Drive Detection & Performance Troubleshooting Wizard for Intel® SSDs, Intel® Optane™ Memory and Intel® SSD Tools

Welcome to the Drive Detection & Performance Troubleshooting Wizard for Intel® SSDs, Intel® Optane™ Memory and Intel® SSD Tools

If the tool you are using is not listed, please review the self help content here:
Support for SSD Software

or contact Intel Customer Support for assistance

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

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Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with PCIe/SATA drive detection and performance issues

Some selections are specific to PCIe NVMe drives, make note of what kind of drive you have before proceeding

The model of your device can be found on the product label/box

A PCIe* device will have a ‘p’ at the end of the model name

A SATA device will have an ‘s’, or no letter, at the end of the model name

Note: One exception is the Intel® SSD 750 series, this is a PCIe NVMe drive

There are many factors that can affect performance results, below are just a few options to check

1. Depending on the system configuration, some platforms share bandwidth across storage connectors. Confirm the drive is using the optimal connection and BIOS settings for best performance options by referencing the system user manual
2. Make sure you have the latest SSD firmware. You can confirm the latest firmware versions available in available tools here
3. The Intel® SSD Toolbox provides options for some drives to improve performance
   Note for PCIe NVMe drives, capabilities noted below require the Intel® NVMe driver to be installed if supported. Check the driver page for support of your specific Intel® SSD
   
   
   1. Download the application here
      
   2. Under the Intel® SSD Optimizer there may be options including running a TRIM action and also ‘Performance Booster’
      Note: Both of these features have specific requirements for support and may not be available on all products
      
   3. A Full Diagnostic Scan should be done to make sure the product is in a healthy state
      
   4. System Tuner may be able to point to options to help performance as well
   see the User Guide for more details
4. Some PCIe NVMe products have an Evaluation guide available that define the proper system settings for benchmarking, check the support site (if available, this will be under the ‘Maintenance & Performance’ sub section under your product)
5. Formatting the disk can help recover performance in some cases
   Important Note: Always back up data regularly and before proceeding as this process removes all data from the drive.
   When to Run a Low-Level Format or Secure Erase on Intel® Solid State Drives and Tools to Use

We are sorry this wizard did not resolve your issue, please contact Intel Customer Support and provide the following details:

1. Details about the issue being experienced and what you have already tried
2. System details: Available through the Intel® System Support Utility for Windows*
3. Session summary from this troubleshooting wizard (available after pressing the ‘Finish’ button)

Important Note
Secure Erase is an unrecoverable operation that permanently deletes all data on an Intel SSD. Secure Erase eliminates not only the user data section of the SSD, but also the reserve data area, rendering data remnants virtually unrecoverable. Once you run Secure Erase on an Intel SSD, there is no possibility to recover data from the SSD

Backup any data needing to be saved and Press Next to proceed

Unfortunately this functionality is not available in the tool for your configuration/system. Another option would be to use the “DriveCleanse” feature in the Intel® Data Migration Software

Related User Guide can be found here

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

Important Note: Migration of Multi-Disk volumes (such as RAID or Intel® Optane™ memory volumes) is not supported.

The additional Metadata (identifying data on drives in the volume that ‘pair’ them together) will not be copied in the Migration process.

The member drives should be separated and cloned individually as needed

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

Ok, let’s see if we can help resolve this issue. If you received an Operation error or drive error message, see below for some possible solutions

1. Make sure that you have disabled any disk encryption
2. Remove all Administrative profiles set up on the system
3. Confirm that you have at least 1.5GB of free space on the source drive
4. Make sure the disk to be cloned is not a “Dynamic” type as these are not supported (This can be verified in the Disk Management application)
5. Run CheckDisk (or chkdsk) on the source disk to fix any errors
• Open Windows Explorer
• Right-Click on the drive letter
• Select Properties
• Click on the Tools tab and press Check Now
• Select Automatically fix file system errors if any found
  
  
  
  

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

We are sorry this wizard did not resolve your issue, please contact Intel Customer Support and provide the following details:

1. Details about the issue being experienced
2. System details: From within the application, under the Help menu click on ‘Generate System Report’
3. Session summary from this troubleshooting wizard (available after pressing the ‘Finish’ button)
4. Screenshot of the error if possible

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

If the application is unable to detect the drive, it is best to double check the Operating System and BIOS are able to detect the drive.

Please Start the Wizard over and go through the SSD Detection Wizard

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with Intel® Optane™ Memory based device detection and enabling issues

Important Notes:

• Before proceeding, backup all data
• This wizard is for systems that have been setup/configured for acceleration with Intel® Optane™ memory and are having issues enabling acceleration.

