Solved Stray 27 GB partition (Drive?) What to Do with this 27GB?

starchase · Dec 6, 2025

zbook said:
When available please update the progress with post #14 and #15.

I did run the Sea Tools, the Quick Test, picture below. As for running Checkdisk overnight, I'll have to run it tonight. Thanks for all the work you do for members here. I do believe I have discovered what the issue with this machine is. I haven't had any BSOD events, just extreme sluggishness. And that was caused by having the Micro SD card in the machine. A dialog would appear when inserted saying it had a problem and to scan it, which I did but, if I remember correctly, the scan didn't finish, and so I did use the card to access files on it. But I've transfered those files to the C drive Documents folder so I won't be using the Micro SD card again, since the evidence indicates it was the cause of Windows Explorer hanging up for minutes on end.

And thanks for the Intel document concerning initializing the Optane memory. I did that and followed the instructions therin and even gave it a drive letter so I can use it as data storage.

EDIT: I'm running Hard Disk Sentinel now and will post.

Many regards.
John

starchase · Dec 6, 2025

@zbook - here is the results for See Tools Long Generic test. I am happy with the way this laptop is working at the moment.

zbook · Dec 6, 2025

Please post a new V2 share link into the newest post.

Monitor the computer using reliability history:

View Reliability History in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to view reliability history for your Windows 11 device. The Reliability Monitor provides a system stability overview and details about events that impact reliability. It calculates the Stability Index shown in the System Stability Chart. Reliability Monitor...

www.elevenforum.com

The computer has a disabled RAW recovery partition.

Was the drive removed that was in the diskparinfo results?
If possible test this drive.

The BSOD was on 2025-12-03T16:00:09.0710000Z and was bugcheck 9F

starchase · Dec 6, 2025

@zbook Here is the result of running chkdsk with the parameters requested. 0 KB in bad sectors. I don't know about the recovery being in a RAW state, it shows a GPT file system now (see images at bottom of this post).

Here is the Winit log (Chkdsk didn't have one in the event viewer) but the resulting log mirrors this)

Code:

PS C:\Users\homeward> get-winevent -FilterHashTable @{logname="Application"} | ?{$_.providername -match "chkdsk"} | fl timecreated, message
PS C:\Users\homeward> get-winevent -FilterHashTable @{logname="Application"} | ?{$_.providername -match "wininit"} | fl timecreated, message


TimeCreated : Saturday, December 6, 2025 4:01:22 PM
Message     :

              Checking file system on C:
              The type of the file system is NTFS.

              A disk check has been scheduled.
              Windows will now check the disk.

              Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
                273152 file records processed.

              File verification completed.
               Phase duration (File record verification): 4.69 seconds.
                11599 large file records processed.

               Phase duration (Orphan file record recovery): 9.81 milliseconds.
                0 bad file records processed.

               Phase duration (Bad file record checking): 5.92 milliseconds.

              Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
                212 reparse records processed.

                384132 index entries processed.

              Index verification completed.
               Phase duration (Index verification): 11.51 seconds.
                0 unindexed files scanned.

               Phase duration (Orphan reconnection): 151.25 milliseconds.
                0 unindexed files recovered to lost and found.

               Phase duration (Orphan recovery to lost and found): 291.44 milliseconds.
                212 reparse records processed.

               Phase duration (Reparse point and Object ID verification): 14.13 milliseconds.

              Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
              Cleaning up 1092 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
              Cleaning up 1092 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
              Cleaning up 1092 unused security descriptors.
              Security descriptor verification completed.
               Phase duration (Security descriptor verification): 90.02 milliseconds.
                55491 data files processed.

               Phase duration (Data attribute verification): 6.19 milliseconds.
              CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
                37804000 USN bytes processed.

              Usn Journal verification completed.
               Phase duration (USN journal verification): 318.90 milliseconds.

              Stage 4: Looking for bad clusters in user file data ...
                273136 files processed.

              File data verification completed.
               Phase duration (User file recovery): 1.99 minutes.

              Stage 5: Looking for bad, free clusters ...
                112030051 free clusters processed.

              Free space verification is complete.
               Phase duration (Free space recovery): 1.25 minutes.

              Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
              No further action is required.

               499124223 KB total disk space.
                50464516 KB in 184353 files.
                  143036 KB in 55492 indexes.
                       0 KB in bad sectors.
                  396463 KB in use by the system.
                   65536 KB occupied by the log file.
               448120208 KB available on disk.

                    4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
               124781055 total allocation units on disk.
               112030052 allocation units available on disk.
              Total duration: 3.53 minutes (211901 ms).

