to thank Kouyru for all his efforts and documentation! Thank you!

    I tried a 1GB module on a Dell XPS M1330, running Windows 8. The procedure I followed was slightly different:

    1. Start the Lenovo driver package with compatibility (Windows 7, administrative rights) which installed the module driver, sata ahci driver, and the control panels (turbo memory and matrix storage).
    2. From Disk Management (you can find it by pressing "Windows_key+X") I deleted the partition on the IMD-0 device (the 512MB turbo memory module) and left it that way (my module was a used one, so it already had a partition on it...)
    3. Left my laptop for some minutes alone, then restarted and checked the Turbo Memory console... Ready Drive was enabled and ReadyBoost disables.... left it that way for some more minutes.... restarted and voila... both enabled and running.

    I have 2 questions:
    a. Why do you folks create a partition on the IMD-0? I tried it too, but as Bat69 says, I could only use 511 out of 513 MBs. And when I set it as a dedicated drive for ReadyBoost (just like you do for a usb drive), Windows kept complaining about little space on the drive! Removing the drive letter left me with no means to check whether Readyboost is working or not.... But I THINK that leaving these 513MB unallocated, and then restarting till both options are enabled, is the best practice!

    b. Why should I install the newest driver from HP?[/url] I think it's better to stay with a version somewhat older, than experimenting with a potential incompatibility between driver version. Any suggestion on that?

    Check the screenshot for some proof
     

    Attached Files:

  20. Kouryu

    Kouryu MDL Senior Member

    Jan 19, 2011
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    because if you don't install the HP drivers, Windows breaks! The drivers built in with the Turbo Memory package are NOT compatible with Advanced Format drives!
    all of this was already explained in the original post... if you have read it, you wouldn't be asking why, and you wouldn't be foolishly thinking it's better to stay with an older version... what is the title of this thread called again? :rolleyes: