Does the Intel RST need to be active on a non-raid system?  

EdTittel said:

Errr...face red...sorry: didn't remember/realize that you had already posted this item. Forgive the unneeded info. Glad that it's going away, though: IRST has caused its share of problems for me over the years.
--Ed--

LOL, no worries. It's rather pointless on a system with one SSD and a near-line HDD, IMHO. Only for Optane memory management which is just a cache.

@Compumind: 100% agreement on IRST unneeded for simple system setup as you describe. I've never used RAID directly in Windows myself anyway. When it's been needed, I've done it in hardware on a RAID controller device with SATA ports for it to manage.
--Ed--

@EdTittel -

I don't think that home based (non-enterprise) systems are production systems needing a RAID implementation like RAID 5 anyway.

Compumind said:

Hi Ed - I had already posted this on the forum -

Intel Rapid Storage Technology will no longer be updated [EOL] notice

After you "uninstall" the IRST, I believe that the drivers are left behind. Hence, no issues. The Management Program (front-end GUI) is actually uninstalled.

@Jaguwaar20 -

Does this also help answer your concern?

HTH,

@Compumind,
YES. I previously read your forum post last week which answered a lot about that part on the management program.

But the other part of my previous post comes down to basically the following four questions.
Let me see if I can hopefully clarify to make it easier to follow :
I'm hoping to understand how to replicate what you performed in January and without the change affecting Windows.

A). The Dell XPS 8930 S.E. that I own is a simple home setup.
B). IRST was installed in Windows and subsequently has been updated in versions (via manually from Dell's Support site).
C). I do not have a RAID Array.
D.) No Optane modules are installed

I assumed from your original post in January that you had the Intel-RST package in Windows installed on your XPS 8930
and you implied you wanted to:
a). Un-install IRST in Windows.
b). Know whether the message in BIOS was a "blanket" message prior to executing the change to the SATA controller from RAID ON to AHCI

I'm receiving a warning message in BIOS which you may or may not have had. It exactly states the following:
Warning ! Sata Operation is being changed !
Attention: Changing this setting may prevent your operating system from booting or require a reinstall.
Are you sure you would like to continue ?

I prefer not to go through the trade off of having Windows break for little to no performance gain.

These are the questions in summarized form which my previous attempt failed to make very clear:

1. Do you remember if you experienced Windows was unbootable after executing the change to AHCI?
Note: The assumption being that after typing at command prompt: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal before re-starting and hitting F2 at post to enter BIOS.

@AndreTen commented back in January in response to your post, "you can change to AHCI . . . but it will require a repair later".
2. Do you remember performing a repair ?
If so, did a repair include re-installing Windows?

3. Do you remember if you needed to make other changes in BIOS prior to the un-installation of IRST ? e.g,, turning off Secure Boot, or some other change in BIOS.

4. Was the last step just Un-installing IRST under 'Programs and Features' in Control Panel after making change(s) in BIOS ?

zbook said:

If the computer has only a SSD you can uninstall IRST.

IRST is used when there is a small SSD attached to the motherboard that works as flash cache with a larger HD.
With large size SSD dropping in price, faster booting with only a SSD, more end users are replacing HD with SSD.

Thanks zbook.
I want to let you know that I carefully read all of your comments back in January.

No my system was purchased directly from Dell with a 256 SSD and a 2TB HDD. So 256 GB would not be considered a "small" SSD, comparatively speaking to the days of yesteryear.

Dell factory releases many (in fact a lot) of their desktops configured with an SSD and HDD to RAID ON as opposed to the other option AHCI.
I set up the PC two and a half years ago. IRST installed in Windows with the OOBE when all the Dell "Driver" packages were being installed. It all comes down to this. If I can uninstall IRST without breaking Windows, I'll go for it and install the IRST driver alone. @Compumind said no noticeable performance gain afterward.

If changing the SATA controller definitely will break Windows, it's not worth the attempt to trade off.

@Jaguwaar20 -

If your system is not using an Optane approach, then you can safely uninstall the IRST,
The associated drivers, I believe are left behind.

However, I would suggest making a complete, restorable image backup of your system before you do anything.

Intel Rapid Storage Technology - Should I Remove It?