              Internal Info:
              00 2b 04 00 de a8 03 00 2d 0e 07 00 00 00 00 00  .+......-.......
              72 00 00 00 62 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  r...b...........

zbook · Dec 6, 2025

Please post a new disk partition info (post #4)

starchase · Dec 6, 2025

zbook said:
Please post a new disk partition info (post #4)

Here you go, no mention of raw in this one

.

Code:

    Disk 0 : SSD. It has 4 partition(s). Model: H10 HBRPEKNX0202A NVMe INTEL 512GB
    Disk 1 : SSD. It has 2 partition(s). Model: H10 HBRPEKNX0202AO NVMe INTEL 32GB

    The script has found the above 2 storage device(s) in total.
=======================================================================

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.26100.1150

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: HOMEWARD

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          476 GB  1024 KB        *
  Disk 1    Online           27 GB  1024 KB        *

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     C                NTFS   Partition    476 GB  Healthy    Boot   
  Volume 1                      FAT32  Partition    200 MB  Healthy    System 
  Volume 2                      NTFS   Partition    742 MB  Healthy    Hidden 
  Volume 3     O   Data         NTFS   Partition     27 GB  Healthy           

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

H10 HBRPEKNX0202A NVMe INTEL 512GB
Disk ID: {6D94CDA1-3A5B-4EFF-BE48-DD0A44E84BB2}
Type   : NVMe
Status : Online
Path   : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1D04)#PCI(0000)#NVME(P00T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only  : No
Boot Disk  : Yes
Pagefile Disk  : Yes
Hibernation File Disk  : No
Crashdump Disk  : Yes
Clustered Disk  : No

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     C                NTFS   Partition    476 GB  Healthy    Boot   
  Volume 1                      FAT32  Partition    200 MB  Healthy    System 
  Volume 2                      NTFS   Partition    742 MB  Healthy    Hidden 

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    System             200 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Reserved            16 MB   201 MB
  Partition 3    Primary            476 GB   217 MB
  Partition 4    Recovery           742 MB   476 GB

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

Partition 1
Type    : c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b
Hidden  : Yes
Required: No
Attrib  : 0X8000000000000000
Offset in Bytes: 1048576

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 1                      FAT32  Partition    200 MB  Healthy    System 

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

Partition 2
Type    : e3c9e316-0b5c-4db8-817d-f92df00215ae
Hidden  : Yes
Required: No
Attrib  : 0X8000000000000000
Offset in Bytes: 210763776

There is no volume associated with this partition.

Partition 3 is now the selected partition.

Partition 3
Type    : ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7
Hidden  : No
Required: No
Attrib  : 0000000000000000
Offset in Bytes: 227540992

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 0     C                NTFS   Partition    476 GB  Healthy    Boot   

Partition 4 is now the selected partition.

Partition 4
Type    : de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac
Hidden  : Yes
Required: Yes
Attrib  : 0X8000000000000001
Offset in Bytes: 511330746368

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 2                      NTFS   Partition    742 MB  Healthy    Hidden 

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

H10 HBRPEKNX0202AO NVMe INTEL 32GB
Disk ID: {EA189251-E66D-4A01-A2B0-6CCF576F34F4}
Type   : NVMe
Status : Online
Path   : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1D06)#PCI(0000)#NVME(P00T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only  : No
Boot Disk  : No
Pagefile Disk  : No
Hibernation File Disk  : No
Crashdump Disk  : No
Clustered Disk  : No

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 3     O   Data         NTFS   Partition     27 GB  Healthy           

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Reserved            15 MB    17 KB
  Partition 2    Primary             27 GB    16 MB

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

Partition 1
Type    : e3c9e316-0b5c-4db8-817d-f92df00215ae
Hidden  : Yes
Required: No
Attrib  : 0000000000000000
Offset in Bytes: 17408

There is no volume associated with this partition.

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

Partition 2
Type    : ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7
Hidden  : No
Required: No
Attrib  : 0000000000000000
Offset in Bytes: 16777216

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 3     O   Data         NTFS   Partition     27 GB  Healthy           

===============================================================================

Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:

    Windows RE status:         Enabled
    Windows RE location:       \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition4\Recovery\WindowsRE
    Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 41e53c94-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531
    Recovery image location:   
    Recovery image index:      0
    Custom image location:     
    Custom image index:        0

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.
    
