ideapad u310 ssd question

[isometric]

I have a u310 ideapad with a 500GB HDD + 32GB SSD running windows 7.

Here is the disk and partition info:

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model 0W0VVCLH
Bytes/Sector 512
Media Loaded Yes
Media Type Fixed hard disk
Partitions 4
SCSI Bus 0
SCSI Logical Unit 0
SCSI Port 0
SCSI Target ID 1
Sectors/Track 63
Size 465.76 GB (500,105,249,280 bytes)
Total Cylinders 60,801
Total Sectors 976,768,065
Total Tracks 15,504,255
Tracks/Cylinder 255
Partition Disk #1, Partition #0
Partition Size 200.00 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 1,048,576 bytes
Partition Disk #1, Partition #1
Partition Size 420.56 GB (451,577,643,008 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 210,763,776 bytes
Partition Disk #1, Partition #2
Partition Size 25.47 GB (27,346,862,080 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 451,788,406,784 bytes
Partition Disk #1, Partition #3
Partition Size 19.34 GB (20,761,804,800 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 479,135,268,864 bytes

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model FFS
Bytes/Sector 512
Media Loaded Yes
Media Type Fixed hard disk
Partitions 1
SCSI Bus 0
SCSI Logical Unit 0
SCSI Port 0
SCSI Target ID 0
Sectors/Track 63
Size 8.00 GB (8,587,192,320 bytes)
Total Cylinders 1,044
Total Sectors 16,771,860
Total Tracks 266,220
Tracks/Cylinder 255
Partition Disk #0, Partition #0
Partition Size 8.00 GB (8,587,837,440 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 1,048,576 bytes

In windows there are 2 drives:

C drive is Partition Disk #1, Partition #1

D drive is Partition Disk #1, Partition #2

I have researched a fair bit about how lenovo partitions the disks for use with the one key recovery feature. I have also been reading about Intel Rapid Start technology.

What I still do not understand is:

What is the 200MB partition for? (Partition Disk #1, Partition #0)

What is this 19.34GB partition for? (Partition Disk #1, Partition #3)

Why does the SSD size and partition only appear as 8GB (as reported from within windows) but in the BIOS it says that it is 32GB? (Partition Disk #0, Partition #0)

Does this have something to do with rapid start technology?

When I bought the machine, I thought that windows would be installed on the SSD and that I would have access to it for installing software. The machine does wake from sleep and boot incredibly fast so maybe i will leave it in its current configuration.

But I am curious about reinstalling windows on the ssd. So if I were to do that:

How should I go about re-formatting the drives and partitions in preparation for re-installing windows onto the ssd?

If I install windows on the ssd do I still need to install and configure Rapid Start technology?

Thanks!

[RMattoo]

Hi

Welcome To Lenovo Community

Based on what I read from your post, I am sharing few details which may help you understand the technology

200MB partition

The partition holds system files and bootable files that are essential to boot the Windows 7 properly in the event of the need to recover the OS in the event of corruption. It is called as System Reserved Partition

The SSD is used for Caching. It’s managed by the Intel RST Tool. The driver configuration consists of  

 Cache volume size + Data volume size

This is created for making system startup 3x faster in case of standby, shutdown.

The Hibernation partition must be at least the size as the installed memory (RAM)

Please refer below link SSD U310

Intel Start User Guide for understanding the working

 http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/rapid_start_technology_user_guide.pdf

If system is working perfectly as per the standard and you are happy with the performance, I would suggest not making any changes

If you are planning to install windows on SSD .Please follow the below guide for reinstalling windows on SSD

http://78.9.150.202/pub/RapidDrive.pdf

Before making any changes please create a set of recovery DVD’s

Do give this a try and let us know  

Hope This Helps

Cheers!!!

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