@ jschafer65:

Although your posts are not easy to understand, I suspect, that you
1. have an X79 chipset system,
2. want to create or have already created a RAID array in RSTe mode (some X79 mainboards offer the option to switch the Intel RAID Controller to an RST one > DEV2822) and
3. are going to create a personally customized Win7 x64 image for the later clean OS installation.

Zitat von jschafer65 im Beitrag #601

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yes i've tried v3xx & 4.xx drivers again only a filter driver installs.
rsteahci.sys & rstfltr.sys

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Zitat

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its odd all if not most the drivers you post says except x79 which is basically my chipset.

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This is only valid, if you would try to integrate any of the Intel RST drivers v11.x.x.xxxx, v12.x.x.xxxx or v13.x.x.xxxx.

My suggestion (provided, that you don't want or don't can switch the SATA RAID Controller to the RST mode within the BIOS):
Download, unzip and integrate the "64bit Intel RSTe RAID Driver v3.8.1.1006 WHQL for Win7 x64", which you can find within the start post of this thread.

At Station-Drivers I just found >here< a new 64bit Intel RST(e) driver v13.2.5.1012 WHQL dated 11/13/2014 (shown as being dated 10/30/2014).
Natively only Intel 8 -Series Chipsets are supported by the included AHCI drivers. A 32bit variant is not yet available.
Here is he direct download link:

• >64bit Intel RST(e) drivers v13.2.5.1012 WHQL< (>MIRROR<)

Am I the only one who always gets confused with the name of RST(e)? If there is no number near it (like v13 or v4) I won't be able to tell what the name represents.

My opinion: If Intel calls the consumer branch RST then why change it? The inclusion of the extra filter happened a long time ago now and it doesn't really mean that these drivers are based on the enterprise RSTe ones. Just that Intel decided to follow the same path for both releases. So I suggest to leave the consumer releases as RST and the enterprise ones as RSTe - the way that Intel names them which causes absolutely no confusion. Regarding the filter, any drivers before 11.5 can be called legacy RST or something and Matrix can be called IMSM (again, per Intel spec).

Zitat von plutomaniac im Beitrag #604

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My opinion: If Intel calls the consumer branch RST then why change it?

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• It was Intel's mistake not to rename the RST drivers from v11.5 up. Intel RAID users, who ever tried to "downgrade" from an Intel RAID driver v12/v13 or v3/v4 to a "classical" RST driver like the v11.2.0.1006, know what I mean. Just to make clear the big functional differences between the newer RST drivers v12/v13 and the older RST v9/v10/v11.2 ones, I named the newer ones RST(e) drivers.
  Note: The "Enterprise Edition" RSTe drivers v3/v4 have the same names (iaStorA.sys resp. iaStorF.sys) as the "new" RST drivers from v11.5 up. Both RST driver development lines (RSTe and "new" RST) work absolutely the same way, whereas the "classical" RST drivers (latest: v11.2.0.1006) work totally different (without SCSI Filter).
• From today's perspective it probably was a big mistake done by Intel to have stopped the "classical" RST development line and to add an SCSI filter driver. They added the iaStorF.sys to get the TRIM command passing the Intel SATA RAID Controllers into the RAID array of the latest Chipsets.
  Reasons:
  1. As CPL0 aka Dufus has verified, no SCSI filter driver is required to get TRIM in RAID0 support for all Intel Chipset Southbridges from ICH8R up.
  2. The newest Windows Operating Systems since Win8 neither load nor use the SCSI filter driver iaStorF.sys.

Alright, I totally understand that. All the things you said are true, it's just that Intel doesn't take into consideration (no testing) of RST driver downgrade. So theoretically and with no downgrading all users back then updated from legacy RST to "new" RST once (11.2 -> 11.5 or up) with no issues. What happens when going back (downgrading) does not seem to concern Intel.

However, all these aside, I'm not sure I understand how this answers my concern with counter arguments. Since the RST and "new" RST drivers are still named RST by Intel, why not have:

MSM (for Matrix)
Legacy RST (after Matrix up until 11.2)
RST (consumer 11.5 and up)
RSTe (enterprise)

EDIT: I am not blaming you for the naming scheme, it's just a conversation.

Zitat von plutomaniac im Beitrag #606

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However, all these aside, I'm not sure I understand how this answers my concern with counter arguments. Since the RST and "new" RST drivers are still named RST by Intel, why not have:
MSM (for Matrix)
Legacy RST (after Matrix up until 11.2)
RST (consumer 11.5 and up)
RSTe (enterprise)

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Zitat

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EDIT: I am not blaming you for the naming scheme, it's just a conversation.

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Don't worry, I didn't feel blamed by your suggestion to rename the "RST(e)" drivers to "RST" within my guides and statements. Contrary to that: It is good to have such discussions, because there are often different point of views regarding the exactly same fact.

