The use of mSATA

[whs]

I have no idea what happens here. It is a jungle. As I suggested, theog might know. He is up to speed in this stuff.

 

[hummer7]

whs. It is indeed a jungle. I learned today from Dell Techie that we cannot install OS on SSD because the SSD is RAID
If you want to install the OS on the SSD then you need to delete RAID from the SSD.
That's why I ran into so many problem with it.

 

[whs]

Aha, can you unraid it in the BIOS

 

[hummer7]

Yes, Here is a short summary from the Dell Techie:

In the future, if you want to install the OS on the SSD then you need to delete RAID from the SSD by booting the system on RAID BIOS using the Ctrl+I key combination on Dell logo screen.
It will show you the RAID BIOS setup and will give you the option to break it.
Once it is done then that drive can be used to install OS however you need to delete any partition which are there on the drive and then format it to install the OS.
As it is RAID protected to install anything on it, either you should break it or it should be configured in such a manner to help you install the image.
There a couple of drawbacks as well when you break RAID.
It might cause system to go unstable.
The cache drive will no longer function including the Intel smart feature apps like Intel rapid start, Rapid storage etc.

I decided not to mess with SSD drive.

He also mentioned that both 2 TB harddisk came with the computer and SSD are RAID.

 

[whs]

Another option would be to get a seperate SSD. Here is a good one for a good price.

PNY XLR8 SSD9SC240GMDA-RB 2.5" 240GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Newegg.com

 

[EdTittel]

In addition to potential RAID issues there is also a problem with Acronis and UEFI when you've got a TPM chip installed and are using Windows 8 (any version) Secure Boot. There's a hardware ID that is written to NVRAM on the motherboard that is different for every physical drive. When you try to restore the boot loader it will copy the hardware ID over from the old drive to the new one, which of course does not agree with the hardware ID burned into the new drive's PROM. I blogged about this in December 2012, but it's still correct for older versions of Acronis (though their latest version may finally address this: I haven't tested it myself, but I know the version current as of the blog date DOESN'T work). So far this is the only tool I know of that lets you clone one UEFI boot volume onto a different replacement UEFI boot volume, so it's definitely worth the $19.95 price.

--Ed--