Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) drivers for Windows 10 Install

It's been a little while but if I don't find a resolution for an Unknown Device error that is affecting a laptop, I may resort to a clean install. I know that if my BIOS is set to RAID, when I go to do a clean install of Windows, it will prompt me for RAID drivers during install. I can't find them anymore but I copied some IRST drivers to the install disk to use and they worked..in the past. I assume that all I need to do is copy any compatible (with/for chipset) set of IRST drivers (w/ inf) to the drive and point to them when Windows setup asks, correct?

A couple of questions. We are talking about this laptop that is mentioned in the above post....correct? If so why are you using a RAID setup? What is the make/model of your laptop. Drivers can be downloaded from that driver/support webpage. RAID if for multiple HDD's. This laptop should only have 1 HDD and RAID is not needed. You should be using AHCI mode instead. IRST is Intel version for checking if a HDD is healthy.

Can you post a screen shot of your device manager window? This will help us detrmine what driver is missing. As a guess I would say your chipset driver.

Plankton said:

A couple of questions. We are talking about this laptop that is mentioned in the above post....correct? If so why are you using a RAID setup? What is the make/model of your laptop. Drivers can be downloaded from that driver/support webpage. RAID if for multiple HDD's. This laptop should only have 1 HDD and RAID is not needed. You should be using AHCI mode instead. IRST is Intel version for checking if a HDD is healthy.

Can you post a screen shot of your device manager window? This will help us detrmine what driver is missing. As a guess I would say your chipset driver.

I'm not sure why but it appears that Dell ships all of their laptops with RAID mode enabled in the BIOS. It came installed in RAID mode. I use the RST storage controller driver in Windows. I agree that because it can only hold one drive, that AHCI should be fine, but even in RAID mode, with a single drive it is supposed to operate as AHCI. You make a good point that if I am forced to reinstall, I can easily just go into the BIOS first, change the SATA setting to ACHI and install, supposedly without being requested for additional storage driver during setup.

mccnavy said:

I'm not sure why but it appears that Dell ships all of their laptops with RAID mode enabled in the BIOS.

They absolutely do, at least in their Latitude line. I change it to AHCI before dumping my corporate image on them. No idea why, and asking their support just wastes time.

This is a great site to learn about IRST drivers and find the best one https://www.win-raid.com/t25f23-Whic...D-drivers.html

I went ahead and changed my laptop to AHCI mode using the safe boot method. It seems to boot a little bit faster but don't feel any difference in speed...I should've tried a benchmark when it was in RAID mode to compare. Not sure if it is worth it to do with my desktop computer.

These are Dell links.
See if these links help:

Dell M.2 FAQ regarding AHCI vs RAID ON, Storage Drivers, M.2 Lanes, Performance and more - Dell Community

Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver and Management Console | Dell US
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