How can RST be a set of "Enterprise" drivers if it targets completely different platforms? The method the driver works is the same (structure) but not the content (functionality). Unless the RST drivers have the same .sys & .inf files as RSTe (which they do not), they are not both Enterprise. Otherwise there would be no reason to call them differently or have two releases in the first place.

I asked this question to avoid confusion, no other reason. In the end, what benefit does it give to a new user who is looking for updated drivers & oROMs? Since guests don't usually care exactly how something works as long as it works and it's updated, this visual distinction may confuse.

Zitat von plutomaniac im Beitrag #608

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How can RST be a set of "Enterprise" drivers if it targets completely different platforms?

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The method the driver works is the same (structure) but not the content (functionality).

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They have the same functionality (see above). The only difference is, that they have been designed for AHCI/RAID Controllers with a different DeviceID.

Zitat

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Unless the RST drivers have the same .sys & .inf files as RSTe (which they do not), they are not both Enterprise. Otherwise there would be no reason to call them differently or have two releases in the first place.

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There was no reason to name them differently, but Intel did it nevertheless. Maybe they just wanted to point out, that they had developed something particular for their High-End Chipset X79 - special "Enterprise Edition" drivers.

Interesting, I admit I didn't know all these details. So, the RSTe tree started from v3? There was no v1 or v2? Weird move by Intel. So besides a different DEV_ID what's the difference between the two trees (RST and RSTe)? I know some X79 and X99 boards have an option to work with the RST DEV_ID so yes it seems logical that both of them are very similar. That does raise the question though, why a new tree? There must be a benefit of running at RSTe instead of RST, maybe the OEM documentation explains this.

Regarding the naming scheme, thing is that the title RST(e) for the RST drivers/oROM is only seen in this forum and not at Intel or elsewhere.

Zitat von plutomaniac im Beitrag #610

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So, the RSTe tree started from v3?

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There was no v1 or v2?

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No, and there will never be an RSTe v5 line, because the old MSM development tree started with v5.0.

Zitat

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So besides a different DEV_ID what's the difference between the two trees (RST and RSTe)? I know some X79 and X99 boards have an option to work with the RST DEV_ID so yes it seems logical that both of them are very similar. That does raise the question though, why a new tree?

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You should ask Intel. For me it never made any sense to start a new driver development string for Intel's "High-End" Chipset X79 and its successor X99. The X79 and X99 mainboards are much more expensive than those with a "normal" Intel Chipset, but the driver support by Intel for the X79 and X99 Chipsets is a disaster, especially for RAID users. The mainboard manufacturers tried to help by switching the DeviceID support from DEV_2826 to DEV_2822 by modding the mainboard BIOS.

Zitat

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There must be a benefit of running at RSTe instead of RST

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I only see disadvantages.

Zitat

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Regarding the naming scheme, thing is that the title RST(e) for the RST drivers/oROM is only seen in this forum and not at Intel or elsewhere.

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Intel prefers to hide the similarities between their "High-End" RSTe drivers v3/v4 and the "normal" RST drivers v12/v13.
Example: Although Intel recommends for their "High-End" C600/C600+ Series Chipsets to use the RSTe drivers v3/v4, the "Intel(R) C600 Series Chipset SATA AHCI Controller" is fully supported by all "normal" Intel RST drivers from v11.6.0.1030 WHQL up to v13.1.0.1058 WHQL. As you can see below, the officially released Intel RST drivers v13.1.0.1058 WHQL do fully support X79 and X99 Chipsets running in AHCI mode and are usually working better than the RSTe ones.

Zitat von sinders im Beitrag #611

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Fernando, I am not sure if you know and are aware about this but the Intel Rapid Storage Technology v13.2.4.1000 WHQL release is compatible with the X99 platform without any driver modding necessary to make them work.

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Your first post in this thread that contains the info and download for the Intel Rapid Storage Technology software+driver mentions only the Intel 8- and 9-Series Chipsets are suported by the Intel Rapid Storage Technology version 13.2.4.1000.

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This information is correct regading the Intel RST(e) drivers v13.2.4.1000 WHQL, but I missed the additional X79 and X99 AHCI support regarding the Intel RST(e) drivers v13.1.0.1058 WHQL. I just have updated the start post regarding this point.
Thank for for the info!

At Station-Drivers I just found brandnew Intel RST(e) drivers v14.0.0.1081 Beta dated 01/09/2015 and the related RST Software dated 01/13/2015 (look >here<).

Wait some minutes until I have finished the uploads!

EDIT: Done!

@ all:

Update of the start post

Changelog:

• new: 32/64bit Intel RST(e) drivers v14.0.0.1081 Beta dated 01/09/2015 (shown within the Device Manager as being dated 12/23/2014)
• new: Intel RSTe Drivers & Software Set v14.0.0.1081 Beta dated 01/13/2015