Is fast boot not working for you? This is how you get it working correctly...

Question

Ok so after two days of trying to register on this site, the 50th activation email finally worked...
Anyway I was trying to figure out why fast boot wasn't making much of a difference it seemed like once it booted quick but may have just been random. My setup is Z77a GD65 with two Samsung 830 128GB in RAID 0.
It was taking about 30 seconds from pushing the power button to getting into windows and that was with fast boot enabled. That did not seem right. After messing around for a while and researching I came across many mixed reviews about doing this or doing that. Windows 8 Feature... The windows 8 feature is from my understanding and research for secure boot...
If your just wanting the faster boot times using fast boot. Just enable MSI Fast Boot, and install the Fast Boot utility so you can get back into the bios. When you enable fast boot, this disables usb devices etc so you can't get into the bios when booting. This little utility is really useful as it will boot you from windows right into your bios etc. KEEP READING STILL NEED TO DO MORE!!!!!
Now for fast boot to work correctly you need to make sure you installed windows 8 in uefi mode. I read a couple people ask this question but I don't think they got the right answer or people just said yea I have a uefi motherboard and windows 8. That is not what people have been asking you.
To get this working correctly format a flash drive using rufus while choosing your win 8 iso.
You can get that here and it explains it and the settings to choose. I had to break up the link as the forum would not let me post the link. Maybe a mod can fix the links.
eightforums .com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html
After that is done you should then see in the bios a boot option for a UEFI usb flash drive. Make sure your boot mode is using UEFI. Otherwise it will be using legacy mode and not show uefi devices. I selected UEFI only just to make sure. Then choose this uefi flash drive as your first boot device and save and reboot to install windows from this uefi flash drive.
It should look like this
Once your at the install screen delete your partititons from the drive you are going to install windows on. So that it is unallocated. Then select new and apply. This will create 4 partitions. Here is a nice quide for doing that and explains it all. eightforums .com/tutorials/2328-uefi-unified-extensible-firmware-interface-install-windows-8-a.html
Basically your partitions should look like this.
Once you have installed windows you will then know if you installed in uefi as your splash screen will be different. Instead of just the MSI splash screen you will then see the windows loading square/circle as well on this same splash screen. You will now have a boot option called UEFI Windows Boot Manager. Select that one as your first boot device and then enable MSI Fast Boot.
Sorry if this post is cluttered I will add some more pics and clean it up in a bit. It's really early.

Answer 1

Quote from: RemusM on 22-February-14, 01:41:27
If one SSD fails, you lose the data on both SSDs.
In your case, you lose 128 GB.
Period.
You continue to argue on silly things and you miss the main point:
RAID 0 on SSDs does not make any sense.
RAID 0 (striped volume) has been designed for spinners.
It's a workaround to reduce the access time (a few miliseconds) caused by the mechanical parts of the HDD.
For a SSD (with a few microseconds access time) does not bring any boost.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485-10.html
On contrary: shorter lifetime for both SSDs
So (for the last time) the best solution in your case is:
Put the OS on the first SSD (drive C) and the other programs/games on the second one (drive D).
There is no need to kill both SSDs at the same time (for nothing).
And finally, talking about this silly "fast boot" of yours:
5,10,20, or 30 seconds is something irrelevant.
Simply because you get the max speed on an "empty" OS only.
With every installed app (most of them come with bloatware anyway), your boot time is getting longer and longer.
On the other hand, who cares if it takes 10 or 20 seconds?
Only someone with mental problems needs to boot up the computer all day long.
99.99% of the users boot up the computer once or twice per day.
From my point of view, this topic is closed.
You're free to think and do anything you like.
I take it you are extremely hard headed and only view this from your opinion. Even with your logic of "If a drive fails you lose 128GB of data is wrong." If a drive fails I would lose 256GB of data if the RAID was full...
The way you originally worded it made it sound like you thought RAID 0 only uses the capacity of one drive... I was trying to clear that up by saying it uses the capacity of both drives and ends up being 256GB capacity but I guess you couldn't wrap your head around what I was trying to say.
Think what you want... but everyone I know on all of the tech forums I have been on for years, "EVGA, HARD, etc" 99% of users prefer running OS in RAID 0 on SSD's. Anyone with half a brain does not store important files on a RAID 0 array. I even created a new thread on EVGA asking how members prefer installing Windows with two identical SSD's. Most of them said they always run a RAID 0 for OS on SSD's. A couple others said they prefer running Windows/Programs on one SSD, and Games on the other. Usually that is because when they reformat they can simply re initialize the steam directory on the second SSD and then you don't have to reinstall all of your games.
I respect your opinion but saying RAID 0 on SSDs does not make any sense is crazy talk. And that fast boot is only for people with mental problems lol... you sir have issues. Why do you think they made this feature? Why do people OC? A lot of people do it because it is fun, they are enthusiast, and they like to push a system. Why do people buy SSDs if its only a few seconds faster when you only turn on your computer once twice a day? When you only open an app or launch a game a couple times a day.