Intel matrix storage manager

Hi, i just got a new t400 and I'm curious why it comes with the intel matrix storage manager, which seems to me to be a program that you only need if you have a RAID system, and since a typical laptop only has one harddrive I dont see any point why I should have this program installed ?
I would appreciate some advice before I remove the program though.
Thanks,

Similar Messages

Intel Matrix Storage Manager disables Windows Update and Windows Validation on Windows 7 64-bit

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad R61 8918CTO on which I did a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (64-bit) on a new Seagate Momentus XT 750GB drive. The installation was trouble-free, as were all of the post-install Windows Updates.
Then I installed ThinkVantage System Update 4.03 and used it to install most of the available Lenovo updates. Big mistake. I'll spare you a detailed account of the hours I wasted troubleshooting, rolling back to previous restore points, and doing more troubleshooting, but it turns out that installing Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver v. 8.9.2.1002 caused Windows Update and Windows Validation to fail.
Symptoms: Windows Update control panel can't check for updates and reports that the Windows Update service isn't running when it actually is. Online Windows Validation fails and the standalone Windows Validation utility won't install. Microsoft programs that require a validated copy of Windows (e.g., Microsoft Security Essentials) won't install.
Solution: Roll back the driver for the relevant SATA controller to the previous driver.
I've reinstalled ThinkVantage System Update 4.03 and hidden the proposed Intel Matrix Storage Manager update; since then, I've used it to complete my Lenovo updates without issue.
I hope this post will help other people with this problem find the solution a lot faster than it took me!

This happened after installing a new advanced format drive with 4k-byte sectors, I'd guess. If the storage driver doesn't report the physical sector size to Windows, update fails.
I just ran across this myself (again) putting Win 7 on a T400.
I don't know why this is still going on. It may be that the update lists for older machines still have pre-AF-drive drivers listed.
FYI, another fix is going to the Intel site and installing the latest Matrix Storage Manager AHCI driver. This may be more desirable than rolling back to an older driver in some cases.
Z.
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Need help with XP instal. stuck at: Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver

I've bought a new 2.0 ghz laptop with vista blah blah but i want to change to XP.
I've
bought a new copy of XP and am ready to go then first issue was during
installation the screen says can't find harddrive installed.
I
then found some thread somewhere which i've lost that said to buy an
external floppy drive and downloaded that floppy driver thingy that i
need to get past that stage from the toshiba website..
FYI driver name: SA200 ACHI F6-1017-XP
That
worked fine.. when it said press F8 if you agree to install XP i nearly
wet myself.. anyhow after it formatted the drive it then asked me this:
Insert the disk labeled:
*Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver*
into drive A:
* Press ENTER when ready
WTF are you talking about laptop? can someone please help me past this stage?
:-( :-( i only want XP installed.
So far its been like 3 weeks since i've been trying to install it
Message was edited by: IamMILOS

Here are detailed instructions I found earlier:
Installing a Retail (street copy) version of Windows XP on a Vista Toshiba Laptop.
- If the Toshiba laptop has a seperate BIOS for XP and Vista, download and flash the XP BIOS over the Vista BIOS.
- If XP Setup does not detect the SATA Hard Disk, simply turn on "SATA Compatibility Mode" in the BIOS if applicable. If this option is not available, follow these steps:
1) Download the Windows XP SATA F6 driver from the Toshiba Support/Downloads Website.
If an individual F6 driver is not available, download and unzip the Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver. The Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver package should contain some folders under the "F6flpy" folder. For example: ICH7M_32bit for an ICH7 based chipset when installing Windows XP 32bit.
2) Copy the F6 driver files (iastor.inf, etc..) to a blank floppy disk. The actual files must reside in the root directory of the Floppy Disk. For example, A:\iastor.inf, A:\iaahci.inf, etc..
3) Use a Toshiba USB Floppy Drive with the Toshiba notebook. (some non-Toshiba USB Floppy Drives may not function properly during XP setup)
4) Boot from Windows XP CD-ROM, start the installation and ensure the floppy disk is inserted in the USB Floppy Drive.
5) When XP Setup prompts you to press F6 to install a Storage Driver, immediately press F6.
6) When XP Setup prompts you to select a SATA driver, select the appropriate driver and continue. For example: ICH7M Intel(R) 82801GBM SATA AHCI Controller, ICH8M Intel(R) 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller
7) Keep the Floppy Drive attached and Floppy Disk inserted until XP has completed its installation. Do not Partition or Format the Hard Disk during XP Setup. The SATA drivers from the Floppy Disk are copied and stored on the Hard Disk during XP installation.

