Intel Optane M Series User manual

Document Number: 345866-002US
Intel® Optane™ Memory M Series
Installation and User Guide
February 2021

Intel® Optane™ Memory M Series
Installation & User Guide February 2021
2345866-002US
Revision History
Revision
Number Description Revision Date
001
•Initial release as stand-alone Intel® Optane™ Memory M Series Installation & User Guide.
Installation information was previously released as Intel® Optane™ Memory M and H Series
Installation Guide, document # 571964.
February 2021
002 •Clarification to Minimum Requirements, Section 1.2 February 2021
Intel technologies may require enabled hardware, software or service activation.
No product or component can be absolutely secure.
Your costs and results may vary.
© Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other
names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

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Contents
1Overview ..............................................................................................................................................................................................4
1.1 About this Document .......................................................................................................................................................................................4
1.2 Minimum Requirements.................................................................................................................................................................................4
1.3 Intel® Volume Management Device (Intel® VMD) Support ........................................................................................................5
1.4 Limitations/Things to Keep in Mind ........................................................................................................................................................5
2System Configuration Setup..........................................................................................................................................................7
2.1 New System Build and Setup ......................................................................................................................................................................7
2.2 Upgrade Current System by Adding Intel® Optane™ Memory Device................................................................................7
3System BIOS Settings.......................................................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Non-Intel® VMD Capable Platforms ........................................................................................................................................................9
3.2 Intel® VMD Capable Platforms.................................................................................................................................................................11
4Operating System Installation....................................................................................................................................................12
4.1Requirements:....................................................................................................................................................................................................12
5Intel® Optane™ Memory Capable Applications...................................................................................................................... 13
5.1 Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management Application ........................................................................................13
Enabling Acceleration ..........................................................................................................................................................14
Disabling Acceleration .........................................................................................................................................................18
Uninstalling the Application .............................................................................................................................................20
6Additional Features/Capabilities............................................................................................................................................... 22
6.1 Data Drive Acceleration (DDA) .................................................................................................................................................................22
Hardware/Software Requirements ..............................................................................................................................22
Enable/Disable Acceleration............................................................................................................................................22
6.2 Pinning....................................................................................................................................................................................................................23
7Troubleshooting............................................................................................................................................................................. 24
7.1 Device Detection Issues ...............................................................................................................................................................................24
7.2 Cache Rebuild Occurs on Reboot..........................................................................................................................................................24
7.3 Hardware Failure..............................................................................................................................................................................................24
Fast Media Missing At Boot...............................................................................................................................................24
Slower Media Missing at Boot .........................................................................................................................................25
Media Failure and Data Recovery..................................................................................................................................25
Media Replacement Procedure......................................................................................................................................25
8Error Related to Last Partition Resizing...................................................................................................................................27
9Verify/Make Changes to Drive Partition Structure (MBR vs GPT) .................................................................................... 28
9.1 Verify Current Drive Partition Structure.............................................................................................................................................28
9.2 Convert from MBR to GPT with MBR2GPT.exe .............................................................................................................................29
10 Windows Recovery Environment .............................................................................................................................................. 30
10.1 Preparing the Windows 10 OS Recovery (Advanced)...............................................................................................................30
11 Legacy Intel® RST/Optane™ Memory Applications............................................................................................................... 34
11.1 Intel® Optane™ Memory Application ....................................................................................................................................................34
Enabling Acceleration ..........................................................................................................................................................38
Disabling Acceleration .........................................................................................................................................................41
Uninstalling the Application .............................................................................................................................................43
11.2 Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Application................................................................................................................................47
Enabling Acceleration ..........................................................................................................................................................51
Disabling Acceleration .........................................................................................................................................................54
Uninstalling the Application .............................................................................................................................................56

