Intel Optane M Series User manual

Document Number: 571964-005US
Intel® Optane™ Memory M and H Series
Installation Guide
May 2019
Revision 5

Intel® Optane™ Memory
Installation Guide May 2019
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Revision History
Revision Number
Description
Revision Date
001
Initial release
October 2016
002
Section 3.2.1, removed reference to Intel’s NUC utility
June 2018
003
Added Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application and Intel®
Optane™ Memory H Series
April 2019
004
Added detailed content on the Data Drive Acceleration capability
May 2019
005
Updates to Intel® Optane™ memory H Series’ Enable Acceleration process
Minor formatting changes
May 2019
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Contents
1Overview..............................................................................................................................................................................................4
1.1 About this Document.......................................................................................................................................................................................4
1.2 Minimum Requirements.................................................................................................................................................................................4
Hardware.........................................................................................................................................................................................4
Driver/BIOS....................................................................................................................................................................................5
Operating System......................................................................................................................................................................6
2Intel® Optane™ Memory SW/Driver Package.............................................................................................................................8
2.1 Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management Application...........................................................................................8
Enabling Acceleration .............................................................................................................................................................9
Disabling Acceleration .........................................................................................................................................................13
Uninstalling the Application.............................................................................................................................................15
2.2 Intel® Optane™ Memory Application ....................................................................................................................................................17
Platforms Starting in AHCI mode (Intel® Optane™ Memory M Series Only)........................................17
Platforms Starting in Intel® RST Premium Mode.................................................................................................21
Enabling Acceleration ..........................................................................................................................................................25
Disabling Acceleration .........................................................................................................................................................28
Uninstalling the Application.............................................................................................................................................30
2.3 Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Application................................................................................................................................34
Enabling Acceleration ..........................................................................................................................................................38
Disabling Acceleration .........................................................................................................................................................42
Uninstalling the Application.............................................................................................................................................44
3Additional Features/Capabilities............................................................................................................................................... 48
3.1 Data Drive Acceleration (DDA).................................................................................................................................................................48
Hardware/Software Requirements..............................................................................................................................48
Enable/Disable Acceleration............................................................................................................................................48
3.2 Pinning....................................................................................................................................................................................................................49
4Troubleshooting............................................................................................................................................................................. 50
4.1 Device Detection Issues...............................................................................................................................................................................50
4.2 Cache Rebuild Occurs On Reboot.........................................................................................................................................................50
4.3 Intel® Optane™ Memory Application Installation Failures.......................................................................................................51
Unsupported CPU..................................................................................................................................................................51
Unsupported Chipset...........................................................................................................................................................51
Unsupported Operating System...................................................................................................................................52
Unsupported BIOS.................................................................................................................................................................52
Unsupported System Drive..............................................................................................................................................53
Error Checking System Compatibility ........................................................................................................................55
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology is Already Installed......................................................................................56
Intel® Optane™ Memory is Currently Enabled.......................................................................................................57
4.4 Hardware Failure..............................................................................................................................................................................................57
Fast Media Missing At Boot...............................................................................................................................................57
Slow Media Missing At Boot.............................................................................................................................................58
Media Failure and Data Recovery..................................................................................................................................58
Media Replacement Procedure......................................................................................................................................58
5Windows Recovery Environment.............................................................................................................................................. 60
5.1 Preparing the Windows* 10 OS Recovery (Advanced)....................................................................................60

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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 PCIe NVMe 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 + slow media for storage capacity) that is presented to the host OS as a single SSD.
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 SATA “slow
media” drive (HDD, SSHD, SATA SSD) and
Intel® Optane™ memory H10 with solid state storage (or Intel® Optane™ memory H-series). This device
contains Intel® Optane™ memory media and Intel® QLC 3D NAND media on the same drive
NOTE:
Differences between the setup and settings that apply to only one of the products above will be noted
The Intel® Optane™ memory H-series is only available as part of a complete system purchased through
your local retailer/online system vendor.
oWhen purchased, the system will be configured and enabled properly to ‘pair’ the Intel®
Optane™ memory portion of the device with the Intel® QLC 3D NAND portion of the device
oIf there are issues or a need to disable acceleration it is recommended to work with your
system vendor due to customizations specific to the platform
oDetails provided in this document are for reference for experienced users only
1.2 Minimum Requirements
Hardware
Intel® Optane™ Memory / Intel® Optane™ Memory M-Series
For the latest platforms supported please visit
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000026040/memory-and-storage/intel-optane-
memory.html
1. The system should contain at least the minimum system memory required by the operating system.
Consult the computer system and OS vendor for more details.
2. Fast media (cache device): Only one Intel® Optane™ technology NVMe memory module.
An M.2 connector is required for the Intel® Optane™ memory module; it can be down on the
motherboard or on a PCIe adapter card plugged into a remapped PCIe x2 or x4 slot.