[Solved] RAID 0 with Arch Linux and Intel Matrix Storage Manager

I just bought a brand new DELL Studio desktop and it has 2 500 HD's which I would like to run in RAID 0. I've setup the BIOS to run the RAID 0. Now I want the arch linux installation to recognise the volume. I followed the guide on the wikipage
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … _Fake-RAID
but /dev/mapper doesn't show anything after modprobing the modules and installing dmraid. My controller is a intel matrix storage controller, so what module should I modprobe because sata_sil isn't the right one.
Regards
André
Last edited by fettouhi (2008-12-15 10:57:18)

you have a separate /boot partition, so your menu.lst must say :
root (hd0,0) # the partition including /boot
kernel /vmlinuz26 ... # without leading /boot
initrd /kernel26.img # without leading /boot
(in grub, / is the root of the partition that was set with the root command, your vmlinuz26 and kernel26.img are in (hd0,0)/, not in (hd0,0)/boot/)
did you install from core CD or from FTP ?
there was a dmraid update few weeks ago that modified device names that dmraid creates :
it add "p" before the number of the partition (your iws...Volume0 don't change, but your iws...Volume0# change to iws...Volume0p#)
if you installed from core CD, you will only need to add this "p" when you will upgrade dmraid (or the full system)
(you will then need to edit both /boot/grub/menu.lst and /etc/fstab)
if you installed from FTP, you need to add this "p" now, as you installed last version of dmraid

P55-CD53, how to install SATA AHCI drivers and Matrix Storage Manager?

Please excuse my noobness as this is for my first PC build and much of it is Greek to me, but could someone please inform/educate me as to what the following drivers (link) are for and which need to be installed after a fresh installation of Windows 7 Pro x64? Do I need to install all of them because some of these appear to be redundant, just from different manufacturers, or am I mistaken? I have a single 500GB HDD but will probably add more down the road.
JMicron JMB36x IDE Drivers (including floppy driver)
Description   XP/Vista/Win7 Ver: 17.49.04.WHQL
Update Date   2009-07-27
Your System OS   XP/Vista/Win7 32/64bit
(3989KB)
Intel P55 AHCI / RAID Drivers
Description   Ver: 8.9.0.1023
Update Date   2009-07-24
Your System OS   XP/Vista/Win7 32/64bit
(23048KB)
Intel P55 SATA RAID Driver (For floppy driver)
Description   Intel P55 SATA RAID driver
1. Extract the file and Copy all files to the floppy.
2. Press F6 to install driver through the floppy when booting and loading RAID function.
Update Date   2009-07-24
Your System OS   XP/Vista/Win7 32/64bit
(443KB)
JMicron IDE/SATA RAID Drivers (with AP)
Description   XP/Vista Driver Version: 1.17.43.05
For floppy install:
Please copy all the directories and files in the "floppy" folder to the root directory of a floppy disk to create a pre-install disk for Win2K/WinXP/Win2003/WinXP 64bits/Win2003 64bits.
For example,
A:\amd64
\x32
txtsetup.oem
To enhance IDE transfer speed, we strongly recommend you install JMicron IDE/SATA Driver.
Update Date   2009-02-23
Your System OS   Windows Vista 32/64bit
(4032KB)
Windows XP 32bit
(4032KB)
Intel TPM Device Driver
Description   Intel Trusted Platform chipset driver
XP/Vista/Win7: 2.00.0000.00
Update Date   2007-11-02
Your System OS   Vista/Win7 32/64bit
(23KB)
Windows XP 32bit
(23KB)
On a side note, I have already flashed the BIOS to 1.4 using the Forum USB Flashing Tool (thanks!).

