FuzeDrive/FuzionX/StoreMI v1.5+ Known Issues

FuzeDrive/FuzionX/StoreMI v1.5+ Known Issues

General Issues:

  1. To install, your system must be in AHCI mode.  For instructions to convert from RAID or IDE mode to AHCI, see <https://support.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/converting-system-from-raid-or-ide-mode-to-ahci>.
  1. Some software programs (especially hardware monitors and I/O-aware lighting software) can cause issues during installation and/or tier creation.  See <https://desk.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/known-software-conflicts>.
  1. You may only preserve data on one drive.  The other drive must be completely blank.  See <https://support.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/cleaning-drives-using-diskpart>.
  1. If you are planning to create a bootable tier and are doing a fresh installation of Windows, we highly recommended you ensure you use the boot menu to select your Windows install media to boot in UEFI mode, as Windows will install itself in the same mode that you have booted the install media.  Additionally, if you have booted the Windows install media in Legacy CSM mode, your drive will be initialized as MBR (see the next item).
  1. Using GPT drive initialization is highly recommended.  If you are preserving data on a drive initialized as MBR, your FuzeDrive will also be initialized as MBR and you will therefore only be able to use the first 2 TB of the FuzeDrive.  See <https://desk.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/dealing-with-legacy-boot-drives-and-the-2tb-limit>.  Additionally, if you have 4 or more partitions on your MBR drive, fuzing is not recommended, as you will be unable to expand your partitions to the full disk size, and you cannot use the Remove Fast Media feature.
  1. Windows hibernation features (including hybrid sleep and fast startup) will be disabled for bootable tiers unless at least one of the tiered drives is connected to your primary AHCI controller.  Blue screen memory dumps will be disabled for bootable tiers unless all tiered drives are connected to your primary AHCI controller.
  1. Fuzing Windows Dynamic disks is not supported.
  1. When Removing fast media (i.e., converting to Single media mode) or Unfuzing, this requires a shrink of your last data volume.  If the shrink fails, it is either because there is insufficient space, or in-use data in the portion of the drive that needs to be shrunk, or you have an unrecognized partition at the end of your disk.  A shrink with Windows Disk Management will also fail, but you often can do so using a third-party partition tool (e.g., Minitool Partition Wizard).  You will shrink the last partition by the size of the fast drive plus 2GB for metadata (or with multiple partitions, you could shrink a previous partition by that amount and move the last partition to the left to lower LBA space).  See <https://desk.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/expanding-a-boot-drive-s-partition-with-recovery-partition-using-minitool>.
  1. If you have not deleted your tier before reinstalling Windows: see <https://support.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/cleaning-disks-previously-used-as-a-fuzedrive-during-windows-setup>.
  1. An uninstall does not automatically remove the driver.  If you are sure you no longer need any data on your tier, after uninstalling you must manually Update the driver to go back to the standard AHCI driver.  See <https://support.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/uninstalling-fuzedrive>.
  1. Running a full backup or doing large-scale data reorganization on your tier will cause unwanted promotes.  See <https://support.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/configuring-backup-programs>.

General Issues (v1.5 and earlier):

  1. To create a bootable tier, Secure Boot must be turned off.  For instructions, see <https://support.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/disabling-secure-boot>.  If you would like to re-enable Secure Boot after tier creation, see <https://support.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/secure-boot-with-fuzedrive>.

  2. Neither Removing Fast Media nor Uninstalling the software re-linearizes your disk, and therefore access to your data still requires the Virtualized AHCI Controller driver.  See <https://support.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/uninstalling-fuzedrive>.

Version-specific Bugs:

All versions:

  1. For users of AMD X570 motherboards, if you update your BIOS firmware from a version prior to mid-2020 to a more recent version, a bootable tier will become unbootable; a non-bootable tier will no longer mount.
    Resolution (non-bootable tiers): Download FuzeDrive-ResetBusParams.zip (attached to the bottom of this article), unzip the .reg file, right-click it, and choose "Merge."
    Resolution (bootable tiers): Roll the firmware back to the previous release, boot Windows and merge the .reg file, then do the BIOS update again.  After this update, if you have issues with shutdown, sleep, and hibernate, you will need to re-lock the hibernation file or disable the 3 hibernate features (hibernate, hybrid sleep, and fast startup).  To re-lock the hibernation file, open an Administrator PowerShell or Command Prompt and enter:
    ecmd --hiberlock
    To disable the 3 hibernate features, open an Administrator PowerShell or Command Prompt and enter:
    powercfg /h off
  1. For bootable tiers where the C: drive is compressed, the hibernate file can't be locked, resulting in issues with shutdown, sleep, and hibernate.
  2. Workaround: Either disable compression on the drive, or disable the 3 hibernate features by opening an Administrator PowerShell or Command Prompt and enter:
    powercfg /h off

FuzeDrive/FuzionX v1.7.0:

  1. Devices using 4K-native sector sizes are not currently supported.
  2. Resolution: Upgrade to v1.8.0 or later.
    Previous workaround: If you have a Sabrent NVMe that has shipped in 4K mode, you will need to use the Sabrent Rocket Control Panel to switch to 512e mode.
  3. Some ASUS motherboards report GPT corruption after a tier create.
    Resolution: Tiers created with v1.8.0 or later do not have this issue.
    Workaround: Go into your BIOS firmware and set "Boot Sector GPT Recovery Policy" setting to "Auto," or if this is a non-bootable tier and your boot drive is in Legacy mode, just change your boot order.