===============================================================================

Firmware Boot Manager
---------------------
identifier              {fwbootmgr}
displayorder            {bootmgr}
                        {41e53c8f-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531}
timeout                 0

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path                    \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {41e53c92-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531}
displayorder            {current}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Firmware Application (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identifier              {41e53c8f-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path                    \EFI\Boot\BootX64.efi
description             UEFI Hard Drive

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi
description             Windows 11
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {41e53c94-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531}
displaymessageoverride  Recovery
recoveryenabled         Yes
isolatedcontext         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \WINDOWS
resumeobject            {41e53c92-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531}
nx                      OptIn
bootmenupolicy          Standard

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {41e53c94-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531}
device                  ramdisk=[\Device\HarddiskVolume4]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{41e53c95-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531}
path                    \windows\system32\winload.efi
description             Windows Recovery Environment
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
displaymessage          Recovery
osdevice                ramdisk=[\Device\HarddiskVolume4]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{41e53c95-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531}
systemroot              \windows
nx                      OptIn
bootmenupolicy          Standard
winpe                   Yes

Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier              {41e53c92-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \WINDOWS\system32\winresume.efi
description             Windows Resume Application
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {resumeloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {41e53c94-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531}
recoveryenabled         Yes
isolatedcontext         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
filedevice              partition=C:
custom:21000026         partition=C:
filepath                \hiberfil.sys
bootmenupolicy          Standard
debugoptionenabled      No

Windows Memory Tester
---------------------
identifier              {memdiag}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path                    \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\memtest.efi
description             Windows Memory Diagnostic
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
badmemoryaccess         Yes

EMS Settings
------------
identifier              {emssettings}
bootems                 No

Debugger Settings
-----------------
identifier              {dbgsettings}
debugtype               Local

RAM Defects
-----------
identifier              {badmemory}

Global Settings
---------------
identifier              {globalsettings}
inherit                 {dbgsettings}
                        {emssettings}
                        {badmemory}

Boot Loader Settings
--------------------
identifier              {bootloadersettings}
inherit                 {globalsettings}
                        {hypervisorsettings}

Hypervisor Settings
-------------------
identifier              {hypervisorsettings}
hypervisordebugtype     Serial
hypervisordebugport     1
hypervisorbaudrate      115200

Resume Loader Settings
----------------------
identifier              {resumeloadersettings}
inherit                 {globalsettings}

Device options
--------------
identifier              {41e53c95-d092-11f0-aaa4-d8bcf8879531}
description             Windows Recovery
ramdisksdidevice        partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume4
ramdisksdipath          \Recovery\WindowsRE\boot.sdi

zbook · Dec 6, 2025

Nice.

What was the repair method used?

Please post a new V2 share link.

Run administrative PS: > post share links

wevtutil epl System "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\application.evtx" /ow:true

wevtutil epl System "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\system.evtx" /ow:true

starchase · Dec 6, 2025

zbook said:
Nice.

What was the repair method used?

Please post a new V2 share link.

Run administrative PS: > post share links

wevtutil epl System "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\application.evtx" /ow:true

wevtutil epl System "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\system.evtx" /ow:true

Sorry, I don't know anything about a repair method, I haven't run anything except chdsk. It looks like wevtutil (whatever that means) has no results. I'l get the V2 in a moment.

Code:

Windows PowerShell Administrator
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Install the latest PowerShell for new features and improvements! https://aka.ms/PSWindows

PS C:\Users\homeward> wevtutil epl System "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\application.evtx" /ow:true
PS C:\Users\homeward> wevtutil epl System "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\system.evtx" /ow:true
PS C:\Users\homeward>

zbook · Dec 6, 2025

See if these collect event viewer system and application:

Run administrative command prompt: > post share links

wevtutil epl Application %userprofile%\Desktop\application.evtx

wevtutil epl System %userprofile%\Desktop\system.evtx

starchase · Dec 6, 2025

Here is the new V2

zbook · Dec 6, 2025

The crash dump settings were modified.

Please run Tuneup plus again > post a share link

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/bsod-crashes-debugging/360137d1645183388-batch-files-use-bsod-debugging-tuneup_plus_log.bat

Create a new restore point:

Create System Restore Point in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to manually create a restore point in Windows 11. Turning on system protection for a drive allows System Restore to include the drive when restore points are created so you can undo undesired system changes by reverting to a previous point in time. System...

www.elevenforum.com

Run gather_additional_dump_files > post a share link

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/bsod-crashes-debugging/358470d1643456903-batch-files-use-bsod-debugging-gather_additional_dump_files.bat

