Y500 Question - Using an mSATA drive as a second hard drive, and not as a cache drive

I have a Y500 with the original, OEM Windows 8 running. I have installed a 256GB mSATA SSD drive (Crucial M4), which I want to use for installing games and other applications that I want to load more quickly. However, the new drive doesn't show up in My Computer, probably because the system is expecting to use that mSATA drive for caching.

Does anyone know how I can change my settings so that the mSATA will simply show up as a secondary storage drive, onto which I can save programs? I'm really hoping there's a way to do this without re-installing the OS.

Thanks in advance.

 

If you want to see a noticeable performance boost from the mSATA SSD, you'll want to use that as your primary (OS and programs) drive, and store bulk data on your secondary HDD. For instructions on how to do that, see here. You'll need to reinstall the OS, however.

The drive isn't showing up in My Computer because it's not formatted.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

A couple questions. First, how do I format the SSD so it will show up in My Computer, once it's in there?

Second, I know that boot up is faster if I put the OS on the SSD, but, if that's not a good option for me, won't I still get the full benefit of the SSD if I install all my games on it, even if it's functioning as a secondary drive?