Hi I am trying to understand if the Intel RST driver is necessary or not, or if only required for particular setups. I have 2 computers:1) Desktop - boot drive: SATA 3 SSD (Windows and applications), and aSATA 3 HDD for document storage. 2) Laptop – M.2 SATA 3 Micron SSD (PCIe NVMe). Do I need the RST / RST Optane driver for either or both?Thanks(Winver: 21H1)
You want the Optane driver if you're using a small Optane SSD as a cache. You want RST if you're doing RAID.
As far as I know, otherwise, the RST drivers would be of no use.
Edit, later: I left out the word "RAID".
Last edited by bobkn; 12 Jul 2021 at 13:54.
Years ago flash cache / Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) was used to reduce the boot times for HD.
The computers in the opening post are booting with SSDs.
The boot times should be much faster than HD and HD with flash cache.
I'm not seeing any benefit using IRST with a SSD.
SSD Cache: Is it Worth it? We have it Benchmarked Here
If you are not using neither an Intel "software" RAID nor Optane, RST drivers aren't needed anymore. Just my two cents.
I have an Intel based system (non RAID), originally came with Optane, since changed to an NVME (M.2, Intel 660p) and two 2.5" SSDs, I benchmarked my system with both the RST drivers and Windows default drivers extensively, conclusion was there is zero difference in performance.
I do use Intel's own NVME driver simply because their SSD toolbox (now called MAS-GUI) only works with that driver which gives the ability to clear the NVME's SLC cache manually. As others have said you only require RST driver package if you use an Optane caching module or Intel RAID.
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