Batch files for use in BSOD debugging - Windows 10 Help Forums

Information This thread is for use by the BSOD team to store batch files that can be used to collect additional data, fix settings or anything else that is useful in debugging BSOD problems in Windows 10. The way I see it working is the first

www.tenforums.com

Batch files for use in BSOD debugging - Windows 10 Help Forums

Information This thread is for use by the BSOD team to store batch files that can be used to collect additional data, fix settings or anything else that is useful in debugging BSOD problems in Windows 10. The way I see it working is the first

www.tenforums.com

Code:

Event[4954]
  Log Name: System
  Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
  Date: 2025-12-06T11:06:54.0840000Z
  Event ID: 41
  Task: N/A
  Level: Critical
  Opcode: Info
  Keyword: N/A
  User: S-1-5-18
  User Name: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
  Computer: homeward
  Description:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

Code:

Event[4925]
  Log Name: System
  Source: EventLog
  Date: 2025-12-06T11:07:21.4440000Z
  Event ID: 6008
  Task: None
  Level: Error
  Opcode: N/A
  Keyword: Classic,
  User: N/A
  User Name: N/A
  Computer: homeward
  Description:
The previous system shutdown at 5:01:07 AM on ?12/?6/?2025 was unexpected.

starchase · Dec 6, 2025

Here is the latest. This must have exhausted the checking and testing, eh? I'm grateful for your attention.

Tuneup Plus and the dump run. And I made a Restore Point as well.

Microsoft Windows 11 Home Version 25H2 (OS Build 26200.7309)

==================================================================

Started on Sat, Dec 06, 2025 at 18:00:14.61

[SFC /ScanNow]

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Results:

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

==================================================================

Started on Sat, Dec 06, 2025 at 18:01:47.58

[DISM /online /cleanup-image /ScanHealth]

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.26100.5074

Image Version: 10.0.26200.7309

No component store corruption detected.

The operation completed successfully.

==================================================================

Started on Sat, Dec 06, 2025 at 18:05:33.79

[DISM /online /cleanup-image /RestoreHealth]

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.26100.5074

Image Version: 10.0.26200.7309

The restore operation completed successfully.

The operation completed successfully.

==================================================================

The second "SFC /ScanNow" was skipped, as the first output the following:

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

==================================================================

Started on Sat, Dec 06, 2025 at 18:09:16.21

[ChkDsk /Scan]

The type of the file system is NTFS.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
273152 file records processed.
File verification completed.
Phase duration (File record verification): 6.94 seconds.
11590 large file records processed.
Phase duration (Orphan file record recovery): 7.85 milliseconds.
0 bad file records processed.
Phase duration (Bad file record checking): 0.04 milliseconds.

Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
223 reparse records processed.
396682 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
Phase duration (Index verification): 15.49 seconds.
0 unindexed files scanned.
Phase duration (Orphan reconnection): 273.81 milliseconds.
0 unindexed files recovered to lost and found.
Phase duration (Orphan recovery to lost and found): 6.78 milliseconds.
223 reparse records processed.
Phase duration (Reparse point and Object ID verification): 4.52 milliseconds.

Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Security descriptor verification completed.
Phase duration (Security descriptor verification): 92.85 milliseconds.
61766 data files processed.
Phase duration (Data attribute verification): 0.14 milliseconds.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
40284128 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
Phase duration (USN journal verification): 355.37 milliseconds.

Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.

No further action is required.

499124223 KB total disk space.
50545684 KB in 191751 files.
164292 KB in 61767 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
398903 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
448015344 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
124781055 total allocation units on disk.
112003836 allocation units available on disk.
Total duration: 23.18 seconds (23186 ms).

==================================================================

Started on Sat, Dec 06, 2025 at 18:09:49.14

==================================================================

[Set AutoReboot = False]

==================================================================

==================================================================

==================================================================

[Set DebugInfoType = 7]

==================================================================

==================================================================

[WMIC PageFile list]

==================================================================

==================================================================

[Set AutomaticManagedPagefile = True]

==================================================================

==================================================================

[BcdEdit /enum {badmemory}]

RAM Defects
-----------
identifier {badmemory}

==================================================================

Finished on Sat, Dec 06, 2025 at 18:09:50.23
It took 9 minutes and 36 seconds to complete the operations.

zbook · Dec 6, 2025

The WMIC commands were deprecated.

Please add WMIC then rerun Tuneup plus.

DISM /Online /Add-Capability /CapabilityName:WMIC~~~~

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/bsod-crashes-debugging/360139d1645183596-batch-files-use-bsod-debugging-tuneup_plus_log.zip

Add or Remove WMIC command Feature in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the WMIC command as an optional feature for all users in Windows 11. The WMI command-line (WMIC) utility provides a command-line interface for Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). WMIC is compatible with existing shells and utility commands...

www.elevenforum.com

This will modify the default crash dump settings to that it is less likely to miss BSODs.

