Replaced HDD with an SSD, but now the hybrid drive feature seems to have stopped working

Question

I installed a  2 TB Crucial MX300 SSD in my Surface Studio to replace the terribly slow 5,400 RPM SATA II physical hard drive that came pre-installed. I had attempted to clone the hard drive to the SSD, but the clone didn't work properly, so I had to reinstall Windows 10 using the Surface Studio recovery media. All of the drivers appear to have been installed correctly, but for some reason, it seems as though the drives are no longer in a RAID configuration and it seems as though the PC cannot "see" the 128 GB M.2 SSD that came with the Studio for caching through the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) feature.  I did not disconnect the 128 GB M.2 SSD in the process of upgrading the primary hard drive to the SSD. 

Might anyone have any idea why that might be and what I can do to get the RAID configuration set back up for caching through IRST?  I'd love to still be able to take advantage of the speed boost from that M.2 SSD if at all possible.  I have seen some mentions on other posts or sites that people who tried downloading the IRST application essentially broke the ability that Microsoft leveraged to allow 128 GB of caching from the M.2 SSD and they were only able to use 64 GB because the application caps out at 64 GB.

Please let me know if anyone has any ideas as to how to get the PC to recognize the M.2 SSD again.

Answer 1

I haven't tried upgrading only the slow HDD and leaving the fast SSD in the Surface Studio, but I imagine that you would need to do it as follows:

BEFORE replacing the HDD, install the latest version of IRST and use its SRT feature to "disable acceleration" on the stock rapid hybrid drive. Doing so will write all of the cached contents from the rapid hybrid drive's SSD onto its slow HDD. IMPORTANT NOTE: After disabling the acceleration DO NOT "reset to available" the SSD as doing so will destroy the 128/119 GB cache and you will NEVER be able to get it back!

Once you have disabled the acceleration, go ahead and replace the HDD with a faster/larger 2.5" SATA III SSD, and then run the Surface Studio recovery image (or restore the drive from backup, clone, etc.).

Once the Surface Studio is back up and running properly from the new 2.5" SATA III SSD, install the latest version of IRST and use its SRT feature to enable acceleration again. Doing that "should" get you back the rapid hybrid drive with its full 128/119 GB cache using the faster M.2 SSD and the slower SATA III SSD.

Again though, I've never actually tested this, so I don't know for certain that it will work properly (i.e. proceed at your own risk!).

Now for your particular situation, if I were you, I'd reinstall the stock 2.5" HDD in your Surface Studio and attempt to get the rapid hybrid drive back to working order again. Once you're there, I'd then follow the above steps to "properly" upgrade the HDD to a SDD. I realize that's a PITA seeing as removing and replacing the 2.5" HDD is the most difficult part (seeing as you have to remove the CPU/GPU heat sink), but it might be the only way for you to get your Surface Studio back to the way you want it to be (i.e. with the 128/119 GB rapid hybrid drive working with the stock M.2 SDD and your new SATA III SDD).

NOTE: If you, at any point, used IRST to "release" the M.2 SSD from the rapid hybrid drive, then you are just plain out of luck as there will be no way for you to get back the full 128/119 GB cache (only 64 GB).

I hope that helps you out some.

Answer 2

Thanks, OfficeMaven!  Very helpful advice.  I'm not looking forward to swapping the hard drives back to fix this though, especially since my photographer of a wife has already started editing new photos on the new SSD and adding them to her Lightroom catalog.  No matter how many backups she makes of her files and catalog, she freaks out any time I start making major changes to our PCs.  Guess I'll have to deal with her freaking out a bit in order to get things back how they should be.

I certainly appreciate the help!!! :)

If only Microsoft had allowed us to spend a bit more money than we already had and given us the option for better storage...