Why won't the MSATA SSD Show Up? X230

When I was configuring my Lenovo X230 notebook, there was an option, at no additional charge, to have it come with a 16GB MSATA SSD installed.

Although I plan to purchase a much larger 256GB MSATA SSD, and use it as my boot drive, I chose the configuration to have the unit come with the 16GB one, since it was free.

I have received my X230, and that 16GB MSATA SSD is definitely installed on it. When I look in Device Manager, under Disk Drives, besides the 500GB HDD, it has listed SanDisk SSD U100 16GB. Right-click it, Properties, "This Device is Working Properly", etc.

However, under "Computer" (Windows 8 Pro), only one drive is listed the HDD, C:

So, I go to "Computer Management", "Disk Management". The HDD is listed as Disk 0. Besides its main partition, it looks like three different types of recovery partitions.

The 16GB MSATA SSD is also listed there, as Disk 1. It is listed as Basic, 14.91GB, and Online. On the right side it is listed as Healthy (OEM Partition). I right-click it, hoping to see an option to assign it a drive letter. But no such option. I have tried repeatedly, and cannot find any way to assign a drive letter to the msata SSD, so that it will show up as a drive in Computer.

Although I planned to replace that drive soon with a much larger one, it has me worried--what if I buy and install a larger MSATA SSD, and am unable to have it show up as a usable drive? Why can't I get this one to show up? It seems totally useless and unusable now.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

it is used as a cache, which is why it can't be reassigned.

 

It uses a software called expresscache, you should see it installed in your remove programs list.

If it's working correctly you should be able to open a elevated permission command prompt windows and type the following command: "eccmd -info" without the quotes.

It will show you how much of the msata drive is currently being used for cache. Unless you have changed something in the settings.

It actually speeds up your boot and shutdown speeds by a very noticeable margin. If the cache was not enabled you would notice your commonly used programs would load considerably slower from the traditional 500GB HDD so it's worth keeping until you buy a larger MSATA drive. You can then uninstall the expresscache software and clone your whole OS onto the new larger SSD.

The msata cache is like a in-between before moving to a larger SSD. It gives you many of the speed benefits of a SSD but on a much larger capacity drive like a 500GB or 1TB HDD, down side is it only works on frequently used applications as it needs to cache the data first.

 

Thanks for the info. It is surprising to me, that that is done without telling the user anything about it. Nothing shows in Disk Management, nor in Properties under Device Manager, that the disk is being used that way.

Couldn't the same thing be accomplished (if one had access to the drive) by assigning it to ReadyBoost?

Is the expresscache software part of Windows, or a Lenovo thing?

By the way, for when I get a new drive, I downloaded both the regular X230 user guide, and the maintenance manual, and although I see directions about installing a new HDD, memory modules, etc., I see nothing there about installing an msata SSD. Where can I find that info?

Thank you.

 

Interesting. I typed the eccmd -info command that you (Flickster) suggested, and it only shows a small part of the 16gb ssd being used for the cache, if in fact that is what it is using.

Some of the info it gives me:

Total Read Size: 3.66 GB

Total Cache Read Size: 2.17 GB

Total Write Size: 836.03 MB

Total Cache Write Size: 148.40 MB

Adds up to way less than half of the 16GB SSD drive. No mention of what is being used for the cache- i.e. the SSD.

 

In the Hardware Maintenance Manual, see Page 70, "1090 PCI Express Mini Card for wireless WAN or mSATA solid-state drive." There's a single screw holding down the mSATA SSD, and obviously, you won't need to attach the antennas (those are for the WAN card you could also opt to install).

 

I don't think your reading it the right way. You are looking at the "Cache Stats" as a indicator of how much of the drive is being used for cache, that's not what it shows. To see how much of your drive is being used for cache look further up at "EC Cache Info".