Thanks.
After booting from the Windows 7 disc, I selected Repair Windows, Load Drivers. Which specific controllers do I need to install for the P55-CD53 MB since there are multiple controllers listed for each of the four SATA compressed files?
Considering the multiple files and multiple controllers, is there no one out there with a P55-CD53 that has AHCI mode enabled that can give dumbed down instructions on how to do so?
The manual states "Select the appropriate RAID controller and press enter." Well... which one is the appropriate controller? Am I suppose to load the driver for all the AHCI controllers if that's even possible?
For the Intel P55 AHCI / RAID Drivers compressed file, these are the controllers available within F6flpy64\iaAHCI.inf:
Intel(R) ESB2 SATA AHCI Controller
Intel(R) ICH 10D/DO SATA AHCI Controller
Intel(R) ICH10R SATA AHCI Controller
Intel(R) ICH7M/MDH SATA AHCI Controller
Intel(R) ICH7R/DH SATA AHCI Controller
Intel(R) ICH8M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller
Intel(R) ICH8R/DH/DO SATA AHCI Controller
Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller
Intel(R) ICH9R/DO/DH SATA AHCI Controller
Intel(R) PCH SATA AHCI Controller
Intel(R) PCHM SATA AHCI Controller 4 Port
Intel(R) PCHM SATA AHCI Controller 6 Port
Also, regarding the dual BIOS controls for SATA/IDE/RAID settings previously mentioned, I believe SATA ports 1-6 are controlled via Intel and 7,8 are controlled via Jmicron. Considering my HDD is currently plugged into SATA 1, Jmicron probably isn't necessary for the moment.
Edit:
Turns out that none of the drivers for the controllers listed in iaAHCI.inf could be installed. However, I went ahead and installed the drivers listed for all the controllers in iaStor.inf. I reinstalled Windows 7 to get rid of the BSOD. I then installed the chipset drivers and Intel Matrix Storage Manager.

Can't install Intel Matrix Storage Driver on Vista 64 bit P-35 NEO-2 FR

I downloaded the Intel Matrix Storage Manager File to support E-SATA drivers. In the notes section it states "NOTE 1: If the system is running Windows* 64-bit version,
the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager driver supporting
64-bit should be used."
How do I install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver for my P-35 so my board will dectect E-sata connections? It's telling me that the installation can't continue becuase my computer does not meet the minimum requirements. This cannot be.
Here's the link for the file I downloaded from MSI for Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver
http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=downloaddetail&type=driver&maincat_no=1&prod_no=1261

Quote
then blue screened.
This is a Windows Problem. The generic SATA AHCI Drivers that come with Vista are pretty much crab and don't always work (that is why you get a bluescren, usually with a 0x0000007b stop error).
The cleanest way to solve the problem is to reinstall Windows Vista with AHCI Mode enabled in BIOS and integrate the Intel ICH9R SATA AHCI Drivers in Vista Setup. Another way is to try a repair installation after you have enabled the AHCI Mode (doesn't always work). A third way is to force Windows to use the Intel Drivers via a registry patch. I am not sure how well that will work with Vista. The procedure for XP is described here:
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=106575.0
You may wanna give it a try.

MSI X58 Platinum SLI how get beyond Intel Matrix Storage v 8.5.0.1030 Option Rom

I would like to know if I can get beyond Intel Matrix Storage v 8.5.0.1030 Option Rom
I am also running a X58 Platinum SLI Bios v3.90

The Intel Matrix Storage Manager Option ROM is pretty much a more or less independent BIOS Module. It would be MSI's job (the job of MSI's BIOS Engineers) to provide an official BIOS Version that includes an updated version of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Option ROM Module.
Alternatively, it is possible to exchange that particular module via a relatively simple BIOS Modification (given, that one has a copy of v8.5.0.1013).
Follow NovJoe's suggestion to contact MSI first. If they (for some reason) have second thoughts regarding an Intel Matrix Storage Manager Option ROM Update, we could consider the option of modding a BIOS for you.

Intel RAID error in Device Manager after updating Intel Matrix Storage Console

The latest in my catalogue of problems arose after updating Intel Matrix Storage Console (IMSC) ...
Lost my RAID volume, but both drives were OK. However, IMSC seemed to be freezing, so I thought I'd install the latest version from Intel. Once installed, it gave me errors saying a plug in was not found, followed by messages saying that the SATA and RAID drivers were not installed. Device Manager thinks the drivers are OK, but the yellow triangle with the ! is shown against the Intel RAID driver. Tried un-installing and re-installing the controller, updating the drivers, different versions of IMSC and still get the yellow triangle with the !
I have been having trouble with the RAID0 set up for weeks so wonder if it has finally died? I'm out of ideas. Can anyone help?
This post gives more details of the history and PC configuration: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=121960.0

Quote from: NovJoe on 23-March-09, 14:53:31
Why don't you want to follow up with your previous thread?
It'll be confusing when you started multiple threads linking to the issue.
Sorry, I haven't posted here much so I'm not familiar with the protocols. I just thought it would be less confusing to make this a separate issue. I linked them to avoid duplicating info on my config & h/w

Intel Matrix Storage Console - Satellite A300 1BZ

Hi
I have a A300 1BZ and I've noticed that the Intel Matrix Storage Console is informing me that I have 3 SATA ports (0,1 and 2).
It informs me that ports 0 & 1 are in use (I have 2 hard disks fitted) and port 2 is not being used.
What I want to know is it possible that this little A300 can accommodate a 3rd hard disk?
Feedback appreciated!