If the system has not been previously setup it is recommended to follow the guidelines and steps in the Installation Guide for Intel® Optane™ Memory

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Next we will want to confirm if the device is able to be detected in the system BIOS (This is the management system before the operating system loads)

Since the system should have been configured for Intel® Optane™ memory, we are going to check in the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology menu in the BIOS

Note: It is always good to make sure that you have the latest system BIOS installed. Check the system vendors website for more information

1. Enter the system BIOS (Commonly this is done by pressing the ‘Delete’ or F2 key at the beginning of boot)
2. Navigate to the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology menu. Check your user manual for the specific location of this menu, below uses the Intel® NUC as an example:
   
   

If there is no Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Menu it means that the system BIOS is not setup properly.

Please refer to the following for assistance:

• Installation Guide for Intel® Optane™ Memory
• Troubleshooting Guide for Intel® Optane™ Memory

If this does not resolve your issue, contact Intel Customer Support

You can do the following to check this:

Open Terminal
Type ‘lsblk -io NAME,TYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT,FSTYPE,MODEL’

If this is a Datacenter drive, this can also be checked in the Intel® SSD Data Center Tool (Intel® SSD DCT)

Follow the instructions below

1. Enter the system BIOS (Commonly this is done by pressing the ‘Delete’ or F2 key at the beginning of boot)
2. Depending how the BIOS is setup/configured, the drive may be listed in multiple area’s. Check your user manual for specifics, below are examples from the Intel® NUC:
• PCIe devices menu
  
• SATA devices menu
  
  
• Boot Order Menu
  

Confirm the drive is properly connected to the system

1. Check the cable and/or connector on the board and confirm they are clean of dust and debris
2. Try a different supported connector and cable
3. If available, try and connect the SSD to another system to see if it is detected
4. (PCIe SSDs Only) Make sure that the port/connector the drive is connected to on the system motherboard is PCIe NVMe capable (Confirm with the system vendor or user manual)

There are a few requirements that need to be met for this functionality to be supported, let’s review these below

The system requirements for this feature are as follows

• Windows* OS 7, 8, 8.1 and 10
• Drive is not part of a storage space
• If the drive contains the PCIe* NVMe* interface the Intel® NVMe driver is installed and supported
  Notes:
• For Intel® SSDs the model number will have a ‘p’ at the end. One exception is the Intel® SSD 750 Series, which is also a PCIe NVMe drive.
• Although the Intel® SSD 600p series is a NVMe device, this drive is not supported in the Intel® NVMe driver. So this functionality is unavailable
• Intel® Optane™ memory media based products are not supported as they do not require TRIM actions to be done and are not supported in the Intel® NVMe driver
• Drive must have a partition (Partition must be assigned a drive letter)
• Must be NTFS filesystem
• Drive must have > 1GB of free space
• VSS must be disabled

If the drive is part of a RAID volume, the following conditions must also be met:

• The volume must consist of Intel® drives only
• Only Windows* 7, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 supported
• Must not be a SAS_RAID_TYPE_0
• Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) driver is version greater then 11.x
• RAID volume must be in a healthy state
• Cannot run on a ‘member’ of a RAID volume, only on the volume as a whole

We are sorry this wizard did not resolve your issue, please contact Intel Customer Support and provide the following details:

1. Details about the issue being experienced
2. System details: Intel® System Support Utility for Windows*
3. Intel Toolbox Logs found here: C:\Intel\Logs -> ‘IntelSSDTDK.log’ and ‘IntelSSDToolbox.log’
4. S.M.A.R.T. attributes (on the home screen highlight the drive having issues and click ‘Export’ to a .csv file)
5. Session summary from this troubleshooting wizard (available after pressing the ‘Finish’ button)

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

There are a few requirements that need to be met for this functionality to be supported, let’s review these below
Some third-party USB to SATA/NVMe cables work, but it is important the cable

• exports the correct model number to the operating system. If Intel® Data Migration Software doesn’t receive the correct model number, it fails to detect the drive in the operating system and does not install
• supplies power to run the drive. Without power, the drive goes offline and the clone fails

For more information see here

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

Okay, let’s see if we can figure out where the issue is. Check if the Intel® Optane™ memory device is recognized in the Windows operating system

You can download and install the Intel® Solid State Drive Toolbox

Or use the following Windows Utilities:

• Device Manager
1. Press the Windows Key + x
2. Select ‘Device Manager’
3. Confirm the device is listed under the ‘Disk Drives’ drop down
   
   

   Acceleration Disabled	Acceleration Enabled

   
   
• Disk Management
1. Press the Windows Key + x
2. Select ‘Disk Management’
3. Confirm the device is listed
   
   

   Acceleration Disabled	Acceleration Enabled

   
   

Since the device(s) are listed in the Main section of the application it means the device(s) are detected but may be in an ‘Offline’ or ‘Disabled’ state. It may not have been disabled properly.

