Format/Restore Hard Drive (Don't Mind Losing Data)!!

Question

I have an Alienware M14x R2 with a Seagate Momentus hybrid HDD/SSD.

I clean installed Windows 10 today and I booted Gparted from a USB to edit my partitions. I accidentally ended up moving the OS partition. I am ashamed to say that I panicked and I disconnected the USB.

I was able to reinstall Windows 10, but it runs slow and it is unstable. My BIOS no longer recognises the RAID0 setup and says my 750GB HDD is non-Raid and my 32gb SSD is disabled.

I would like to format the hard disk and return it to factory settings, complete with RAID setup. I don't have any important data on the hard disk.

I am sure this question has been answered many times, but I cannot find it in the sea of questions about saving important data on the disk.

Papa Tango · Accepted Answer

Hi, Osprey!

Thanks for your reply.

I was able to wipe the hard drive and do a clean install of Windows 10.

After that I installed the Intel Rapid Storage Technology software, I opened it, went to the third tab "Performance", clicked "disassociate" to decouple the HDD and SDD, then clicked "associate" to set up the HDD/SSD-cache connection again.

Now the "hybrid" function works again and it says Dev_cache Normal on startup.

osprey4 · Answer

Hi Papa Tango, Do you have your original Windows 7 reinstallation disc or a Dell recovery disc? That's what you'll need to restore the factory settings.

osprey4 · Answer

Ok, perfect! Glad you were able to get it working.

Storage, Drives & Media

Format/Restore Hard Drive (Don't Mind Losing Data)!!

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