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1Overview
Intel® Optane™ memory is a system acceleration solution that can be used to increase responsiveness on
supported Intel platforms. This solution uses the Intel® Optane™ memory media that is based on Intel® Optane™
technology, along with the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) driver. It is a dual-media solution (fast
media for caching + slower media for storage capacity) that is presented to the host OS as a single SSD when
properly enabled.
When this new memory media is installed between the processor and slower storage media, the computer can
store commonly used data and programs closer to the processor. In doing so, Intel® Optane™ memory accelerates
your computer’s access to frequently used documents, pictures, videos and application files and remembers
them even after you power it off.
1.1 About this Document
This document provides the platform requirements and installation process for Intel® Optane™ memory products,
including available applications to manage these devices and the following products:
•Intel® Optane™ memory / Intel® Optane™ memory M Series products when paired with a supported
“slower media” drive.
Note: The Installation and User guide for the Intel® Optane™ Memory H Series can be found here:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000023989/memory-and-storage/intel-
optane-memory.html
1.2 Minimum Requirements
Below are the requirements for a system to support system acceleration with Intel® Optane™ Memory. Systems
purchased with Intel® Optane™ memory preinstalled and/or branded as Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready will meet
these requirements.
1. Motherboard: Supported motherboards will contain at least 1 M.2 PCIe NVMe storage port and the
proper BIOS to support Intel® Optane™ memory.
2. Processor: See here for supported Processors for each Intel® RST driver release.
3. Intel® Optane™ Memory device, or “Fast Media”
4. Drive to be accelerated, aka “Slower Media”: Only a single pass-through disk can be accelerated.
Please see below for supported options:
a. SATA HDD – single pass-through
b. SATA SSD – single pass-through
c. SSHD – single pass-through
d. Intel® SSD 660p/665p Series. Support was added with the Intel® RST 17.5.2.x driver version.
5. Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 x64 bit (Version 1703/Build 15063) or greater required.
Note: The Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application (see Section 5.1) requires Microsoft
Windows 10 x64 bit (Version 1803/Build 17134) or greater.

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6. Drivers/Software
a. Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) Windows Driver. See here for supported driver
versions per processor.
b. Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application, available here.
1.3 Intel® Volume Management Device (Intel® VMD) Support
The 11th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors enabled support for Intel® VMD. This changes the way these
platforms are configured for Intel® RST and the related Intel® Optane™ memory technology vs. earlier processor
generations.
Following is a summary of these changes, related sections in the document will specify the proper settings for
Non-Intel® VMD systems vs Intel® VMD capable systems.
For how to determine if your platform is Intel® VMD capable or not, contact your system/motherboard vendor.
•BIOS: The settings in the BIOS are different from earlier, non-Intel® VMD capable platforms.
•Operating System Installation:
oIntel® VMD support starts with driver version 18.0.x, this version is not included in current Windows
10 OS builds.
oDrives managed by Intel® VMD will not be detected during the OS installation process.
oThe f6flpy Intel® RST driver must be loaded during the installation process to detect these drives.
•Windows Driver name:
oIntel® VMD Capable/Enabled Platform: ‘iastorVD’
oNon-Intel® VMD Capable Platform: ’iastorac’
•Device Manager: The listing will be under the ‘PCI Express Root Complex’ section.
1.4 Limitations/Things to Keep in Mind
The following items are important to keep in mind when configuring a system with Intel® Optane™ memory.
•The acceleration of the following “Slower media” is not supported:
oRAID volumes or other multiple disk/drive configurations
oPCIe NVMe drives that are not listed in Section 1.2
oDrives with more than one system partition, dual boot OS for example.
•Dynamic type drives are not supported, only Basic type.
•MBR Partition structure is not supported, any drives to be accelerated must have a GUID Partition Structure (GPT).
see Section 2.2 for options to check the partition structure and make changes if needed.
•Only one Intel® Optane™ memory volume is allowed per system. If more than one volume is detected during boot,
the second volume will be placed offline.
oWhen a drive is placed “offline” it means that the drive is put in a state where the operating system is
unable to detect the drive. The drive can still be detected in the Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage
Management application and the System BIOS (Under the Intel® RST menu).