FuzeDrive/StoreMI v1.5.3:

All issues in v1.7.0 above, as well as the following:
  1. Windows container software can cause serious issues.  For instance, OneDrive Personal Vault might cause Windows to hang when an unlock is attempted.  Windows Sandbox (added from the "Turn Windows features on or off" Control Panel), even if it is activated but unused, could cause bootable tiers to become unbootable except in Safe Mode.  As a workaround, disable Windows Sandbox, and do not use OneDrive Personal Vault.  See <https://support.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/known-software-conflicts>.
    Resolution: Upgrade to v1.6.0 or later.

FuzeDrive v1.5.2:

All issues in v1.5.3 above, as well as the following:
  1. In very rare cases, a nonbootable tier will disappear after upgrading to v1.5.2.
  2. Resolution: Upgrade to v1.5.3 or later, or revert to v1.5.1.  Contact Enmotus to get a link to the prior version.
  1. If a FuzeDrive create fails, in some cases it may not clean up metadata remnants.  In rare cases, this may cause the GUI to crash.
  2. Workaround: After fixing the condition that caused the failure, open an Administrator PowerShell or Command Prompt and enter:
    ecmd --delete_all
    NOTE: Be careful with this command, because it will destroy a working tier and all the data on it!
  1. After one of the 2 drives in a tier is wiped (e.g., using diskpart clean), in rare cases the FuzeDrive application will crash on startup.
  2. Resolution: Upgrade to v1.5.3 or later.
    Previous workaround: Open an Administrator PowerShell or Command Prompt and enter:
    ecmd --delete_all
    NOTE: Be careful with this command, because it will destroy a working tier and all the data on it!
  1. When creating a new FuzeDrive, you get a "Tier creation failed" message.
  2. Workaround: If you have an older multi-SD card reader (including those built-in to your case), temporarily unplug it while creating your tier.  You may plug it back in afterwards.
  1. TRIM is ineffective on non-fuzed SATA SSDs attached to the primary controller(s) where the Virtualized AHCI Controller is installed.
  2. Resolution: Upgrade to v1.5.3 or later.
    Previous workaround: If there are motherboard connectors for a secondary controller available, move the data cable to one of these ports.  Note that the system tray tool's "Drive Controller Information" option will display your storage system heirarchy.  Typically, you're looking for one with "Controller Vendor: ASRock".  If you have extra AMD controllers, those are typically used for M.2 SATA devices, which will not be helpful for this workaround.

StoreMI v1.5.0/FuzeDrive v1.5.1:

All issues in v1.5.2 above (except the first), as well as the following:
  1. Installing the "Gaming Services" app with the Xbox Beta (required for some Game Pass for PC games) can cause blue screens and hangs.
  2. Resolution: Upgrade to v1.5.2 or later.
    Previous workaround: Alternatively, open an Administrator PowerShell and enter:
    Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.GamingServices | Remove-AppxPackage
    If starting a game requests Administrator elevation to install "Gaming Services", please choose No.  You will be unable to play that game at this time.
  1. Possible issues with shutdown, sleep, or hibernate with some configurations
  2. Workaround: Open an Administrator PowerShell or Command Prompt and enter:
    powercfg /h off

  3. Possible system hangs when cache is enabled with some configurations
  4. Workaround: Open FuzeDrive tool and disable cache
  1. Possible system hangs or blue screens under heavy load with some configurations.
  1. If you have gone back and forth between earlier versions of StoreMI and FuzeDrive, then you may have issues applying your license.
  2. Resolution: Contact Enmotus Support
  1. After an uninstall on an X570, some controllers will not be unprotected, preventing you changing the driver back to the standard AHCI driver.
  2. Resolution: Upgrade to v1.5.2 or later.
  1. VDRIVE carveout (when fast drive is larger than 256GB) is presented to Windows as an HDD instead of SSD
  1. Major OS upgrades (e.g., from 1809 to 1903) may fail the first time, but will succeed the second time
  1. If there are multiple recovery partitions at the end of your OEM boot drive (e.g., some HP or Lenovo PCs), then the automated partition moving can make duplicate copies.
  2. Workaround: Delete any duplicate recovery partitions that might be at the end of the disk and use a partition tool (e.g., Minitool Partition Wizard) to move the original ones.  See <https://desk.zoho.com/portal/enmotus/kb/articles/expanding-a-boot-drive-s-partition-with-recovery-partition-using-minitool>.

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