Booting from NVMe RAID ???

Hi All,

Intel tech support sent me this:

I have confirmed that it is not possible to boot from
a RAID volume made of NVMe drives. The documentation
we can provide to you is the PDF files that come
included in the driver download. This is the direct
download link to the driver


https://downloadmirror.intel.com/262...4.5.0.2125.zip

Does his response "Odd" to you?

I sent him back a Google search on how to do it and
asked him why there were so many "How To's" out there if
it was not possible. He hasn't replied back for a few
days.

-T

On 2017-05-12 19:57, T wrote:

Hi All,

Intel tech support sent me this:

I have confirmed that it is not possible to boot from
a RAID volume made of NVMe drives. The documentation
we can provide to you is the PDF files that come
included in the driver download. This is the direct
download link to the driver


https://downloadmirror.intel.com/262...4.5.0.2125.zip

Does his response "Odd" to you?

I sent him back a Google search on how to do it and
asked him why there were so many "How To's" out there if
it was not possible. He hasn't replied back for a few
days.

-T

I did a quick search (ended-up on The SSD Review) where they say it all
depends on the BIOS - you need a BIOS that has Intel RST built-in, and
according to that 2015/11 article, you need to run the BIOS in UEFI
mode. As for Support's answer, I wouldn't be too surprised. I once
installed some edition of Visio 2013 which was asking me to create a MS
Account before it agreed to activate itself. No amount of "but it's
doing it right now in front of my eyes" would convince the Indian
Support Person that in fact, it was Visio 2013 that I had just installed
and not Visio 2016. According to that Support Person, only Visio 2016
would ever ask for a MS Account. No matter, I had the wrong edition
anyway, I wanted Volume and this wasn't it...

Regards,

--
! _\|/_ Sylvain /
! (o o) Memberavid-Suzuki-Fdn/EFF/Red+Cross/SPCA/Planetary-Society
oO-( )-Oo 0x2B | ~0x2B -Hamlet.

On 05/12/2017 08:24 PM, B00ze wrote:
On 2017-05-12 19:57, T wrote:

Hi All,

Intel tech support sent me this:

I have confirmed that it is not possible to boot from
a RAID volume made of NVMe drives. The documentation
we can provide to you is the PDF files that come
included in the driver download. This is the direct
download link to the driver


https://downloadmirror.intel.com/262...4.5.0.2125.zip

Does his response "Odd" to you?

I sent him back a Google search on how to do it and
asked him why there were so many "How To's" out there if
it was not possible. He hasn't replied back for a few
days.

-T

I did a quick search (ended-up on The SSD Review) where they say it all
depends on the BIOS - you need a BIOS that has Intel RST built-in, and
according to that 2015/11 article, you need to run the BIOS in UEFI
mode. As for Support's answer, I wouldn't be too surprised. I once
installed some edition of Visio 2013 which was asking me to create a MS
Account before it agreed to activate itself. No amount of "but it's
doing it right now in front of my eyes" would convince the Indian
Support Person that in fact, it was Visio 2013 that I had just installed
and not Visio 2016. According to that Support Person, only Visio 2016
would ever ask for a MS Account. No matter, I had the wrong edition
anyway, I wanted Volume and this wasn't it...

Regards,

Hi B00ze,

I have found that the information coming from Intel is
really bad at times. What I have realized is that you
are left to test it yourself. And I can not afford the cost
of such to find a simple answer.

So basically, ask the motherboard's tech support what
it can do. Which does make sense.

Thank you for the help!
-T

T wrote:
On 05/12/2017 08:24 PM, B00ze wrote:
On 2017-05-12 19:57, T wrote:

Hi All,

Intel tech support sent me this:

I have confirmed that it is not possible to boot from
a RAID volume made of NVMe drives. The documentation
we can provide to you is the PDF files that come
included in the driver download. This is the direct
download link to the driver


https://downloadmirror.intel.com/262...4.5.0.2125.zip

Does his response "Odd" to you?