For example these are my stats:

ExpressCache Command Version 1.0.86.0
Copyright® 2010-2011 Diskeeper Corporation.
Date Time: 1/21/2013 21:51:48:574

EC Cache Info
==================================================
==================================================
Mounted : Yes
Partition Size : 14.91 GB <<< Of 16GB msata SSD
Reserved Size : 3.00 MB
Volume Size : 14.91 GB
Total Used Size : 11.93 GB <<< How much of the 16GB is currently used for caching
Total Free Space : 2.99 GB <<< How much of the 16GB is free
Used Data Size : 11.86 GB
Used Data Size on Disk : 11.92 GB

Tiered Cache Stats
==================================================
Memory in use : 1024.00 MB
Blocks in use : 8188
Read Percent : 8.25%


Cache Stats
==================================================
Cache Volume Drive Number : 2
Total Read Count : 164977
Total Read Size : 915.25 MB
Total Cache Read Count : 451
Total Cache Read Size : 44.47 MB
Total Write Count : 20879
Total Write Size : 372.25 MB
Total Cache Write Count : 6
Total Cache Write Size : 10.00 KB

Cache Read Percent : 4.86%
Cache Write Percent : 0.00%
----------------------------------

The cache stats I believe shows how much data has been read/written to the drive over X period of time. Not sure when those numbers reset. "Cache Info" actually tells you how much of the drive is currently in-use with cached data.

 

By the way, as an experiment,

I disabled and turned off the expresscache service.

I expected then that the mSATA SSD would show up as a drive under Computer.

It still doesn't, no different than before. Same thing after rebooting.

Why?

 

Do you see it with diskpart?

 

Because it is not formatted as a visible NTFS/FAT partition it is a special hidden partition used by expresscache for caching. It should show under "Computer Management" as a healthy disk.

You have confirmed that your 16GB msata is working the way it should, it is being used to speed up your HDD by caching frequently used data. Caching is probably the best use of a small 16GB msata SSD. Is there a reason for why you are worrying about turning it OFF and seeing if it show up as a partition? You already know it works.

 

Thanks for the response, Flickster.

Yes, it shows up as a healthy disk in Disk Management. But I thougth with expresscache service disabled, that would disable expresscache, and it would appear as a normal disk in Computer.

Why do I care about that? For one thing, I am a curious person. But more importantly, within a few days I will be replacing that 16GB mSATA SSD with a 256GB mSATA SSD, which I intend to use as the boot drive. I will certainly want that larger one to show up as a drive. So experimenting now with the small one. Someone wrote that uninstalling expresscache would make the drive show up, so I thought I would try disabling the service instead, but I guess that's not enough.

(By the way, if anyone is interested in purchasing the 16GB mSATA drive, make an offer per IM.).

 

Don't worry, your msata slot seems to be working as intended. Once you install your 256GB mSATA and format it to NTFS it should show up in "my computer" - as long as the new drive is not faulty . The only reason your 16GB doesn't is because of what I mentioned earlier.

 

But I don't even see an option to format the 16GB drive, How will I see it for the 256 GB drive?

----

I'll repeat another question, just out of curiosity, If the 16GB SSD showed up as a drive, I could assign it to ReadyBoost. Isn't that similar to expresscache? Or is expresscache better?

 

That is because expresscache already created a volume on the drive. A new 256GB mSATA will have no partitions on it an will show up in Disk Management as unassigned space. You will then be able to format it.

Regarding ReadyBoost, I believe it works in a slightly different way to expresscache. You will need to read up about the two in detail but expresscache is specifically designed for caching HDD data to a SSD. If there was no difference Lenovo would of just used the free Readyboost but like I said I believe they do slightly different things. However I have not taken the time to read into how good/bad readyboost is.

 

Just jumping in here with an issue I'm encountering. My volume size is accurate (14.91), but my total used size is drastically too low (1.91 GB). How can I increase the amount of space Express Cache is working with.

A bit of background. I just wipe win 8 from my HDD and installed Win 7. The SSD was not touched or formatted in the process (and is GBT vs the HHD's MBR), in case that is of any assistance.

 

Hi to lead_org. I'm back!!!!
Renee

 

"But I thougth with expresscache service disabled, that would disable expresscache, and it would appear as a normal disk in Computer."

It has to be NTFS formatted first.
Renee

 

I believe you can preload certain files or folders using the command " eccmd -preload ." in the directory you want loaded.

 

Hi maiki,

I have a X230 and plan to do something similar. Unfortunately I can only afford 128GB msata for now.

Just want to know if you have everything went as plan?How is the performance of after you have installed OS on msata SSD?