intel rapid storage technology  

is the intel rapid storage technology is for SSD OR HD? or should i download it???

is this can be used for hdd?

Tough subject, because of Intel's naming conventions.

Also, the Intel download center doesn't seem to be providing proper links for everything known to be available, even when searching with precisely known terms.

Very frustrating.

However it is very important to use the correct driver (and the driver packages available from Station-Drivers are known to be reliable). Just be sure to select your language as English (or whatever), and then the "download" button will appear with the correct annotation so you can recognize and push it.

Anyway, what Intel now describes as "rapid storage technology" applies to both (a) RAID as well as (b) SATA AHCI. So you need to retrieve the proper driver installer (either the SetupRST*.exe, or the ZIP file for 32-bit or 64-bit INF files only). Don't use the RAID driver if you're not running RAID, and use the AHCI driver if you're running AHCI... doesn't matter SDD or HD, since they're both handled identically by the Device Manager controller.

Also, be careful to grab the proper driver for your chipset. So you would want Series 7 C216, or Series 8 C220, or whatever your Device Manager display shows as your hardware.

In my Lenovo W530 and ASUS P8Z77-V Pro machines, which use Series 7 C216 chipsets, I've determined that the Intel Series 12 v12.9.4.1000 SATA AHCI driver is the proper one to use. In my Lenovo M93p (Haswell) desktop machines with Series 8 C220 chipsets, the newer Series 13 v13.5.0.1056 SATA AHCI driver is the proper one to use (although I now see that there is an even newer 13.6.0.1002 which is the "latest" available).

In any case, I have not been able to find the SATA AHCI driver downloads on the Intel download center site, at least not from the English descriptions they provide. I've only found RAID (which doesn't apply to my machines), unless these packages provide both RAID and SATA AHCI. So I've reverted to using Station-Drivers (picking English as the language) as my source.

(1) 13.6.0.1002 SATA AHCI controller driver for Series 8 chipset C220 from Station-Drivers.

(2) 12.9.4.1000 SATA AHCI controller driver for Series 7 chipset C216 from Station-Drivers.

Again, do not use RAID driver if your Device Manager shows SATA AHCI for your IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, and vice versa. You can tell EXACTLY what your hardware is, by right-clicking in Device Manager and selecting Properties, and then "details" tab, and then dropdown to Hardware ID. That Hardware ID is EXACTLY what needs to be named in the driver INF file in order for your hardware to be supported by that particular driver. If your Hardware ID is not in that INF file, then it's the wrong driver.

And inside the expanded folder containing the INF files, you'll likely find one for SATA AHCI (named iaAHCIC.inf with a comment inside of "Installs: RST AHCI Controller Miniport") and a second for RAID (named iaStorAC.inf with a comment inside of "Installs: RST AHCI RAID Controller Miniport + RST Filter Driver").

Be careful.

Best and safest bet?? Let Windows Device Manager itself go find the latest available correct driver for your hardware. Right-click in Device Manager, and then select "Update driver software...", and opt for the "search automatically for updated driver software" which will search the web and get whatever MS feels is the latest driver (per their Windows Update Catalog).

AddRAM said:

I have never had a BS as a result of RST.

I think I did, once.

As I recall I naively installed the series 13 driver 13.5.0.1056 (intended for Series 8 C220 and Series 9 chipsets) on my Series 7 C216 chipset machine. It seemed to install ok, although in retrospect I don't know how that could have been possible since the hardware ID for the C216 chipset isn't named in the 13 driver INF.

But when I rebooted, BSOD. I had to recover from the system restore point which had been taken prior to the driver update, and then everything was well again.

That's when I decided the series 12 driver (12.9.4.1000, which correctly supports the Series 7 C216 chip) was just enough for that machine.


And another time, as I was learning that there actually was a difference in the RAID vs. AHCI driver, I think I may have accidentally installed the RAID driver (although again, in retrospect I don't know how that could possibly have completed correctly). And then the reboot produced BSOD.

It's all a bit vague now, since this all went on many months ago. And after whatever learning experience I went through, I now simply have the proper driver-folders for use/re-use as needed... and as confirmed proper, correct, and usable after reboot without incident.