Background

• Recently built my own PC. It works! Almost.
• It's been a while since getting into the guts of these things, so I'm familiar but may be missing something simple.
• FYI, I don't care about blowing the OS away -- it's brand new and we can go back from scratch as many times as necessary.

Goal / Issue

• I'd like to use the SSD to take advantage of Intel's Smart Response technology (allows the SSD to act as a cache for HDDs)
• I would like the SSD cache to act as a cache for my HDDs, which I would like to be in a RAID1 array (so I get the speed from the SSD and the redundancy from the RAID1)
• However, Windows only sees the drive in device manager (not as a drive), so I'm unsure what to do about that.
• Related: as far as I know, for this to work, the drives all have to be in a single RAID array (i.e. a RAID0 pairing of the SSD and the RAID1 HDD array).
  • However, when attempting this at the BIOS level, I am told there is not enough space for an array.

Steps so Far

• Moved the SSD onto the Intel controller (I'd had it on the Marvel 6.0 controller instead of the Intel controller, so the BIOS was only seeing it in a strange way)
• Updated the BIOS of the motherboard to the latest version
• Reinstalled Intel's RST (iRST?) software several times, as some forums reported it working after reinstalling 3 times (which does not inspire confidence).
• Checked Intel storage: it does see the SSD as a physical, non-RAID device. However, it says no space exists if I try to create an array.
• Checked the BIOS: it does not show up in the boot order, but is an option that can be selected under boot options.
• Tried the firmware update for that model. Issue: the firmware CD doesn't detect a drive; maybe the Intel storage controller is making it difficult?
• moved the ssd to the marvel controller. The firmware update cd appeared to hang while searching for drives.
• swapped out the SATA cable for the manufacturer's and moved back to the intel storage controller.
• Noticed at this point that in the Intel RST software, a device DOES show up in addition to the RAID set -- only shown as a "60 GB internal disk". Windows doesn't appear to see it as a drive, but it does still show in device manager.
• Move SSD to port from 0-3 on MOBO and set SATA mode to IDE (after disconnecting RAID1 config) to allow the firmware update to work. Firmware was already at the latest version.

Next Steps

• ?

Components involved

• ASUS P8Z68-V PRO motherboard (Intel Z68 Chipset)
• Intel i7 2600k Processor
• 2 x 1TB 7200 RPM HDDs
• 64 GB Crucial M4 SSD (M4-CT064M4SSD2)

For Reference -- Storage Configuration

Intel 3 gbps   Intel 3gbps   Intel 6gbps   Marvel 6gbps
+----------+   +----------+  +----------+  +----------+
|          | <----+       |  | +-+      |  |          |
|----------| | |----------|  |-|--------|  |----------|
|          | | |  +       |  | |        |  |          |
+----------+ | +--|-------+  +-|--------+  +----------+
             |    |            |
             +    v            v
             |   1 TB HDD     64 GB SSD
             +
             +> 1 TB HDD

For Reference -- Intel RST (v10.8.0.1003) Screenshot

Don't mind the "rebuilding" -- knocked a power cable out at one point; it's doing its job, not an indicator of a bad HDD.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for any help!

Where did you get the Rapid Storage Technology software from? You're best bet is to download it directly from Intel. I have the same Motherboard as you and have a very similar configuration. I am Raid0 of 2x500GB 7200RPM drives. I installed the system with my SSD unplugged from the Motherboard and installed Windows 7 normally. Once I got the system up and running, I installed all of the motherboard drivers. Once confirming that the system is fully installed (no unknown devices in the Device Manager) I shut down the computer and plugged in the SSD. After it rebooted, I launched RST and clicked on the Accelerate tab. I clicked on a button that would enable the acceleration and selected my Raid0 Array. It then asked me to select the SSD and how much of the space to use. I have a 128GB SSD which will allow me to use up to 64GB. I am able to partition the rest of the space as a separate drive/partition.

Edit

With a new solid state drive and srt, make sure that you also have a partition created on the SSD prior to enabling the SRT

The solution, as suggested by @kobaltz, lied in the fact that I'd trusted the SRT solution to find the disk drive itself and create a partition.

Once I created the partition on the SSD, the IRST software found it normally and the "Accelerate" menu option gave me the choices I needed.

I'm still having an issue, but it seems to clearly be a separate issue and so I'll open another thread.

[Note: @kobaltz, if you want to rephrase your comment as an answer, I'll give you the credit. Thanks!]