Guide On ExpressCache: "I Want My ExpressCache Back!" Edition

@Magorei: Sorry, I didn't see your post till now.

So it didn't work. Admittedly, that is puzzling to me. But then, many people have reported this problem - which they probably wouldn't if it were easy.

I'll see if I can find out more and let you know. Meantime here are a few things to consider:

1) ExpressCache can work without Easy Settings. Is there some other way to verify it's running? Does the ExpressCache boot optimizer BAT file run?

2) I'm puzzled about this business with drive numbers changing. Others reported that too. Do you have any USB drives connected during boot (HDD or sticks)?

3) What are your BIOS settings for Fast Boot, Legacy USB, UEFI?

4) Does your BIOS have a setting to allow the iSSD to become the boot device? (Thus messing with drive numbers).

Let me know if you discover something. I'll take another look tomorrow.

 

Hey Dannemand,
Those are good tips, i`ll check them out!
Where is located this optimizer BAT file run?
I dont have any USB conected during the procedures and the drive number has changed 2 times, already reformated HDD and reinstalled windows twice.
and I cant reach the BIOS, i have the computer for 2 weeks now and never seen it.

 

How do I go to BIOS settings? F2 is not working, and holding windows button does not work.
How do I find boot file for EC?

 

You have about a 2 second opportunity to hit the F2 key when the BIOS screen shows. Try harder.

John

 

Just got back in front of my PC. Boy, depending on where you live in Brazil, you're either a night owl or a REAL night owl Hope you're getting some rest now.

For BIOS settings, it's easiest if you start from power off. And as John says, it's a very short window before boot. Start hitting F2 a second or so after you turn the power on.

On the other hand, if you haven't seen or touched those BIOS settings, they couldn't be the reason why your drive numbers are changing.

The ExpressCache boot optimization I mentioned is "C:\Program Files\Diskeeper Corporation\ExpressCache\bootopt.bat". It's undocumented, but it seems like it reorganizes boot files on your HDD (like good old Bootvis) and caches them on the iSSD. Or maybe the caching only happens because the files are read. It was just a suggestion for SOMETHING to see if ExpressCache is working.

There is clearly a command line interface for ExpressCache, and a way to control it. But it's not documented anywhere.

One other thought: Beyond deleting the iSSD partition, I never tried wiping the actual disk, but I noticed some people mention it. I would try the uninstall steps again (from my earlier post) then do a DISKPART CLEAN instead of just deleting the partition.

Finally, I wonder if it could be a hardware failure of the iSSD. I remember John Ratsey mentioning somewhere that it's fairly common. Two days at Samsung service doesn't sound so bad if they will restore your Recovery partition AND check/fix a broken iSSD.

Just some thoughts...

 

"Fairly common" sounds too frequent but I recall several instances being reported in this forum so "not unknown" may be a better term. Remember that many people only come to a forum when they have a problem and few people come to say they have no problems.

John

 

Sorry, didn't men to put words in your mouth. "Not unheard of" is better.

BTW, your posts around here are very impressive!

 

I've been putting in too much practice over several years.

John

 

@Magorei:

I've done a bit more testing and I don't think the changing drive numbers are the cause of your ExpressCache woes: In my Disk Manager and DISKPART (on two different Win7 installs) the HDD also shows up as Disk0 while the iSSD is Disk1. But if I run DISKPART after booting my Windows Setup DVD, the HDD is Disk1 and iSSD is Disk0.

That's true even if I boot PartedMagic (linux): iSSD is /dev/sdb and HDD is /dev/sda.

Probably Windows (and even linux) re-orders the drives so that the boot drive is always Disk0.

Regardless, this has not prevented my ExpressCache from being re-created and working every time I deleted the iSSD partition and re-installed the ExpressCache software.

I believe the problem has to be somewhere else.

One more thought: Did you install Intel Chipset and Rapid Storage drivers before other devices?

I won't be getting back to my PC until Monday. Hope you figure something out before then.