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3. Slow media (disk to be accelerated): Only a single pass-through disk can be accelerated.
The acceleration of RAID volumes or other multiple disk configurations is not supported.
Please see below for supported slow media options:
SATA HDD –single pass-through
SATA SSD –single pass-through
SSHD –single pass-through
Note:
Slow media can contain the Operating system (“System Drive Acceleration”) or only data (“Data Drive
Acceleration”/DDA)
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.
Intel® Optane™ Memory H Series
This product is only available as part of a complete system purchased through your local retailer/online system
vendor. For a sampling of some products available please visit:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/memory-storage/optane-memory/optane-memory-h10-
solid-state-storage.html
When purchased, the system will be configured and enabled properly to ‘pair’ the Intel® Optane™ memory portion
of the device with the Intel® QLC NAND portion of the device.
If there are issues or a need to disable acceleration, (reinstall the OS, Backup data, etc), it is recommended to
work with your system vendor due to customizations specific to the platform before beginning.
Details provided in this document are for reference for experienced users only.
1. The system will contain the Intel® Optane™ memory H Series device. It contains both the “fast media” and
“slow media” on the same module.
a. The module will be located in an M.2 connector that supports PCIe x4. This slot will NOT be
remapped in the system BIOS (see Section 1.2.2.2)
b. Note: Until acceleration is enabled (as defined in Section 2.1.1) the operating system will show both
portions of the device as individual storage devices. Using the module in this state is not validated or
supported; results are not guaranteed.
2. The device cannot be used to accelerate storage devices other than the Intel® QLC 3D NAND present on
the device.
Note: The slow media (on the Intel® Optane™ memory H Series) can contain the Operating system (“System Drive
Acceleration”) or only data (“Data Drive Acceleration”/DDA)
Note: 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.
Driver/BIOS
Intel® Optane™ Memory / Intel® Optane™ Memory M-Series
1. UEFI-compliant system BIOS that includes the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) pre-OS UEFI
driver version 15.5.0.2875 release or later
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 (see item 4 below).

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2. Intel BIOS SATA controller mode set to “Intel® RST…”
3. Hardware Remapping enabled on the PCIe slot connecting the Intel® Optane™ technology NVMe memory
module
a. Be aware that this setting will not be present in the system BIOS until the module is
installed/detected in the motherboard.
b. Consult the system manufacturer’s user guide/support site for what this setting is called as it may
vary from vendor to vendor
4. Intel® RST Windows* runtime driver version 15.5.0.1051 release or later
Notes:
The Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application (see Section 2.1) requires driver version
16.8.x or later
The latest driver can be found here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28650?v=t
Intel® Optane™ Memory H Series
1. UEFI-compliant system BIOS that includes the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel®RST) pre-OS UEFI
driver version 17.x release or later
Note: For compatibility with this series, the pre-OS driver (i.e. 17.x) in the system BIOS must be the same baseline
as the Intel® RST Windows runtime driver version (see bullet 4).
2. Intel BIOS SATA controller mode set to “Intel® RST…”
3. Hardware Remapping Disabled on the PCIe slots (there will be two PCIe x2 storage devices detected until
they are ‘paired’ in the operating system)
a. Be aware that this setting will not be present until the module is installed/detected in the system
b. Consult the system manufacturer’s guide/support site for more information
4. Intel® RST Windows* runtime driver version 17.x release or later
Note: The latest driver can be found here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28650?v=t
Operating System
Microsoft Windows* 10 x64 bit (Version 1703/Build 15063) or later required
Note: The Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application (see Section 2.1) requires Microsoft
Windows 10 x64 bit (Version 1803/Build 17134) or later.
Additional Requirements:
1. Ensure the system BIOS is in UEFI mode with CSM disabled before installing the operating system
a. Installation in UEFI mode will result in the drive partition being set to GPT which is required. MBR
partitions are not supported.
b. Note: All drives in the volume must be GPT partition structure. To check you can do the following:
1. Press “Windows Key” on the keyboard + x
2. Select “Run”
3. Type ‘msinfo32’
4. Under System Summary select BIOS Mode
2. Drive type Basic
a. Dynamic type drives are not supported

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3. 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).
a. This space is required for any drive that is being accelerated (i.e. the System Disk or Data Drive)

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2Intel® Optane™ Memory SW/Driver Package
2.1 Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management Application
This section provides an overview of the steps to configure Intel® Optane™ memory capable devices 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.
The Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management application supports more capabilities then just
acceleration with Intel® Optane™ memory capable devices. This document will only focus on capabilities related
to Intel® Optane™ memory.
Note: This application is only available through the Microsoft Store, there are no downloads available on the
Intel support site.
Intel® RST Windows driver must be installed before the Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management
application can be installed.
1. Go to https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28650?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 drive 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 (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
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 later 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.

