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    SSD & 500 Gb Hybrid question

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Cploof88, Mar 13, 2012.

  1. Cploof88

    Cploof88 Notebook Guru

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    Im trying to figure out the best way to install my SSD and 500 Gb hybrid drives together. i want the SSD to be my primary window drive but i want to be able to save my games onto my 500 Gb drive. Should i be using RAID or AHCI? What would be the most beneficial way of doing this? Thank You
     
    Cploof88, Mar 13, 2012
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  2. Greywolf22

    Greywolf22 Notebook Deity

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    Hi Cploof,

    Do not raid your hard drives together...besides the fact that they are not the same size, you will be losing all the benefits of the SSD as the slowest drive (in this case the hybrid drive) will dictate the speed.

    To be honest I don't even know how well (or if) it would work, regardless though you should only raid like with like storage/size and in many cases it's recommended to use the exact same drive if you are going to RAID them at all.

    That being said, you should use AHCI and use your SSD drive for windows and any programs (or games) that use heavy read/write, and use your secondary drive to store your files, mp3s, other games, etc.

    Hope that helps.
     
    Greywolf22, Mar 13, 2012
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  3. Cploof88

    Cploof88 Notebook Guru

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    Ok thank you for the quick reply! i was thinking RAID was pointless so i was just making sure. Thank You
     
    Cploof88, Mar 13, 2012
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  4. SlickDude80

    SlickDude80 Notebook Prophet

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    greywolf is correct, you don't want to raid them...but he is talking about RAID-0

    You can set your SATA to RAID mode though. That's ok. Actually, Intel recommends that you set it to raid mode. Many people use AHCI because it leads to slightly faster boot up (i.e., you get a raid start up screen that lasts a few seconds if you set the bus to RAID mode), but performance is a wash

    I have my SATA set to RAID mode. SSD installed in slot 1 to maintain SATA3, hdd installed in slot 0. Windows, all apps and a few games installed on my ssd, but music, movies, large files etc on my hdd
     
    SlickDude80, Mar 13, 2012
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  5. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    For what it's worth, my R2 if on anything but AHCI hangs the POST for quite sometime (RAID or IDE).

    But yes, just leave SATA operation in AHCI.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Mar 13, 2012
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  6. BigBlondeViking

    BigBlondeViking Notebook Enthusiast

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    I just did this with my R3, I did a Samsung 830 256gb and a Momentus XT 500 and my secondary.

    The SSD needs to go in Sata Port? 1 (center of the laptop)and the Hybrid in Sata Port 0 ( the default hhd location on the side on the laptop )

    I set my access type to AHCI, and set to primary boot location to be the sata port 1 from the port 0 in the BIOS.

    then b00m! install OS :)
    here is a link for clean install driver/software install order:
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...install-order-guide-alienware-systems-14.html
    (I downloaded these before I started the clean install )


    I followed this tutorial: Sean's Windows 7 Install & Optimization Guide for SSDs & HDDs
    it has some great steps for optimizing for the 2 drive setup of windows.
     
    BigBlondeViking, Mar 13, 2012
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