mSata configuration

[OlyMonolith115]

I just ordered an E530 - and I'm very happy to read that the mSATA will support larger than 16gb.

Rather than deciding  between using the larger mSATA  as an OS drive or as a cache drive, can 

you partition  - using a 128gb card for example - partition 1 = 48gb Windows OS  &  partition the 

rest as a 80gb cache?

While I'm not assuming at 5 x the 16gb it shipped with would improve any speeds, and having 

the OS in the same place might slow things down -  if it worked to partition in this way, would I keep 

most of the improved  speeds for copy/move of large files?

A portion of my job involves maintaining archival libraries of  lectures for an online 

classroom - with my current workstation (tower pc) it took me most of a day to transfer 120gb to the 

new 2tb  USB drive - mostly because  6 - 14 min. later, I was busy and not ready to swap the DVD .

I'm hoping once the E530 is delivered, with the usb3 and a big cache, I can get 

the other 7 + years of DVD material ripped  to the 2tb usb3 in one day.

I'm putting off the task till its delivered & my boss has promised me a $500 bonus if I can show

him using my new laptop made it possible to get it all done without interrupting other 

workflow -more than 1/2 (barely) what I'm paying for it ( before  128gb mSATA upgrade)

Thanks in advance for any advice,

OlyMonolith

[alex1906 Support Specialist - Retired]

Hello OlyMonolith115,

I have never done this myself, but from my understanding of this you can partition the mSATA drive to the OS and Cache. 

I would probably switch the BIOS (F1)  to the mSATA first in the boot order, Install the express cache, once done I would go into the temporary boot from device at the thinkpad startup screen (F12).

Then I would boot from the disk drive and load the OS creating the partition that way.  But like I said, I have never done this. Although, if I were to do it, this is how I would accomplish it.

I hope this helps,

Alex

[Ggidzinski]

I am short on time so I decided to leave the original factoryW7 install as is and install XP on the mSATA for a dual boot. The XP install disk worked fine until it got to the starting windows steps and I blue screened - "Stop: xxxxxx, A problem has been detected & windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer." Probably done 100 Windows XP loads and have never seen this but I have only dual booted twin XP's.

Tried another XP disk, same problem.

Removed one of the two 4G ram sticks even though the whole 8G tested good with memtest. Same problem.

Removed the mSATA, created a new partition on the C: drive, formatted it getting ready for XP. Same problem.

Went into the BIOS and changed SATA to compatibility mode but when I came out of BIOS, W7 would not boot - just a black screen. Any ideas?

[Ggidzinski]

Further research suggests the following: The default BIOS setting for the SATA interface in a W7 computer is AHCI which provides some marginal HDD performance improvement. A driver specific to the hardware is required. XP does not have this driver so when the install transitions from loading the initial code in RAM to interfacing with the HDD, the computer crashes due to a lack of AHCI driver. I was on the right track by changing the SATA interface in the BIOS from AHCI to compatibility and the black screen upon W7 boot up is apparently the expected outcome because now W7 does not like the setting.

It looks like the process is to change the BIOS setting to compatibility and then load XP. The problem is that then you have to toggle the BIOS to switch operating systems.

There are apparently four solutions to the lack of native AHCI driver in XP:

1) Use F6 at the XP install and load the AHCI driver with a floppy like the RAID drivers in an old school install.

2) Update the AHCI driver after the install which in some instructions involves registry changes.

3) Create a slipstream disk for the XP install with the AHCI driver embedded.

4) Live with the BIOS toggle.

I would like to avoid the BIOS toggle if possible and I have never done a slipstream install before.

My questions:

1) Does anyone know where the correct XP AHCI driver is for my machine?

2) If I come up with a USB floppy drive for an F6 install, will the driver be installed at F6 to be able to access the floppy?

3) Has anyone successfully updated the driver after the install?

4) Has anyone done this with a slipstream disk?

Thanks.

[zoltanthegypsy]

Hi Ggidzinski,

I've dealt with the reverse problem: W7 BSOD after changing to AHCI mode.  It's fixable with a registry edit.

I wonder if the reverse would work - haven't tried it. Have a look at the "let me fix it myself" section of this page.  It _might_ be that setting the key to 1 would let Win 7 boot in compatibility mode.  Maybe...

Error message when you start a Windows 7 or Windows Vista-based computer after you change the SATA m...

Z.

[Ggidzinski]

Changed the SATA Bios setting to compatibility and then loaded XP onto the mSATA drive. Left the original factory W7 load on the HDD.

How to I get the dual boot screen at start up so that I can choose between the two operating systems? I am stuck in an XP only loop.

Thanks.

[zoltanthegypsy]

One of the ways is Easy_BCD. I haven't read all the way through this article, so please do your homework to verify

Here's one description: Installing XP After Vista or 7  that may or may not apply to your situation.  Should give you some ideas.

Z.

[Ggidzinski]

I am trying to finish my XP install but when I connect to Windows Updates with IE, Windows Updates starts scanning my computer and then puts out an error message. I have never seen this before.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

[zoltanthegypsy]

What's the error message?

Z.

[Ggidzinski]

Update:

Microsoft update or Windows update is getting even pickier about dealing with Windows XP.I had to load XP then SP2 then SP3 then IE8 from discrete files before update would scan my computer and update my OS but it finally worked. Windows XP is loaded on the mSATA and it boots fast. Cold start to finish is 27 seconds.

Got the Centrino WLAN driver from the Intel site

Default video driver from windows works good enough

Default USB 2.0 drivers work

Lack of INF driver is no problem

Lack of fingerprint reader driver is no problem

The Lenovo driver site offers very few XP drivers so I need some help:

What chip set do I have with my i5 3210M gen 3 processor?

What is the audio chipset so I can look for an XP driver?

What is the ethernet controller so I can look for an XP driver?

Can I enable USB 3.0?

Can I enable AHCI?

Thanks,

George