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I bought used 32GB Optane + 512GB Nand Intel Optane H10 NVME drive. My BIOS SATA mode is AHCI.

I plan to use Intel Optane with Linux and don't need any special features.
I just want to use 32GB as usual SSD partition, but I can't see this partition neither in Windows (Computer management), Linux (fdisk -l) and BIOS. Only 512GB is visible in all OSes. Is it possible to use Optane stick with AHCI mode? Or here is some hardware issue and Optane partition should be visible in any case?

Also, I tried to set RST mode in BIOS. OS becomes unbootable and that is normal, but the weird thing is I can't see 32GB partition even in RST mode. So I can't figure out is Optane part completely hidden from user or is it hardware problem?

lspci output is

6c:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM981/PM981/PM983
6d:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Intel Corporation Device 0975 (rev 03)
...

where SAMSUNG is a primary M.2 drive and Optane is second. So only one Non-Volatile memory controller device is shown

My configuration is ASUS Expertbook B9450FA

Finally I removed SAMSUNG drive and inserted Optane drive into primary slot.

After that completely switched to RST with Premium Optane Acce... blah blah blah mode (don't remember exact term) in BIOS
Installed fresh Windows 11, drivers and RST CLI.

Here is output of CLI:

c:\Users\user\Downloads>RstCliPro.exe --OptaneMemory --progress

DEVICE_STATE_INVALID: Request is not supported with the current device state.


There is no Optane Volume


Error code: 0x0


c:\Users\user\Downloads>RstCliPro.exe --OptaneMemory --info


Controller: Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller \Scsi0 --
Intel Optane Memory is not enabled on this Controller


Equipment is not Intel Optane ready because
             CPU: Supported
             PCH: Supported
Operation system: Supported
  Optane feature: Supported


Intel Optane memory module not detected: not present or remapping disabled

Looks like Optane Volume is not visible even if RST mode is enabled... Bug or feature?..

PS my intel chip is i7-10510U and according to intel docs:

Intel 10th Generation Core Processor Motherboards ship with an Intel 400 series chipset. All 400 series chipsets except the H410 support the requirement for a bifurcated M.2 PCIe x4 slot where the slot is divided through BIOS to allow for one PCIex2 for the SSD and one PCIex2 for the Optane cache to support the Optane H10

what is a kind of positive news...

rzlvmp
  • 396

1 Answers1

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I tried all ways how to determine Optane Memory without any luck:

  1. activate RST in BIOS
  2. install many versions of drivers (v16..., v17..., v18...)
  3. install multiple software (1, 2, 3) to check if memory exists (and it does not exist)

According Intel support page:

If the device is placed in a system that isn't properly supported, only the Intel® QLC 3D NAND side of the device will be recognized and accessible.

So I decided even if my notebook support RST and Optane technology, the H10 series is not supported (and no information in the Internet about compatible devices... ridiculous). Or second possible reason - the memory is broken. I think here is compatibility problem. Looks like only desktop motherboards (and laptops with preinstalled H10 by default) support this memory. So I don't recommend it to anyone. Waste of money and time.

rzlvmp
  • 396