I've just looked at my friends P300 the Intel software lists 4 sata ports available, one is being used for a hard disk and the other is being used for his DVD/CD drive, 2 are unused.
Maybe my 3rd port is for the option of having SATA optical drive as my current CD/DVD drive is ATA!
Makes more sense!

12 sec wait for the boot process / intel matrix storage problem ??? /

Hi!
One day pre-installed Vista, reinstall the clean, fast way to start the operating system. All very good! However, this is also the past such was the ThinkPad logo, and the Windows Loader interval between 12 seconds, so that nothing happens. Now I noticed that after this happened, when uploaded to the Intel Matrix Storage drivers, immediately before the machine started to boot. Had met someone like that here? Not so very disturbing, but it's better if the machine starts quickly, and then 12 seconds can be enough.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w36TQ-aUoJY
BIG THX!
ThinkPad X200 Tablet (7453-Y24)

Hi
I doesnt seem to be slow for me . Did you try using the clean boot mode in vista?.Its just an opinion of mine .
Cheers and regards,
• » νιנαｿѕαяα∂нι ѕαмανє∂αм ™ « •
●๋•کáŕádhí'ک díáŕý ツ
I am a volunteer here. I don't work for Lenovo

Satellite L555-S7008 - cant install Intel Storage Manager for Win XP

I have installed XP on my laptop.
Everything works fine except that I cant put it into Ahci mode.
I Installed xp under compatability mode because I am supposed to be able to install the sata drivers by running Intel Storage Manager.
I have tried the version on this website as well as one from Intel, and they both stop with the error
"Your computer is not does not meet the minimum requirements for this software".
I have also gathered that I can extract the drivers from this package, and install them manually,
however when i try, it say drivers extracted successfully, yet nothing is extracted.
Can someone please help me get the Storage manager to install so I can run Ahci mode.

Hi
Satellite L555-S7008 belongs to the Toshiba US series.
You have to download the drivers from the Toshiba US driver page:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/home.jsp
There is a Intel Storage Manger:
Intel Matrix Storage Manager for Windows XP/Vista/7 (32/64)(v8.9.0.1023; 10-23-2009; 4.25M)
You will need to set SATA to AHCI before including this to the Win XP setup.

Hard Drive Replacement - Windows 7 Updates - Intel Rapid Storage - Lightscribe error 4224

I recently needed to replace a damaged hard drive from overheating on a HP Pavilion dv4 notebook that comes with Windows 7 Home Premium. The whole notebook had to be taken apart so that the dust, which had created a thick sweater, literally, blocking the CPU cooling fans, could be cleaned.
But that was done, it's over with, just dreading the cleanup in the future. Installing a new hard drive was unexpectedly difficult... replacing the physical part had nothing to it but, Windows 7 Updates could not work and Windows 7 SP1 installation from the dvd drive or otherwise did not work. To make it work I installed Intel Rapid Storage Technology (AHCI) package. I used the System Recovery Discs to format and install to factory settings before all else, of course...
All was nice and dandy until I started using Lightscribe to label the recovery discs. Error 4224 - communication error with the drive... etc etc. Updated the drivers and software from HP, completed all Windows 7 updates, updated the Lightscribe System Software and Template Maker, updated BIOS and that was a good thing, kept installing and uninstalling preinstalled HP bundles and antivirus sofware for another few days of irritating work to no avail. Finally, the culprit was found in the Intel Rapid Storage Technology installation!
So, without Intel Rapid Storage Technology package there are no Windows 7 updates and the Windows Genuine error comes up, but with Intel Rapid Storage Technoly there's no Lightscribe functionality. I'm throwing my hands in the air after so much painstaking time spent with these issues. Is there any way around this bind? Is there a known fix to get the new hard drive to be recognized by Microsoft and have the Lightscribe functionality back?