 

Ok, i'll try to answer all the questions:
I am in a vacation,so yes, my sleeping times are all messed up, lol! I enjoy the silence of the night, it keeps me focused.
As John suggested , I was able to enter BIOS setup for the first time. The BIOS for this machine is quite simple, i am familiar to more advanced settings, and there was few functions. I dont see any reference to iSSD. It does not appear as an option to the boot sequence, and anywhere else. But inside windows it does appear in diskpart, and in disk management, (and Macdisk) and it has a online status. My legacy USB option is disabled along with the UEFI, right after LEGACY USB function. The " Fast Boot " option does not exist in my BIOS settings.
I cannot remember precisely, but i think I have installed Intel Chipset and Rapid Storage drivers before other devices,first of all is the LAN so i can connect to internet and Softwarer Manager, then chipset , then rapid storage, then video and the rest of the stuff as I remember.
If you think the order of installation might interfere with the EC functionality,I can start it all over again, no problem at all. And if that's the case, what would be the recomended installation sequence?
I've opened the bootopt file from Diskeeper Corporation and there was these command lines :
"
ExpressCache.exe c:\ engine manual bootopt

pause
"
I wonder why there is a "pause" over there. I was tempted to take it off, maybe someone would look your file to see if it's the same ...
That's it , I thinks I answered most of the comments, I hope I will solve this issue, thanks for the effort guys!
Ps: Taking off the pause from command line had and rebooting had no effect. The "Fast Boot"option appears in Easy Settings, but EC tab and functions don't.

 

@Magorei: on my phone, will keep it brief.

Your BIOS sounds fine, again I doubt disk number is the issue.

The pause in that BAT file is just to keep the command window open so you can see output of the ExpressCache command. My thought was if it runs all right, maybe ExpressCache is working even if Easy Settings doesn't see it. So put the pause back and try and run it.

I would try and wipe the iSSD then do another windows install. Check the link I posted in my first reply to you, a discussion between Matt and me about clean install. Use the sequence I describe in there. You don't need network until everything else is running. It'll just attract malware anyway, until security updates are installed.

That's all I can think of now. Again, I'm away from my PC till Monday.

 

Hey Dannemand,
I couldn't find the post you referred,about the installation order.
What do you mean by wipe the iSSD? Is that formating or deleting the partition, in which program (Diskpart, DiskMGMT)? I do this before or after (or during)the fresh windows install?
I 'm trying to find the Samsung USB Admin Tool, but it seems tricky to find it in the net...
I've also tried to recover the partition with one of those recover tools, i found it, 22.3 GB, but the software was trial and didn't let me recover it at all.
Is there a way to recreate the partition , considering i could recover the erased files? What was the partition name?
Maybe the version of windows I'm using does not support EC...

 

Your ExpressCache should be working if the installer did not throw an error that says HFS+ partition not found.

 

1) The discussion I was referring to starts here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=8769680

You have to read a few posts to get to the one where I describe install sequence. Install EC at the end of that sequence.

2) I don't think windows version is an issue since windows doesn't know about ExpressCache, it's just a piece of software installed on top of windows.

3) And I meant delete the iSSD partition before re-installing. Disk Manager is fine, no need for third party tools. Again, ExpressCache recreates that partition when you install it.

(Since you deleted that iSSD partition once before and re-installed EC, if there is a partition on the iSSD now, that proves that EC creates the partition. I don't believe that an HFS partition must be created manually in order for EC to work. It creates this partition whenever you install EC, assuming there is a blank iSSD.)

Personally, since deleting the iSSD partition didn't solve it for you last time, I would try a complete wipe of the iSSD using DISKPART CLEAN. But there are risks with that (it blanks the partition table, maybe EC needs that). So I would study various threads first for others who've done that. I'm just saying proceed with caution: Even if that is what I would try in your situation, I don't want to recommend it, since I haven't tried it myself. Everything else I told you so far, I've done many times myself.

4) About your recovery partition, I wrote that before in my first reply to you: You cannot simply download the contents of another user's partition, both because it's 23GB AND because it's individual to each PC (model AND windows product number).

If you have the USB Admin Tool (about 350-400MB) you can create a new, F4 bootable Recovery partition all right. I've done that, it works fine. But it won't have the Initial Windows image you need for a factory restore NOR the System Software folder needed for a clean install using Easy Software Manager.

Unless you backed up your System Software and Initial Image, that Recovery partition is gone. The only realistic way to get it back is to pay Samsung to reload it.

As I've said before, I would keep focusing on getting that EC working. And if that proves completely impossible, I'd have Samsung check it for HW defects AND reload Recovery at the same time.

 

I'm not sure about the Windows product number bit. The Windows installer is tied to Samsung notebooks (probably checks for the manufacturer) and users only need the key if they use a standard (ie not manufacturer-specific) disc and then have to activate Windows. Most notebook manufacturers create standard disc images which they then clone onto the discs prior to installation.