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•When installing the Windows OS, make sure to leave an “Unallocated” space with a minimum of 5 MB at the end
of the disk (max LBA).
This space is required for any drive that is being accelerated (i.e. the System Disk or Data Drive).
If this needs to be modified after installation, see Section 8.
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2System Configuration Setup
Storage acceleration with Intel® Optane™ memory devices is a platform feature and capability. Along with the
minimum requirements noted in Section 1.2, specific settings must be made in the system BIOS.
To make setup easy, follow the steps and actions below depending on if this is a new system build or an Intel®
Optane™ memory device being added to an existing system, i.e. setup with OS installed.
2.1 New System Build and Setup
New system is defined as a system (Motherboard, Processor, DRAM etc. installed) with no operating system
installed.
Follow the steps below to properly configure a system for Intel® Optane™ memory devices.
1. Review the minimum requirements (Section 1.2) and Limitations to Keep in Mind (Section 1.4) before
proceeding.
2. Install Hardware:
a. Intel® Optane™ memory device to a PCIe NVMe M.2 connector on the motherboard (see here for the proper
way to do this).
Note: Only 1 device supported as an accelerator per system.
b. Supported storage drive that will be accelerated, attached to the proper connector on the motherboard.
3. Configure the System BIOS (see Section 3).
4. Install the Latest Windows 10 x64 bit Operating System (see Section 4).
Note: The OS should NOT be installed on the Intel® Optane™ memory device/media.
5. Install the Intel® Optane™ Memory Capable software (see Section 5).
2.2 Upgrade Current System by Adding Intel® Optane™ Memory Device
Current system is defined as a system that contains the Windows 10 x64 bit Operating System and an Intel®
Optane™ memory device will be added to the system without reinstalling the OS.
Note: If issues are encountered during the upgrade process, see Section 7 for Troubleshooting options.
Follow the steps below to properly upgrade a system with an Intel® Optane™ memory device:
1. Review the minimum requirements (Section 1.2) and Limitations to Keep in Mind (Section 1.4) before
proceeding.
2. Install Hardware:
a. Intel® Optane™ memory device to a PCIe NVMe M.2 connector on the motherboard (see here for the proper
way to do this).
Note: Only 1 device per system can be supported as an accelerator.
3. Check the Disk Partition Structure (MBR vs. GPT, see Section 9).
a. GPT is supported, MBR is not. The process in Section 9 describes methods to check the current structure and
update to GPT if necessary. This will also update the Boot Settings to the required UEFI if needed.

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b. If this process cannot be completed, backup all data and start the process as outlined in Section 2.1 as the
Operating System will need to be reinstalled.
4. Once the Disk Partition Structure is GPT for the System drive and the drive to be accelerated (if different
then the System drive). Next step is to Confirm the BIOS settings are the following:
Important Note: If the settings in the system do not match these, do not change them directly in the BIOS as this could
result in the drive no longer booting to the OS, or data loss.
a. Boot Settings = UEFI (should already be set as a result of step 3).
b. Intel® VMD Capable Platforms (see Section 1.3)
Note: If settings are not set as noted below, backup all data and start the process as outlined in Section 2.1.
i. VMD Controller = Enable
ii. VMD Storage Ports = Enable
1. This needs to be enabled for storage/Optane memory devices and SATA
controller (if accelerating a SATA device).
c. Non-Intel® VMD Capable Platforms (Intel® Optane™ Memory Capable platforms before 11th
Generation Core™ platforms).
i. SATA Mode = Intel® RST Premium….
ii. Remapping = Enable
1. This must be enabled for the ports where the Intel® Optane™ memory device
and supported PCIe NVMe SSDs for acceleration (if applicable) are installed.
iii. If settings do not match as noted above, the following options are available:
1. Option 1: Backup all data and start the process as outlined in Section 2.1 with
reinstallation of the OS.
2. Option 2: Changes can be made safely by using the Intel® RST Software,
which software depends on the platform being used.
Step 1: Check the driver version supported by the platform here.
Step 2: Follow the instructions below for the supported driver version.
If 17.9.1.x or greater is supported, download software package from here
and follow the installation process. The SATA Mode and Remapping
fields will be updated during this process.
If 17.x is NOT supported, the Intel® Optane™ Memory application can be
used to modify the BIOS during installation. But note that it is
recommended to use the Intel® Memory and Storage Management
application to manage volumes once the system is setup.
5. Install the Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application (Section 5).
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3System BIOS Settings
UEFI-compliant system BIOS that includes the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) pre-OS UEFI driver
version 15.5.0.2875 or greater. Check with the system vendor to confirm this support and current version
included in the BIOS on your system.
Note: For best compatibility, Intel recommends having the same baseline (i.e. 15.x) pre-OS driver in the system
BIOS as the Intel® RST Windows runtime driver version.
The 11th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors enabled support for Intel® VMD. This changes the way the BIOS is
configured for Intel® Optane™ memory devices vs. earlier platforms. This section will separate these into Intel®
VMD capable and Non-Intel® VMD capable. Check with the system vendor to determine if your
platform/processor is Intel® VMD capable or not. The differences between these two platform setups for Intel®
Optane™ memory are summarized in Section 1.3.
In both cases, Intel® Optane™ memory only supports UEFI, make sure the Boot Settings are set properly before
installation of the OS.
3.1 Non-Intel® VMD Capable Platforms
This section describes the specific BIOS settings that must be set on systems that do not support Intel® VMD.
This would include all Intel® Optane™ memory capable platforms before the 11th Generation Core™ Processor
Platforms. See the following for more details: Software and Platform Support for Intel® Optane™ Memory.
Note: The field names and menu locations in the BIOS may vary depending on the vendor, confirm the location in
the manufacturer’s user guide/support site.