There were two live kernel events on:

Sat Dec 6 04:02:20.093 2025 (UTC - 6:00)

Sat Dec 6 04:02:20.091 2025 (UTC - 6:00)

After installing WMIC and running Tuneup plus please make a new restore point.

Then monitor with reliability history.

Create System Restore Point in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to manually create a restore point in Windows 11. Turning on system protection for a drive allows System Restore to include the drive when restore points are created so you can undo undesired system changes by reverting to a previous point in time. System...

www.elevenforum.com

View Reliability History in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to view reliability history for your Windows 11 device. The Reliability Monitor provides a system stability overview and details about events that impact reliability. It calculates the Stability Index shown in the System Stability Chart. Reliability Monitor...

www.elevenforum.com

This will complete the troubleshooting.

If there are new BSOD then open a new thread with a new V2 share link.

starchase · Dec 6, 2025

Here is the new Tuneup Plus log. I'll make a new restore point. Thank you so much for your expertise!

Code:

ce=C:\pagefile.sys
PeakUsage=77
Status=
TempPageFile=FALSE
 
==================================================================
 
AutomaticManagedPagefile   
 
TRUE                     
 
==================================================================

        [Set AutomaticManagedPagefile = True]

Updating property(s) of '\\HOMEWARD\ROOT\CIMV2:Win32_ComputerSystem.Name="HOMEWARD"'
Property(s) update successful.
==================================================================
 
AutomaticManagedPagefile   
 
TRUE                     
 
==================================================================

        [BcdEdit /enum {badmemory}]

RAM Defects
-----------
identifier              {badmemory}
 
==================================================================

    Finished on Sat, Dec 06, 2025 at 21:51:37.79
    It took 7 minutes and 16 seconds to complete the operations.

zbook · Dec 6, 2025

You're welcome.

starchase · Dec 7, 2025

@zbook Just to close the book, here is the SATA setting screen in the BIOS. As an FYI I'm not a big fan of RAID since I've never used it for multiple disks, but I suppose if it hasn't had any noticeable effect on performance (that I been able to discern) I should just leave the setting alone, eh?

bobkn · Dec 7, 2025

I'm hazy on the details, but the Optane drive was originally configured as a cache for the boot drive. I believe that it required RAID to be enabled in the PC's BIOS, and the Intel RST driver to be used. Did you manage to separate the drives?

(Editorial comment: I always thought it redundant to use an Optane cache when the drive was an SSD. Regardless, Optane was discontinued in 2022, according to Wikipedia.)

starchase · Dec 7, 2025

bobkn said:
I'm hazy on the details, but the Optane drive was originally configured as a cache for the boot drive. I believe that it required RAID to be enabled in the PC's BIOS, and the Intel RST driver to be used. Did you manage to separate the drives?

(Editorial comment: I always thought it redundant to use an Optane cache when the drive was an SSD. Regardless, Optane was discontinued in 2022, according to Wikipedia.)

Hi @bobkn Yes I followed the Intel document that zbook included in post 11, the Intel® Optane™ Memory M Series Installation and User Guide and I did assign a drive letter in order for me to use it for a Data drive. I'm "assuming" that doing so will negate the laptop from using the drive as cache. If I need to amend my decision I certainly can do that.

EDIT: I included the wrong Intel document as the one I followed. Here is the correct one: How to Initialize Your Intel® Optane™ SSD with Windows* Disk...

PerpetualCycle · Dec 7, 2025

bobkn said:
Looks like a different physical drive. Is it a 32GB Optane drive?

Sounds like it. Optane is two physical drives in one package, the smallest an optane used for cache. IIRC it has a special driver that lets them work together as one virtual drive.

PerpetualCycle · Dec 7, 2025

bobkn said:
I'm hazy on the details, but the Optane drive was originally configured as a cache for the boot drive. I believe that it required RAID to be enabled in the PC's BIOS, and the Intel RST driver to be used. Did you manage to separate the drives?

(Editorial comment: I always thought it redundant to use an Optane cache when the drive was an SSD. Regardless, Optane was discontinued in 2022, according to Wikipedia.)

It had a twofold marketing advantage: It allowed intel to claim it was an Optane drive, which it really isn't, and it allowed them to spec better Optane performance (only till the cache filled). Some Intel marketing snakeoil.

Solved Stray 27 GB partition (Drive?) What to Do with this 27GB?

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