John

 

Thank you John. Please help me understand this:

I observed that Windows is already activated when I restore from Recovery OR when I clean install from the Samsung supplied Windows DVD. Of course when I install from a retail DVD I have to enter the key and activate.

Therefore, I have assumed that the key must be branded on the Samsung DVD and onto the Recovery image. I don't see how else it could work (unless the installer can actually read the key from BIOS or something).

I think that's what you were saying too, but maybe I didn't understand you right.

Based on this, copying a Recovery image from another user shouldn't work as you will have someone else's product key. At least that's what I told Magorei (Of course you can change the product key in Windows afterwards).

 

@Magorei (and maybe others with ExpressCache issues)

Being back home in front of my PC I took another look, and noticed ECCmd.exe in the ExpressCache folder. It can show status of the EC (ECCmd -INFO), create an EC partition (ECCmd -PARTITION) or format one (ECCmd -FORMAT). You can also explicitly cache select files (ECCmd -PRELOAD).

Maybe this is old news for some, I apologize in that case. I've never had EC issues myself and only noticed it now. And I didn't see it mentioned in this thread.

In your case, I would check the status first (ECCmd -INFO). Maybe EC is running fine and it's just Easy Settings that won't show it right. You need to open a Command Prompt as Administrator (right-click), then type "CD C:\Program Files\Diskeeper Corporation\ExpressCache".

Hope this gets you going.

Update: If you use ExpressCache 1.0.94.0 (as opposed to the older 1.0.86.0) the folder containing ECCmd has changed to C:\Program Files\Condusiv Technologies\ExpressCache.

 

Hey @Dannemand !
This last post of yours helped me a lot! I was really considering going to Samsung Support, but now I 've seen the iSSD actually working! First, i have messed the iSSD in a desperate series of attempts before going from the beggining for the third time. Then I fix it , and uninstalled both EC and Easy Settings. After reinstall, at CMD , the command ECCmd -info showed me all the stats of the iSSD. After 2 reboots, I noticed the used space in info stats increased from 800mb to 1.6GB and then 2.1GB in other reboot!! I guess its working, the reboot time is decreasing as well...
But Easy f@%*#ng Settings wont show the EC tab still! I guess I can live without it,lol...
If anyone happen to know how do i set EC to use all its memory for perfomance please let me know. I've searched ECCmd and couldn't find any reference to this.
I remember the EC tab in ES showing graphics to used space and the possibility to control the available space.
I thank you and this cool forum for my fast progresses!

Magorei

 

That's great, Magorei, thank you for the update. So it is indeed Easy Settings that isn't picking up the EC, for whatever reason.

I've already used my share of complain bandwidth ranting about the shortcomings of Easy Settings. It's the greatest weakness of Samsung PCs in my opinion.

That said, I wonder if there isn't a legitimate reason why it fails to see the EC for some and works for others.

Which Easy Settings version do you have?

 

I'm using Easy Settings version 1.1.1.4 and ExpressCache_64bit_1.0.86.0. You were right when you said EC was working hidden all the time.

 

So as I said, EC is working as long as the installer does not say "HFS+ partition not found". The Easy Setting depends on ExpressCache to report that disk usage etc. The bat file is how Easy Setting reads the information.

 

Thanks, yknyong.

Actually the BAT couldn't be used to read anything. It just runs ExpressCache with commands to optimize boot files and (I assume) preload them into the cache. Earlier versions of Easy Settings prompted about this. I suppose newer versions just run it in the background without asking. It's a good way to get the EC up to speed quickly.

If Easy Settings uses the command line interface to display cache usage, it would be with the ECCmd -INFO command. I would think it had a DLL for that, but maybe not.

 

Pretty sure those are my versions as well (not at my PC now). But why Easy Settings doesn't see your (fully working) EC is beyond me

Edit: The only EC features Easy Settings has, is to turn it on/off, reset the cache and display amount of cache usage. No tweaking. All of which you can now do with ECCmd.

