SSD + HDD or SSD Raid 0?

Hello everyone,

I have just ordered an Alienware R4 M17X. I want to set it up as best as possible. Therefore I was thinking on ordering a couple of Crucial M4 250GB SSD disks.

My questions are:
1.) I think I can put one SSD on the current HD bay. For setting up the second SSD do I need to buy a bracket?
2.) I thought it will be better using a Raid 0, but I am not sure why. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Raid 0 SSD against using one SSD + HDD.

Thanks in advance.

 

RAID0 will give you faster access speed to your drives. It will make the task of getting data to and from the drives that much faster but a failure in one drive means all your data is lost. That said having a single good SSD as your boot drive and using a high capacity Hard Drive also gives quick boots, just not as quick as two SSDs in RAID0. For example I use my computer for work and it is full of programs that start up with the computer. My boot time is apprximately 20 seconds from power on to the password screen and 20 seconds to shut down. Having two SSDs in RAID0 would decrease those times, but not by too much.

It really is a preference thing. The combined storage of your two SSD is not enough for me. I already have 380GB on my D Drive and 120GB on my C Drive. So for me I would want the high speed of the SSD plus the extra storage of the 750GB Hard Drive.

 

Raiding SSDs seems pretty unnecessary, considering a single 256 can hold TONS of stuff, and the speed difference would probably be imperceptible. You get a HD included, so why waste it? So, I vote SSD/HD.

Just my opinion.

 

I went for the SSD and HDD since you get the best of both. Both a combination of quick boot and still a lot of room for storage. And yes the bracket is included.

 

Once you go SSD, you cant go back. Raid is nice, but cant even come close to the speed of a SSD. Ive done both. SSD as your OS with a few programs only and a realy big data drive is the way to go.

 

Seagate Constellation 1TB 7200RPM 2.5" 6Gb/s SAS (ST91000640SS) Hard Drive 672042083336 | eBay

is that drive worth it?

 

Uhh you know that is a SAS drive, serial attached SCSI, not going to work in a laptop without a SAS port. And RAID 0 SSDs there is quite a difference over 1 x SSD. Boot up and shutdown times are even faster.

 

maybe you feel difference because u're on SATA II, because raid with SATA III ssd's would exceed sata controller max speed - so no much difference in terms of speed.

 

I went SSD+SSD+HDD I don't have my SSDs raided though. I use one for OS/Apps the other SSD for games. It's like 90% full since all it has is games and no file storage. Then I put a 1TB in for file storage.

 

In the end I went for SSD+HDD Maybe in the future I dump the DVD-Drive and put another SSD

Thanks for your help guys.

 

I am currently running the 256Gb Corsair Performance Pro and a 750Gb Seagate momentus XT since it runs at SATA III and the performance is blistering.

 

The Constellation series drives are enterprise-class drives intended for use in file servers, not laptops. As mentioned, this drive has a SAS interface, not SATA. It's also 15mm in height, so it's too big to fit in the R3/R4 anyway (max=9.5mm).

 

Don't mean to steal your thread or anything, but this does relate to your topic.
I'm considering getting an 80gb SSD for boot and a normal HDD for storage etc.
my M17x-R4 i'm getting doesn't come with an SSD so i'm buying my own. How would I go about setting it up so that just the SSD is for boot and HDD for storage? I've read you take out the HDD and fresh install windows onto the SSD, but is that even needed if there's nothing on any of the drives?

 

Hello, no problem at all. By default the computer boots from drive 0. Therefore, you can modify the boot drive from BIOS plugging the ssd on the bay 1 or you can leave the BIOS as it is, changing the hd drive that comes with M17X to bay 1 and setting up the SSD on bay 0. What I did was the second option, just because I like to have my main system at bay 0.

I hole I helped you out.