I am getting an XPS 14 ( http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-14-l421x/pd ) and I want to dual-boot Windows and Ubuntu. This thing has a 500GB standard HD and a 32GB mSATA that can be used as cache.
- Does anyone know how this thing is partitioned?
- Is the OS installed on the mSATA drive and data is on the big HD?
- Is there a BIOS controller or maybe even a Windows driver that makes the mSATA drive and 500GB HD appear contiguous?
I get the impression that something makes the mSATA be used invisibly as cache, but I can't find any technical documentation how that works. My primary concern here is wrt dual-booting Ubuntu. I want to know if I need to partition the mSATA separately, or the big HD, or just partition the "magic" contiguous disk space that appears available to the OS.
Best Answer
I'm typing this on a XPS 14 on Kubuntu. The mSATA feature is Intel Smart Response Because of that, you can't install Ubuntu directly, you'll need to disable it first. As far as I know, there's no support for that in Linux yet. After that, I can't see the SSD during Ubuntu installation. I did manage to install everything into the 500GB disk and keep Win 7 dual boot though. Hope you have better luck than me :)