 

Here are my EC readings with eccmd -info

EC Cache Info
==================================================
==================================================
Mounted : Yes
Partition Size : 7.46 GB
Reserved Size : 3.00 MB
Volume Size : 7.46 GB
Total Used Size : 2.85 GB
Total Free Space : 4.61 GB
Used Data Size : 2.79 GB
Used Data Size on Disk : 2.85 GB

Tiered Cache Stats
==================================================
Memory in use : 1024.00 MB
Blocks in use : 8188
Read Percent : 9.12%


Cache Stats
==================================================
Cache Volume Drive Number : 1
Total Read Count : 52844
Total Read Size : 2.30 GB
Total Cache Read Count : 36425
Total Cache Read Size : 1.50 GB
Total Write Count : 10669
Total Write Size : 160.45 MB
Total Cache Write Count : 39
Total Cache Write Size : 917.00 KB

Cache Read Percent : 65.12%
Cache Write Percent : 0.56%


Do you see anything wrong with those? Maybe you can send us your readings too for comparison.

 

I've just found a folder called "C:\Program Files (x86)\Samsung\Fast Flash Sleep Resume" on my X4C. This folder contains files such as "FFSRConfigurer.exe" and "ExpressCacheRun64.exe". The file "ModelEnvironment.ini" appears to contain the configuration parameters such as:

It also contains info relating to the creation of a hibernation partition for Intel Rapid Start Technology for those who have it.

This may help improve the understanding of how the ExpressCache is created.

John

 

Thanks Dannemand. Very glad to find this. I did a clean install of Windows 8 on my Z5C and haven been able to get the ExpressCache settings tab back within Easy Settings.

But I tried your command and it shows it's working. And it "seemed" to be working (booting much faster) whenever I finished a re-install cycle.

 

@Magorei: sorry I didn't respond sooner. Your EC stats look fine to me. Surely they're going to change when you use the PC for real - as opposed to just messing around with it

I always installed EC after everything else because I didn't want to it to start caching and measuring usage stats until then.

 

That's great, thanks for the feedback. Probably in a lot of those cases where ExpressCache wouldn't work, it was merely Easy Settings that didn't see EC. Of course WHY it doesn't see EC those cases is what would be nice to find out!

 

Thanks @Dannemand, John and yknyong1!
Your achivements and suggestions made me solve my issue.
I'll keep posting in this forum for further discussions on notebooks!
My EC doesn't appear in Easy Settings still, but it's working alright! Now reaching its capacity with 6.7 of 8gigs.
Thanks again!

 

Great, thanks for the feedback, Magorei. I am sure we'll find out some day why Easy Settings doesn't work correctly with EC on some PCs.

On my PC, ExpressCache is still only using 6GB (shown by ECCmd as well as Easy Settings). But I have a second Windows partition I use for tests, and every time I switch between them EC is reset. Probably not very healthy for the iSSD

 

I have been trying several things from this thread since I accidentally formatted iSSD partition during a Linux install some time ago.

It seems to be pretty easy to get it working but I am starting to think that it's a hardware failure of my laptop.

I tried to format the iSSD in HFS with MacDisk but everytime I try it stops before finishing.

I have tried with "ECCmd -FORMAT" but it shows:

**ERRORR** ECCmd exited with error 0x5 (5)

Each time I try to format it I have seen that it just dissappears even from the "Device Manager", but it appears another time if I put my laptop in suspension and turn it on again.

I even have tried to format it from some Linux Live CDs with the same resuts.

Should I take the laptop to Samsung in order to get it repaired?

Should I try something more?

Sorry for my long post but I have been for a long time reading this thread, and some people tell that it's supposed to be really easy

 

Seems like the iSSD is dying

 

I have to agree, this sounds like hardware getting wonky. I'd contact Samsung.

 

@Magorei (and others with ExpressCache issue):

I was finally able to reproduce the problem you've been having, where ExpressChache doesn't show up in Easy Settings, even though ECCmd shows that it is active and working all right.

Matter of fact, I was able to reproduce it twice, both times starting out from a fresh Windows 7 install. And both times did I use Easy Software Manager to install the drivers and utilities from my Recovery partition (ie the ones from the original factory installation) including Easy Settings 1.1.1.2. ECCmd showed ExpressCache to be working, but Easy Settings refused to see it.

And both times was the problem solved when I upgraded to Easy Settings 1.1.1.4.

Now, I know from your previous posts that you were already using Easy Settings 1.1.1.4, and this is so trivial that surely there must bere more going on for those who struggle to get ExpressCache to show up in Easy Settings. But I wanted to report it nevertheless.

At the very least would I suggest those who have ExpressCache problems check with ECCmd that it is active and working (as described in this post) AND that you are using Easy Settings 1.1.1.4.

