Config SSD to RAID 0

Does anyone know what you have to do to configure a SDD single drive to RAID 0?

Im asking because I don't know much about computers but I want to start learning and I also want to buy the new M17x but don't want to pay $400 more for 512GB (2x 256) SSD configured to RAID 0

btw what's the difference between a single SSD and a dual SSD if they both have the same space?

 

someone correct me if i am wrong here...

as i understand, there is a program you can install (controller?) that can have the drive simulate the likes of raid.
however, most would say it is a bit overkill unless you have two drives as the speed of the SSD makes up for the raid.

i could be far off, as it has been some time since this was discussed in the SSD thread here on NBR.

 

Unless your SSD is one that uses 2 seperate controllers, it isn't going to happen.

 

by controllers you mean like two drives? and if so that means if i had a dual-drive ssd i could config to raid 0?

 

You can't use one drive for raid 0. Raid 0 requires at least two separate drives.

When in raid 0, when the data goes to the drives, half of the data goes to each drive. Not as in the first half to drive a and the second half to drive b.

It's more like every other cluster goes to drive a, and the remaining Every other clusters" go to drive b.

Doing this you get almost double the normal read and write speeds as well as the total capacity of both drives combined.

If you don't need the extra storage capacity or the additional speed provided by raid 0, beyond what an SSD already has, then you might want to go with a single SSD.

 

Some SSD's were made with two controllers, essentially creating a RAID solution from one disk.

 

Do you know which ones?

I couldn't find any when I looked in google.

I'd like to look into that a little further.

 

I understand how RAID works i just don't know how to config a drive to RAID 0 (or RAID 1 for that matter). The reason why I'm asking is because I want to buy the new m17x but i don't want to pay for a SSD if i can't config to RAID 0. The only SSD they are offering is a single drive (128GB and 256GB) and for $300 less I can get 1TB HDD RAID 0.

The main reason why I want an SSD is because I've heard they are faster, quieter and use less power (=less heat) and that's important in a laptop.

 

As stated, RAID on SSD is overkill as there are diminishing returns the faster each individual drive is and SSDs are already super fast.

 

All of the attributes of an SSD are true. That's why all my rigs for the last two and a half years have used them. Once you go SSD, you really don't go back.

Two conventional hard drives in raid0 are usually slower than a single SSD.

I have never heard of a single SSD that can be run in raid, and if one exists, I seriously doubt it can match the read and write speed of todays performance SSD's.

Perhaps what you should be asking for is a link to a "single SSD" that has two controllers and can be run in raid.

I would be interested and surprised if one even exists.

 

For you Rob

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2009/01/20/g-skill-titan-256gb-ssd-review/1

 

actually i just checked alienware site and they DO offer 512GB SSD (2x 256GB) RAID 0 so i guess im gonna go with that lol

its like $800 more so i might not.... for now

 

Yes two controllers but not raid on a single SSD. It looks like their trickery might help the current line-up for G-skill, their speeds aren't anything to write home about.

Quoted from the article you linked: "it should provide a significant improvement in both read and write speed, with G.Skill quoting peak performance of 200MB/s read and 160MB/s write."

There are already several SSD's that out perform the unit in the link such as the OCZ Vertex, OCZ Summit, and the Intel units.

They have sandwiched the chips in their SSD but didn't implement true raid0.

It would be cool to see one of the really fast SSD's implement stacking of the chips and incorp. true raid0.

Thanks for the link.

 

I thought you didn't want to pay for two SSD's?

Anyway, I'm sure you'll love them.

 

I never said anything about speeds and whether that solution was faster, etc.

Just stating that there were single SSD drives internally setup in a RAID configuration.

 

I'm in the same boat as you. I want 2x SSD drives but can't afford it right now so i'm just gettin a hdd till i can get my ocz vertex's

 

sorry im a newbie but i keep hearing about ocz's and whitebook what exactly is that?

 

OCZ is a computer hardware company. They make a lot of memory based products. the OCZ whitebook is just their version of the arima/flextronics w840 i believe

 

There are faster SSDs than the ones offered by AW, if that's what you're after. And considering how bloody fast SSDs are already, RAID 0 would offer a very minor increase in the performance of them.

Personally what I've done (and you may want to do this too) is buy a single hard drive for mass storage and at a later date, put in my own high performance SSD (unless a reasonably faster one comes out by the time I get one, an OCZ Vertex). Then again if you want a lot of storage space as well, the faster SSDs at 256GB are still very expensive, more than the slower ones.

 

Whatever you do, DO NOT buy an OCZ (or any mfr) SSD with the crappy Jmicron 602 controller.

Google and you will see the horror stories with that one.

I know the M17x is available with one of the best SSD's out there - samsungs pb22-j (because Dell is building these beasts and those are the ssd's Dell uses)

 

I just googled it and the OCZ Vertex doesn't use the Jmicron 602 controller. What's so bad about it anyway? ._.

 

Absolutely a must-read if your into SSD's/storage:
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531&p=1

 

how can i find out if an SSD uses JMICRON?