Sometimes issues can arise when a driver is downloaded directly from the manufacturer, because in some cases, there are minor tweaks made to the one made specifically for your computer.
Sometimes the developers (combination of HP software developers and the 3rd party maker's software developers) have to tweak the maker's original driver to work with all of the other components inside your particular computer. All of the dv4-2000s may have, for instance, a specific technology of hard drives and optical drives, but each different dv4-2XXX may have different brands of hard drives/optical drives.
Graphics drivers are that way. I always recommend getting the ATI driver, not from ATI's website, but directly from the HP Driver Page, because getting the version on ATI's website will cause some issues with the HP Framework (which is responsible for making the whole web of specific components all work together) on the computer. After that several things have to be uninstalled and the correct versions have to be installed just to undo what that one driver version did.
It gets a little complicated. Suffice it to say, always try to download it from the HP Driver Page for your model first. Then if that version or previous versions don't work, try downloading directly from the 3rd party maker's page. I hope that makes sense. Let me know if I need to clarify anything
I'm going to recommend the following drivers:
Intel Chipset Driver version 9.1.1.1020 A
Intel Management Engine Interface Driver version 1.00 A
Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver version 8.9.2.1002 A
Intel Turbo Boost Technology Driver version 1.0.0.1030 A
Essential System Updates version 7.00 A
LightScribe System Software version 1.18.18.1
Also, please check and see what BIOS version you're currently on. To do that, press the FN + ESC keys and look for 'F.##' and let me know what that is. I'll compare it to the latest version and link you to that one if necessary.

Intel Rapid Storage Technology and the Envy 700-330qe

I have a new Envy 700-330qe CTO. One of the suggested driver updates on the hp support is for Intel Rapid Storage Technology. I initially thought that this was a driver for hardware like my old Pavilion had (it had an Intel Matrix Storage Manager board which managed RAID 0, 1, or 0+1). Now I see that it is a RAID software emulation program. Nowhere in the documention that came with the machine is there any mention of this machine's capability to run any form of RAID. I do have two HDD's and they are the same size, so theoretically I could run RAID 0 or 1 if I so choose, but nowhere is there any mention of a way to do this. I did see that the BIOS must be set to run RAID.
I am NO expert. I was wondering where I can find further into on how to set up a machine with RAID. Thus far, I have not even taken a peek at the BIOS (not even sure how to do this, so some of you may think I am stupid). I guess I get a bit bent out of shape when a product has features that should be out in the open but appear to be hidden. Any help would be reallyhl appreciated.
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi,
I am sure that you noticed that the HP configurator doesn't offer an option to cache a RAID configuration. The Intel IRST MSATA caching functionality does rely on the RAID setup process to activate caching on one HD.
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Windows 7/8 UEFI/Legacy mode, MBR/GPT

Installed SSD in T500... Intel Matrix driver?

I replaced my 7200RPM drive with a OCZ Vertex 2 180GB unit. All the System Update drivers installed fine, but the Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver for WIndows 64bit will not install. I only have one drive in the system, do I need this package? I read that the latest version is named Intel Rapid Storage Technology.
It's not the greatest SSD, but it's making my life easier at the moment. I'm setting up backups to a network appliance just in case it experiences a random failure. Here are the winsat numbers:
C:\Users\xxx.YYY>winsat disk
Windows System Assessment Tool
> Running: Feature Enumeration ''
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -read -n 0'
> Run Time 00:00:07.41
> Running: Storage Assessment '-ran -read -n 0'
> Run Time 00:00:00.51
> Running: Storage Assessment '-scen 2009 -drive C:'
> Run Time 00:00:53.85
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -write -drive C:'
> Run Time 00:00:05.05
> Running: Storage Assessment '-flush -drive C: -seq'
> Run Time 00:00:01.53
> Running: Storage Assessment '-flush -drive C: -ran'
> Run Time 00:00:02.25
> Running: Storage Assessment '-hybrid -ran -read -n 0 -ransize 4096'
NV Cache not present.
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-hybrid -ran -read -n 0 -ransize 16384'
NV Cache not present.
> Run Time 00:00:00.02
> Disk Sequential 64.0 Read                   223.69 MB/s          7.4
> Disk Random 16.0 Read                       159.41 MB/s          7.5
> Responsiveness: Average IO Rate              1.19 ms/IO          7.8
> Responsiveness: Grouped IOs                  9.01 units          7.3
> Responsiveness: Long IOs                     3.01 units          7.9
> Responsiveness: Overall                      27.12 units          7.6
> Responsiveness: PenaltyFactor                0.0
> Disk Sequential 64.0 Write                  254.03 MB/s          7.5
> Average Read Time with Sequential Writes     1.287 ms          7.4
> Latency: 95th Percentile                     2.393 ms          7.4
> Latency: Maximum                             92.561 ms          7.7
> Average Read Time with Random Writes         1.134 ms          7.9
> Total Run Time 00:01:11.54
C:\Users\xxx.YYY>
Jim