Based on reports from sucrot and others about iSSDs that come and go, I strongly suspect that some are actually cases of defect iSSD hardware. Of course no amount of software will fix those.

But also, following John's discovery of a Fast Flash Sleep Resume folder on his PC is it clear to me that ExpressCache doesn't work the same on all models: I believe John's is a Series 9, whereas mine is a Series 7 -- and I don't have a Fast Flash Sleep Resume folder. I had a Series 5 previously with 16GB iSSD, which also worked different from my Series 7 (such as the ability to hibernate to iSSD).

In short, maybe Series 7 owners (like me) merely need to update to Easy Settings 1.1.1.4 in order to recognize their ExpressCache, while it may be more tricky for Series 5 and 9 owner. I am just throwing it out there. Comments and disagreements are welcome

 

Yes, that folder is on my Series 9. Since that model doesn't have ExpressCache I wonder if there's a generic installation as part of Easy Settings which then tries to figure out what is relevant for different models.

John

 

Silly me, of course your Series 9 has SSD and no ExpressCache

But yes, Easy Settings must be doing some checking during installation to determine which modules to install for different models. Maybe that's what fails sometimes: Easy Settings failing to detect during install that the PC has Express Cache.

My Easy Settings folder has ECAPI.dll and ExpressCacheRun.exe (plus 64-bit versions), does yours have those?

BTW, certainly ECAPI.dll must be how Easy Settings communicates with the ExpressCache driver, not the command line as previously discussed between myself and yknyong1. The ExpressCache folder also contains ECAPI.dll, and a newer version too. Hmmm...

 

Yes, I have all those files. I suspect that enough time spent looking through the .ini and other small files would reveal a lot more about how Easy Settings works.

John

 

Hi I just got the 15" Series 7 and installed a 240gb SSD. I am really happy with it. I read I do not need the Expresscache as I have the ssd, I was just wondering is there another purpose I can use the 8gb iSSD besides additional storage?

 

Swap file. But that is not recommended as the iSSD will be killed quickly due to the number of writes.

 

I would hope not too quickly. The iSSD should be SLC, not MLC like that of a standard desktop SSD. I will have to search this out further but if not then it will severly hurt performance of the drive itself. There is no trim or the like so eventually the blocks have to over wright data. With MLC there is a big penalty filling blocks with data already there. Of course there is no read penalty and thhis is the primary function of the iSSD and flushing the iSSD could also do a secure errase of the small drive.

 

Great post, TANWare, thank you

If you can confirm that the iSSD is SLC, that would be great info to post. It affects what we can and should use it for and whether we should worry about it wearing out.

 

Answer:

Spoiler

It's MLC, confirmed. Specs: 160MB/s read and 100MB/s write.

http://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=t&r...34DwBQ&usg=AFQjCNHeFG0Jgqp4yACi3ZT-viCVzoNbKA

 

Thank you, yknyong1.

Darn, that explains why it feels so slow. Also means I should make sure EC is not installed on my test partition: Both because it flushes cache content from my work partition whenever I boot the test partition, AND because it'll wear down the iSSD with all that writing. It was intended for a permanent Windows installation that doesn't change too much.

 

Sorry just saw your post, I also posted a new thread you beat me to the discovery though..................

 

Hi.
I succefully restored my EC (thnx very much) after windows reinstall. Now I've got two partitions (one for ec, second for hibernation - intel rapid start). When my laptop is working EC is filling up. After restart it is empty, and the same situation, machine s on -I see EX are working good, when I turn off samsung and start it again EC is reset. Schould it work like that or there is something wrong??
Second problem with intel rapid start manager. I see, that intel rapid start service is working but I can't open intel rapid start manager.
Could you help me?

 

You may find some useful info about getting IRST working properly in this thread.

John

 

I just read a little abut EC and there is think that my EC is not working good. When a laptop is running, EC collect some data, after restart it's empty, I can see only a green belt "area reserved for system" - 4,05%. Just like Magorei wrote it should not be wipe after each restart. What is wrong?

 

Hi!

I have a 700Z5A and I have Windows 8 Pro 64bits installed. I get all drives working, but the ExpressCache seens to me that is not working. I'cant see it in Samsung Settings.

Anyone have an ideia how to fix this?

 

I haven't tested it in Win8 myself, but you could try with the ECCmd -INFO command as described in this post to check if ExpressCache is working. It may be, even if Settings doesn't show it.

 

OP updated