I sent him back a Google search on how to do it and
asked him why there were so many "How To's" out there if
it was not possible. He hasn't replied back for a few
days.

-T

I did a quick search (ended-up on The SSD Review) where they say it
all depends on the BIOS - you need a BIOS that has Intel RST built-in,
and according to that 2015/11 article, you need to run the BIOS in
UEFI mode. As for Support's answer, I wouldn't be too surprised. I
once installed some edition of Visio 2013 which was asking me to
create a MS Account before it agreed to activate itself. No amount of
"but it's doing it right now in front of my eyes" would convince the
Indian Support Person that in fact, it was Visio 2013 that I had just
installed and not Visio 2016. According to that Support Person, only
Visio 2016 would ever ask for a MS Account. No matter, I had the wrong
edition anyway, I wanted Volume and this wasn't it...

Regards,

Hi B00ze,

I have found that the information coming from Intel is
really bad at times. What I have realized is that you
are left to test it yourself. And I can not afford the cost
of such to find a simple answer.

So basically, ask the motherboard's tech support what
it can do. Which does make sense.

Thank you for the help!
-T

Apparently, it takes persistence. And maybe "luck",
if say, your motherboard BIOS isn't a good design.

https://hardforum.com/threads/bootab...170-a.1873181/

insert rant here

Block level benchmarks are not the same thing as
file system access. The OS and file system are bottlenecks.
There are diminishing returns on boot time, because
it becomes CPU bound (needs higher CPU clocks).

Paul

On 05/13/2017 04:21 AM, Paul wrote:
T wrote:
On 05/12/2017 08:24 PM, B00ze wrote:
On 2017-05-12 19:57, T wrote:

Hi All,

Intel tech support sent me this:

I have confirmed that it is not possible to boot from
a RAID volume made of NVMe drives. The documentation
we can provide to you is the PDF files that come
included in the driver download. This is the direct
download link to the driver


https://downloadmirror.intel.com/262...4.5.0.2125.zip

Does his response "Odd" to you?

I sent him back a Google search on how to do it and
asked him why there were so many "How To's" out there if
it was not possible. He hasn't replied back for a few
days.

-T

I did a quick search (ended-up on The SSD Review) where they say it
all depends on the BIOS - you need a BIOS that has Intel RST
built-in, and according to that 2015/11 article, you need to run the
BIOS in UEFI mode. As for Support's answer, I wouldn't be too
surprised. I once installed some edition of Visio 2013 which was
asking me to create a MS Account before it agreed to activate itself.
No amount of "but it's doing it right now in front of my eyes" would
convince the Indian Support Person that in fact, it was Visio 2013
that I had just installed and not Visio 2016. According to that
Support Person, only Visio 2016 would ever ask for a MS Account. No
matter, I had the wrong edition anyway, I wanted Volume and this
wasn't it...

Regards,

Hi B00ze,

I have found that the information coming from Intel is
really bad at times. What I have realized is that you
are left to test it yourself. And I can not afford the cost
of such to find a simple answer.

So basically, ask the motherboard's tech support what
it can do. Which does make sense.

Thank you for the help!
-T

Apparently, it takes persistence. And maybe "luck",
if say, your motherboard BIOS isn't a good design.

https://hardforum.com/threads/bootab...170-a.1873181/


insert rant here

Block level benchmarks are not the same thing as
file system access. The OS and file system are bottlenecks.
There are diminishing returns on boot time, because
it becomes CPU bound (needs higher CPU clocks).

Paul

Broadcom is working on an NVMe 4 port 16 lane PCIe
Mega RAID card. Details are not real forthcoming. One
item that I like is that it presents itself as an AHCI
drive, but who knows ...

https://www.broadcom.com/news/press-...ers-first-nvme

AMI -- Mega Raid -- LSI -- Broadcom or some such.