computer data storage Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers. The central processing unit (CPU) of a comput ...

, Smart Response Technology (SRT, also called SSD Caching before it was launched) is a proprietary caching mechanism introduced in 2011 by

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the devel ...

for their Z68

chipset In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components in one or more integrated circuits known as a "Data Flow Management System" that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. It is usually found on t ...

(for the

Sandy Bridge Sandy Bridge is the codename for Intel's 32 nm microarchitecture used in the second generation of the Intel Core processors ( Core i7, i5, i3). The Sandy Bridge microarchitecture is the successor to Nehalem and Westmere microarchitecture ...

–series processors), which allows a

SATA SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host adapter, host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Serial ATA succeeded the earlier Parallel ATA (PATA) ...

solid-state drive A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It i ...

(SSD) to function as cache for a (conventional, magnetic)

hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magn ...

(HDD). SRT is managed by Intel Rapid Storage Technology software version 10.5 or later, and implemented both in its

device driver In computing, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabling operating systems and o ...

and in the Z68

motherboard A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...

firmware In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for a device's specific hardware. Firmware, such as the BIOS of a personal computer, may contain basic functions of a device, and may provide ...

( option ROM). It is available only when the (integrated) disk controller is configured in

RAID Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male colleg ...

mode (but not AHCI or IDE modes) by implementing a style of

0 striping. The user can select

write-back In computing, a cache ( ) is a hardware or software component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewher ...

(so-called maximized mode) or

write-through In computing, a cache ( ) is a hardware or software component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewher ...

(so-called enhanced mode) caching strategy. The maximum utilizable cache size on the SSD is 64 GB. Caching is done at the

logical block addressing Logical block addressing (LBA) is a common scheme used for specifying the location of blocks of data stored on computer storage devices, generally secondary storage systems such as hard disk drives. LBA is a particularly simple linear addressi ...

(LBA) level, not the file level. Shortly before the announcement of the new chipset, Intel also introduced the Intel 311 (Larson Creek), a 20 GB single-level cell (SLC) solid-state drive, which it markets as suitable for caching. , TRIM garbage collection is not supported for SRT caching devices, so the

SSD A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It is ...

's performance is solely maintained by its own

. With the release of Ivy Bridge chipsets, support for SRT was provided in a larger variety of desktop chipsets, including Z77, Q77 and H77 (but not Z75, Q75 or B75) as long as an "Intel Core Processor" is used. The situation is similar for Haswell desktop chipsets, with Z87, Q87 and H87 listed as supported. The

Ivy Bridge-E ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...

chipset

X79 The Intel X79 ( codenamed ''Patsburg'') is a Platform Controller Hub (PCH) designed and manufactured by Intel for their LGA 2011 (Socket R) and LGA 2011-1 (Socket R2). Socket and chipset support CPUs targeted at the high-end desktop (HEDT) and e ...

did not officially support SRT at launch, but some companies like ASRock added support to their boards via BIOS updates. The arrival of Ivy Bridge also saw SRT support added to mobile chipsets: QS77, QM77, UM77 and HM77 support SRT, while HM76 does not. In 2012, Intel also introduced the 313 (Hawley Creek) caching SSD series (20 and 24 GB), advertised as also suitable for use in

Ultrabook Ultrabook is a marketing term, originated and trademarked by Intel, for a category of high-end laptop computers. They were originally marketed as featuring ultra thin form factor and light weight design without compromising battery life or per ...

s. , SRT was limited to using at most 64 GB for caching, meaning that on larger SSDs the rest remains unused by the cache. The chipset exposes any excess storage space as a separate independent disk, which can be used for other purposes. In 2014, Intel has updated the SRT supported chipset list, to include th
Intel® 9 Series Chipset: H97, Z97
as well. Next year, support wasn't added for succeeding Z170 and H170 Skylake generation chipsets. SRT support was finally discontinued one year later in 2017 once Intel's own solution, Intel Optane, became available on 16 and 32 GB capacities. It required Kaby Lake processors and chipsets with intel citing better performance over SRT. This new SSD caching method left Z170/H170 chips and skylake processors without any kind of SSD caching available.

References

{{reflist, 30em Solid-state caching Intel chipsets

See also

References