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Step 1: After enabling UEFI in the Boot Settings, set the SATA Mode to Intel® RST Premium…
Step 2: Make sure that remapping for the port (PCIe connector) that contains the Intel® Optane™ memory device is
Enabled.
Notes:
•If the ‘slower media’ being accelerated is a supported PCIe NVMe drive, remapping must be enabled for this
port/device as well
•This setting may not be available in the BIOS until the storage hardware is connected to the motherboard/system

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3.2 Intel® VMD Capable Platforms
This section describes the specific BIOS settings that must be set on systems that support Intel® VMD. The 11th
Generation Core™ Processors enabled this support with Intel® RST driver version 18.0.1.x and greater. See the
following for specific support: Software and Platform Support for Intel® Optane™ Memory.
Note: The field names and menu locations in the BIOS may vary depending on the vendor, confirm the location in
the manufacturer’s user guide/support site.
Step 1: After enabling UEFI in the Boot Settings, Enable the VMD Controller
Step 2: Set the Intel® Optane™ memory device and the ‘slower media’ to be accelerated to be Intel® VMD
controlled. Keep in mind that if the ‘slower media’ is SATA, the SATA Controller must be Enabled, if the ‘slower
media’ is PCIe NVMe it should also be Enabled
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4Operating System Installation
This section describes the Operating System installation process and how this is different between Intel® VMD
capable platforms and Non-Intel® VMD capable platforms (see Section 1.3).
4.1 Requirements:
Microsoft Windows 10 x64 bit (Version 1703/Build 15063) or greater required
Note: The Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application (see Section 5.1) requires Microsoft
Windows 10 x64 bit (Version 1803/Build 17134) or greater.
Non-Intel® VMD capable platforms
No additional steps required; the OS installation software should detect all drives in the system during the
installation process. Follow the instructions and guidance to complete installation.
Intel® VMD Enabled platforms
An additional step during the OS installation process is required for the operating system to detect drives under
Intel® VMD control.
The Intel® RST driver version 18.0.1.x and greater is required for Intel® VMD capable platforms. This driver version
is not yet part of the Microsoft Windows installation package.
During the OS installation, any drives that have been enabled in the BIOS for Intel® VMD management will not be
detected until a supported driver is loaded, following are Instructions on how to do this.
1. Go to https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29978?v=t and select/download the f6flpy-x64 (Intel®
VMD).zip package.
2. Unzip the package to a USB drive.
3. Start the Windows OS Installation process with the USB drive connected to the system.
4. Follow the prompts until it asks for the ‘drive to install to’ page.
5. If the drive for installation is not shown, do the following to load the Intel® RST driver that was
downloaded in Step 1 above.
a. Click Load Driver
b. Browse to the driver on the USB drive
c. Select the driver, iastorVD, and Click Next (The drive should now be available for OS installation.)
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5Intel® Optane™ Memory Capable
Applications
There are three different applications that provide management functionality for the various capabilities of the
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) management storage subsystem.
This section explores the capabilities specific to the Intel® Optane™ memory functionality and features of the
recommended Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application.
Important Note:The Intel® Optane Memory (Section 11.1) and Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Section 11.2)
applications have reached End of Life and are no longer supported, see here for more information.
5.1 Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management Application
This section provides an overview of the steps to configure the Intel® Optane™ memory capable device with the
Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application on a computer with the operating system already
installed on a platform that meets the requirements outlined in Section 1.2.
This application is only available through the Microsoft Store and requires the Intel® RST Windows driver to be
installed on the system before downloading.
Note: The Intel® RST version 17.9.1.x and greater installs the driver and starts the installation process of the Intel®
Optane™ Memory and Storage application from the Microsoft Store. For supported platforms this is the only
step to install the proper software and you can skip to section 5.1.1. See if your platform is supported here
and how to download the proper package
If your platform is not supported with version 17.9.1.x and greater, follow the steps below to complete the
installation.
Driver installation:
1. Go to https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28993?v=t and select/download the f6flpy-x64.zip
package.
2. Unzip the package to a location you will remember. Browse to the location if necessary.
3. Install the driver using the ‘right click’ method.
a. Right click on the iaStorAC.inf file and select Install from the drop-down menu.
4. Restart the computer to complete the installation.
Download/install the application:
1. Navigate to and open the Microsoft Store application.
a. Press the Windows key and type Microsoft Store.
2. In the Search field at the top of the screen type Intel Optane Memory and Storage Management and
select the application.