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Note: After the installation is complete, when launching the application, you may encounter the following error
message.
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. Select More in the drop over menu
4. Select Run as Administrator in the resulting menu
In later versions of the operating system, such as Windows 10 (Version 1809) and later, these extra steps are not
required to run the application.
Enabling Acceleration
The images below are with the Intel® Optane™ memory H10 with solid state storage in the system. For Intel®
Optane™ memory M Series products (accelerating SATA ‘Slow’ drives) the non-Intel® Optane™ memory device
would be listed as the corresponding supported SATA drive; PCIe SSD’s are not supported for acceleration with
these devices.
Note: When enabling acceleration on the Intel® Optane™ memory H Series in a mobile platform, it is required
that the system be plugged in (using AC power)
1. Once the application opens 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. Select the ‘Enable Intel® Optane™” button:
4. Confirm understanding that all data will be removed from the Intel® Optane™ memory, select ‘Enable’:

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5. Acceleration is being enabled. The Intel® Optane™ memory ‘fast’ media and the ‘slow’ media are being
‘paired’ into a single volume.
6. A restart is required once volume creation is complete; do so by selecting ‘Restart’.
a. If the module contains at least 32GB 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 16GB 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 tab.
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.

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If you are using a device with 32GB or more Intel® Optane™ memory capacity, additional features such as Pinning and
Optimization (cache) scheduling will be available. For these devices the ‘Intel® Optane™ Memory’ page will look similar to the
following image:
Disabling Acceleration
The images below are with the Intel® Optane™ memory H10 with solid state storage in the system. For Intel®
Optane™ memory M Series products (accelerating SATA ‘Slow’ drives), the non-Intel® Optane™ memory device
would be listed as the corresponding supported SATA drive, as PCIe SSD’s are not supported for acceleration
with these devices.
1. Navigate to the ‘Intel® Optane™ Memory’ tab and select ‘Disable’:

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2. Confirm that you wish to disable acceleration; select ‘Disable’.
3. Acceleration is being disabled. The Intel® Optane™ memory ‘fast’ media and the ‘slow’ media are being
separated (un-paired).

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4. Once complete, select ‘Restart’.
Uninstalling the Application
1. Verify that acceleration has been disabled before uninstalling the user interface (UI).

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2. Right-click on the Windows start menu and select ‘Apps and Features’.
3. Search for ‘Optane’ and select ‘Uninstall’.
4. Once complete, a system restart is required.

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2.2 Intel® Optane™ Memory Application
This section provides an overview of steps to configure Intel® Optane™ memory with the Intel® Optane™ Memory
application on a computer that already contains the Windows* 10 Operating System. Some motherboards may
require a system BIOS update before the Intel® Optane™ memory SW/driver package can be installed. Consult the
Motherboard vendor’s support website for the latest Intel® Optane™ memory supported system BIOS.
Platforms Starting in AHCI mode (Intel® Optane™ Memory M Series Only)
If the system BIOS supports SATA mode switching, the installer will automatically switch the system from AHCI to
‘Intel® RST Premium and System Acceleration with Intel® Optane™ Technology’ if required. If the system BIOS
does not support this, there will be error indicating the system BIOS is unsupported.
If this automated feature is not supported, you’ll be required to backup all system data and reinstall the operating
system with the BIOS settings as noted in section 1.2.2
Note: This automated feature will only attempt to update the SATA mode setting and enable Hardware
remapping on the PCIe port that contains the Intel® Optane™ memory M series module. As noted in section 1.2.3
it is also a requirement that the partition structure on the to-be-accelerated drive be GPT. If the Boot mode in the
BIOS was set to ‘Legacy’ at the time of installation, the partition structure will be MBR and acceleration will not be
possible until this is converted to GPT.
For more information see: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000024558/memory-
and-storage/intel-optane-memory.html
Warning: Once the installer changes the SATA controller mode to ‘Intel® RST Premium and System Acceleration
with Intel® Optane™ Technology’ mode, DO NOT change the SATA controller mode back to ‘AHCI’. Doing
so will prevent Intel® Optane™ memory from functioning properly and the system may not boot.
1. Go to https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28649?v=t and select the most recent
‘SetupOptaneMemory.exe’ package (this includes the driver and application)
2. Run the executable, click ‘Next’ to continue

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3. The following message indicates that the system’s SATA controller is configured in ‘AHCI’ mode. This
screen informs the user that it will be automatically switching the SATA controller to RST Premium
Mode. Click ‘Next’ to continue.
4. The following dialog box requires the user to read and accept the License Agreement. The user must
check the ‘I accept...’box in order to click ‘Next’ and continue.

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5. The following message allows the user to select where the software files will be loaded on the system.
The user can either navigate to a location using the ‘Change...’button, or use the default provided. The
user must click ‘Next’ to continue the installation.
6. The following window shows the progress of the installation.

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7. At this point in the installation process, the system will need to restart. During this time, the system will
boot into Safe Mode where the system BIOS settings will be changes from AHCI to RST Premium mode
and enable Hardware Remapping for the port in which the module is installed.
8. After the system restarts, the installation will continue in safe mode and the progress window below
appears on the screen. Once the installation has completed, the system will automatically restart.