Important Note: Before proceeding, make sure to backup any data that is contained on the drive as this may not be possible after this operation

It might be possible to bring the drive back online by trying one of the methods below

Option 1:

• If possible, place the drive back in the system with the other drive(s) that were part of the Intel® Optane memory volume
• Restart computer and view status in the application. At this point you can properly ‘Disable’ the volume and use the disks separately or in a new volume

Option 2: If not possible, the device can be Reset. This removes the metadata (or the data signature that ‘pairs’ the multiple drives together into a single volume)

• Open the application and select/highlight the device that is offline
• You will see an option to “Clear Metadata”
  
  
  
• Restart the computer and open the application again

We are sorry this wizard did not resolve your issue, please contact Intel Customer Support and provide the following details:

1. Details about the issue being experienced
2. System details: Intel® System Support Utility for Windows*
3. Session summary from this troubleshooting wizard (available after pressing the ‘Finish’ button)
4. Screenshot of the application window and the Disk Management page
5. System logs found here C:\Users\%username%\Intel\Logs. You will find different files like the ones listed below, you can zip those files and share them with the support team.

IntelOptaneMemory.log
IntelRST.log
OptaneMemoryPinning.log
OptaneMemoryUI.log

Since the device is detected in the BIOS and not in Windows, it could be in offline/disabled mode. This can occur when the module was not disabled (separated) properly from a previous installation. The device goes “offline” to prevent data corruption.

If this is the case, you have 2 options

Option 1: If the device was part of a multi-disk volume before and you wish to keep this volume

• Make sure that the proper drive (which was being accelerated) is in the system and setup properly
• Re-enter the OS and attempt to enable acceleration

Option 2: If you are starting over, after making sure all data is backed up

• Most BIOS vendors provide an option to ‘Reset to non optane’
  
  

This will reset the device and erase the metadata (this is the signature that pairs the module to another drive to make a volume)

• Re-enter the OS and attempt to enable acceleration

To confirm this, you can download and install the Intel® Solid State Drive Toolbox

Or use the following Windows utilities:

Device Manager

1. Press the Windows Key + x
2. Select ‘Device Manager’
3. Confirm the drive is listed under the ‘Disk Drives’ drop down
   
   

Disk Management

1. Press the Windows Key + x
2. Select ‘Disk Management’
3. Confirm the drive is listed
   
   

Try connecting the drive directly to the system motherboard. As adapters and enclosures may cause issues with drive detection.

For more information see here

We will need more information to continue to assist, please contact Intel Customer Support and provide the following details:

1. Details about the issue being experienced and what you have already tried
2. System details: Available through the Intel® System Support Utility for Windows*
3. Session summary from this troubleshooting wizard (available after pressing the ‘Finish’ button)

Try the following:

1. Backup all data
2. Format the drive (This will erase all data on the drive)
3. Create a Partition and assign a drive letter (this can be done through Disk Manager) Example from Windows* 10 below
   Step 1: Press the Windows Key + x
   Step 2: Select ‘Disk Management’
   Step 3: Locate the disk that you wish to add a partition to
   Step 4: Right-click and select New Simple Volume
   
   

Secure Erase cannot be done on SSDs that contain any partitions

If it does, follow the instructions here to remove before proceeding

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

Welcome! Use this Wizard for assistance with the cloning/migration feature with the Intel® Data Migration Software

Make sure that you are on the latest version of the software that can be found here:
Intel® Data Migration Software

Note: It is always recommended to backup any data before proceeding

Since the device was listed in the Windows* system resources (i.e. Device Manager/Disk Management) the issue could be a configuration or compatibility issue for Intel® Optane™ memory.

Check the following BIOS Settings:

1. Enter the system BIOS (Commonly this is done by pressing the ‘Delete’ or F2 key at the beginning of boot)
2. Confirm the SATA Mode is set to ‘RST Premium…’
3. Confirm Remapping is:
   Enabled for Intel® Optane™ memory M10 devices and PCIe NVMe supported drives being accelerated
   
   Disabled for Intel® Optane memory H Series devices (Both the Intel® Optane™ memory side and NAND side)

Note: The field to ‘Remap’ in the BIOS is called different things depending on the system vendor, confirm the setting name with your motherboard/system vendor or user manual.

Resource: Complete compatible drive type & Configuration settings should be referenced in the Installation Guide for Intel® Optane™ Memory

Try connecting the drive directly to the system motherboard. As adapters and enclosures may cause issues with drive detection.

For more information see here

Step 1: Get the app here
Step 2: Open Application and check the Status Screen under ‘Storage System View”, is the drive listed?

The device(s) may be in an ‘Offline’ or ‘Disabled’ state.

The drive may have been removed from a system before disabling, or separating it from the other drive(s) it was paired with, properly.

It might be possible to bring the drive back online by trying the methods below

Backup all data on the drive before proceeding

If possible, place the drive back in the system with the other drive(s) that were part of the Intel® Optane™ memory or RAID volume

Once this is complete, open the Intel® RST application and properly separate the disks by disabling the volume.

Refer to the Intel® Optane™ memory User and Installation Guide for the proper disabling steps

Or you can ‘Reset’ the device by removing metadata signatures

Notes:

• ‘Metadata’ is a small bit of data that pairs more then one drive together in a multi-disk volume
• Resetting the device clears the metadata so that it can be detected as a single drive

Open the application and select/highlight the device that is offline. You will see an option to “Clear Metadata”

Restart the computer