To be honest, I don't see what it actually does. Windows 7 seems to driver the SATA stuff fine out of the box. I don't have it installed at the moment; I uninstalled it trying to diagnose a 30 second shutdown delay involving FLTMGR.SYS according to the shutdown trace. It seemed to start around the installation of the RST drivers (although it's install fine before), and is still there.
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E9250t with Intel Matrix RAID1 (2x 1TB seagate) gives repeated disk failures

I have a new (November 2009) e9250t Win7 64 bit desktop which shipped with one 1TB Seagate drive. That machine couldn't be factory configured with RAID1 2 x 1TB, but I confirmed with HP Tech Support that it should work ok, so I purchased an identical Seagate 1TB drvie (ST31000528AS, aka 7200-12), installed it, and used Intel Matrix Storage Manager (IMSM) to create a RAID1 set. All went fine.
However, within a few days the 2nd drive was marked as failed by IMSM. I simply did a right-click on the drive in IMSM and selected "Mark as normal". It then proceeded to rebuild the RAID1 mirror, and all seemed fine for quite a few days.
However, over the next month I had at least four more failures - in one case both drives "failed" and the machine crashed back to the prompt "Reboot and Select Proper Boot device, or Insert Boot Media in Selected Boot Drive and press a key". Each time I recovered by unfailing the drives and the RAID set was rebuilt. Finally, on January 2nd, I got another single-disk "failure" and finally replaced that drive with a brand new 1TB Seagate. While the RAID set was being rebuilt, the other drive also "failed" (back to the reboot prompt), and at that point I couldn't recover a bootable system. The original drive at this point failed bios diagnostics with a "BIOHD-2" error.
I read aboutthe firmware issues discussed on this forum on older Seagate drives earlier in 2009. The factory installed 1TB Seagate had firmware HP34, which appears to be much later than the firmware upgrade proposed on that earlier thread. I don't recall the firmware on the drives I purchased, but I believe they were something like CC45 or similar. IMSM is version 8.9.0.1023, which is the latest from what I can tell.
At this point I had a dead machine. HP Tech Support was pretty useless, but they did agree to replace the 1TB Seagate drive since it now failed even the bios diagnostics. Curiously, their replacement drive was a 7200-11. Maybe old stock or maybe that is more reliable?
I decided instead to try another brand of drives altogether, so I purchased two 1TB Wetern Digital Caviar Black drives (WD1001FALS). I installed one drive, reinstalled via the recovery DVDs, reinstalled all the apps, reinstalled my backups (yes, I'm paranoid - RAID1 and backups), and then I installed the second drive, created the RAID1 set using IMSM and finally I had a working system again.
However, within 4 days, one of the new WD drives was marked "failed" again. Arggghhh!!!!
At that point I broke the RAID1 set, and confirmed that both individual drives were bootable and worked fine without RAID. I decided to abandon IMSM and RAID altogether. I've been running with a single 1TB WD non-RAID drive since then, without problems.
Obviously I've wasted a lot of time and had a very unreliable RAID experience. This feature was meant to increase reliability and save me time in case of an (unlikely) disk failure.
So my conclusion is that Intel Matrix Storage Manager RAID1 with 1TB drives isn't reliable. Perhaps it's a hardware problem, but it's certainly not a disk drive problem (multiple drives and multiple brands), nor a SATA cable problem (drives on both ports and cables were "failed" by IMSM), and I'm confident the AC power supply is solid (I log AC voltage, frequency and THD, plus the PC runs off a small UPS), and the system has been 100% reliable with a single non-RAID disk.
Has anyone else had such a woeful experience as me with IMSM and RAID1?

Further searching shows this has been reported by many people as a problem with IMSM 8.9.0.1023.
http://communities.intel.com/thread/5036
(Subject is: Random drive fails with new Matrix Storage Manager 8.9)
This thread has almost 1000 posts, and is now locked. It reports that the lastest IMSM version 9.5 might fix the problem. People also report that downgrading to 8.8 or 8.7 fixes the problem too.
There is also this thread:
http://communities.intel.com/thread/4432
Conclusion: IMSM 8.9.0.1023 is buggy. Do not use it. It's very disappointing that HP is promoting this feature when it was widely known since July that it doesn't work reliably.

Intel matrix storage manager

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