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3. If your system contains the proper requirements you will be able to download and install.
In order to download the software, Windows 10 x64 bit (version 1803) or greater must be installed. You
can check this by doing the following. (The store should also tell you if these requirements are met.)
a. Press the Windows key + x on the keyboard
b. Select Run
c. Type winver
4. Read and Accept the license, and the installation should be complete.
After the installation is complete, when launching the application, you may encounter the following error
message. These extra steps are not required in version Windows 10 (Version 1809) and later.
In some operating system versions this error may occur when the application is not ‘Run as Administrator’. To run
the application as administrator:
1. Press the Windows key and locate the application (this may be under the Intel folder)
2. Right-click on the application
3. Click More in the drop over menu
4. Click Run as Administrator in the resulting menu
Enabling Acceleration
1. Open the application and you will see the storage devices and volumes currently contained in the system
in the ‘Manage’ tab.
2. Navigate to the Intel® Optane™ Memory tab, where you will see the current state of the volume. The drop-
down menu will display the available Intel® Optane™ memory combinations that can be selected.
a. If the word (SYSTEM) appears beside the compatible drive to be accelerated, this indicates that the
operating system is installed on that device.

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3. Click the Enable Intel® Optane™ Memory button:
4. Confirm understanding that all data will be removed from the Intel® Optane™ memory, click Enable:

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5. Acceleration is being enabled. The Intel® Optane™ memory ‘fast media’ and the ‘slower media’ are being
‘paired’ into a single volume.
6. A restart is required once volume creation is complete; to do so click Restart.
a. If the module contains at least 32 GB of Intel® Optane™ memory capacity, just before entering the OS you
may see a screen that shows some finishing details of the enabling process. This is related to the
scheduling of data cache and is not supported on 16 GB devices.

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7. After rebooting the system, enter the application and the volume will be shown in the Manage and Intel®
Optane™ Memory tabs.
a. The volume will also be shown in the OS-related applications such as Device Manager and Disk
Management. The individual drives will no longer be visible in these windows.
Devices with 32 GB or more Intel® Optane™ memory capacity, will have additional features such as Pinning and Optimization
(cache) scheduling available. For these devices the ‘Intel® Optane™ Memory’ page will look like the following image:

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Disabling Acceleration
1. Open the application and navigate to the Intel® Optane™ Memory tab and click Disable:
2. Confirm that you wish to disable acceleration; click Disable.

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3. Acceleration is being disabled. The Intel® Optane™ memory ‘fast media’ and the ‘slower media’ are being
separated (un-paired).
4. Once complete, click Restart.

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Uninstalling the Application
1. Verify that acceleration has been disabled before uninstalling the user interface (UI).
2. Right-click on the Windows start menu and click Apps and Features.