So after about 2 hours on the phone today with Lenovo support, I have little to anything else to offer. I ended up speaking to 4 separate people: -First person was reached at 1-877-453-6686, which is listed on their website. I described my issue with not having the proper BIOS option, and he told me the "Software and Applications" department would be better suited to help me. Handed me this number: 1-877-737-1082. Also told me they're available 8AM to Midnight, EST. -Second person I reach at this number, after I give them my name and phone number AGAIN, I tell them my situation AGAIN, they tell me there is another department that can handle BIOS-related issues. They put me on hold, and I hear the EXACT same prompt voice from the first number. I've been transferred to the same number. -Third person, I give them my name and phone number for a third time, explain my situation to them for a third time (just as thorough and patient as the first two times, mind you), and they proceed to put me on hold twice, for about 5 minutes each time, to research my issue with no BIOS. When they return the first time, they tell me the problem is that the laptop doesn't have an IDE controller, it has a SATA controller. So I correct myself, and say that the same controller that handles the main 1TB drive, also handles the installed mSATA drive. They go research for another 5 minutes. They come back and say that according to my model, there is no mSATA, but there is PCI-E Mini instead, and that it can handle up to 64GB SSD drive. At this point I'm quite livid (though still entirely civil and courteous to the third person) and I also did not understand how mSATA and PCIE-M are so similar (I research and learn this afterwards) - but a lot of back and forth. I insist that I am able to see the mSATA SSD drive in my current BIOS, Windows 8 boots fine, in Windows 8 the Intel RST software is able to SEE the drive and properly recognize its size and model, so therefore it is working from a hardware standpoint. The tech keeps telling me my laptop has PCIE-M, not mSATA. I ask to speak to a supervisor. -After a good 5 minute wait, I speak to my fourth person, the third's supervisor. I explain my situation to the fourth. He tells me the same response that the third has. He also tells me that he only sees forum posts on people doing this caching scheme on Windows 7 machines, so it's not available for Windows 8. I tell him it's not an OS-level issue, it's a BIOS issue, and I'd like to know why Lenovo has decided to block these options from the BIOS. He never refutes that it's blocked, but instead explains that the issue is mSATA vs PCIE-M. The rest of the phone call is just him saying he's researching the issue on forums, and puts me on hold. I have a friend who is in tech support, the escalated levels, and I know at this point precisely what he is doing - just stringing me along yet acting as courteous as possible (calls are recorded). He ends by saying he will email the team that handles BIOS updates, and I ask to have my email added to this communication. He only agrees to email me immediately following the call, and once he receives a response. I have yet to hear from this tech (have checked my spam). So, for what it's worth, that's what I've gotten out of it. In case you're interested in calling (and enjoy exercises in futility) - I've listed the numbers above for your edification. @slv7, as I said previously, I would be very much up to helping you figure this out for our particular IdeaPad models (with the 8.0x BIOS). Thank you again.
