Can Someone Tell Me About Intel Rapid Storage Technology?

[PurpleGlimmer]

Hey everyone, I'm setting up my new PC and came across the option to enable Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) in the BIOS. My setup includes a 1TB NVMe SSD for the OS and frequently used programs, and a 2TB HDD for storage.

I'm wondering if enabling IRST will provide any noticeable performance improvements or benefits for my setup. Are there any downsides or potential issues I should be aware of?

 

[burningsoul]

Turning it on wont do any harm

 

[carmela43]

Are you sure IRST is not enabled by default? It was in my PC.

Anyways, if you have the opt, you should enable it because of these features:

1. Increases the speed of SATA drives by adjusting power management settings and makes SSDs about 15% faster compared to using default settings.
2. Supports Native Command Queuing (NCQ) to optimize read and write commands, reduces hard drive access times, allows hot-swapping of SATA drives, meaning drives can be removed or replaced without restarting the system, and improves battery life with Link Power Management (LPM), reducing power consumption for the chipset and SATA drives.
3. Uses a small SSD as a cache to speed up access to frequently used data, works well with a dual-drive setup (SSD + HDD) or a solid-state hybrid drive (SSHD), and enhances overall system performance and responsiveness.
4. Duplicates data on separate drives to prevent data loss if a disk fails, reduces system downtime by allowing easy replacement of failed drives, and requires RAID 1, RAID 5, or RAID 10 for effective data protection.