Harddrive setup question

I currently have a 250gb and 500gb hd in my M17x.

I'm considering getting a 120gb OCZ Agility SSD to replace the 250gb... but then I found out I could get two 60gb Agilities and RAID0 them to be super fast... but then I'd go from 750GB to 120GB in my laptop.

I could proooobably live off of that, but do you think that's a good idea, and is the M17x's RAID hardware based?

 

no its software


and 1
SSD and HD is the best way to go

 

Because the SSDs are already so fast, RAIDing them will make pretty much no difference to performance.

I'd say get the SSD but keep the 500GB hard drive in slot 2.

 

I beg to differ! 2 SSDs is much faster than 1.

Before I continue, I must mention, that for practical uses, 1 SSD + 1HDD is in fact the best way to go.

I think their point there is that 1 SSD is already so screaming fast that One drive renders having even more speed virtually useless for most people.

I make use of my 500's as externals.

Most people have no need for the excessive speed behind RAID0 SSDs

I have two examples for you however. 1) On my computer, photoshop loads in just over ONE second. (CS3 Extended full version with a number of plugins installed). 2) I have a folder with 120 audio files in it. I load them all simultaneously. I hear it start in about half a second.

In the end the main considerations are: Do you need a bigger HD space? Are you on a budget?

(Its a good choice for me because I constantly open and close heavyweight programs like Photoshop and 3dMax 2010.)

But for the average user, unless you cant wait 1 second for your playlist to start, Moos suggestion does come out on top. It wont affect the in game speed of games (framerate or graphics) though your maps might load a little faster. It wont accelerate web browsing at all.

Its main advantages lie in very quickly offloading its data to ram. Windows operating system and heavy programs receive almost exclusive advantages.

My config suits me. Here are the specs.
You can clearly see my read speed is over 400 Mbp/s. What you must consider is whether you actually need this much? Can you pay $200 or more for it?

 

A agree with the above poster.... SSD RAID 0 are incredibly fast, I wasnt convinced until I saw one with my own eyes and it destroys anything else I've seen, it's is literally better than Ultra SCSI due to it's access time...

With all that said, we are missing the main point of SSD, I read in many places that SSD RAID 0 weren't worth if for speed purposes, how ever not only that they are the fastest setup available today but they also are a battery efficient setup for a couple of reasons one being that there's no spin but the main one being that it can complete tasks a lot faster than conventional times and that translates into more battery life.

Also lets add in that by not having movable parts, they are much more suited for Laptops as they have a natural resistance to vibrations.

Contrary to general belief, for pagefiles, SSD will shine having access times of ~.10 ms.

So we can sit here and discuss that they are indeed expensive, but there's no argument when it comes to all the other benefits. So if you have the cash SSD RAID 0 is by far the way to go. The big question is do you really need that much speed...... It sure as hell doesn't hurt.

And as far as speed goes, we arent comparing SLI 260 ves SLI 280.... a SSD RAID 0 is about 10x more efficient than regular drives.

My 2 cents.

 

cash isnt the problem.

two 60gb ssds cost the same as one 120gb ssd.

 

But a single 120 is only half as fast as the double working as a RAID pair (ignoring the small loss to software raiding)

In my case, Ive never surpassed 120GB filled in my entire life. (except for once when I accidentally converted a movie to RAW instead of AVI!! And maxed out a mechanical 160, killing the process.) I simply don't require that kind of space.

 

Ah. I have a 250gb external that's 90% full and a 500gb that's 60% full, but my system drive can definitely fit in 120gb

 

LOL I couldnt see you running a double SSD then!.

Likewise that proves the point that it all depends on:

Space you need
Cash you can dish out
Speed you want

For someone like my aunt, RAID 0 500 GB x2 would be best. (Cheapest/Biggest)
For me its double SSDs. (expensive, but by far fastest)
For Moo and many users here, its an SSD/HDD combo (best and worst of both worlds)

 

Moo

Are you sure that the nvidia RAID is software based?

When the BIOS loads, it does show the Option ROM for AHCI/RAID. I thought that the Option ROM was for the RAID controller (ie hardware).

 

Yes, Nvidia RAID has always been software based, that's why Intel RAID is a significant faster RAID as it's by Hardware.

 

I have a question about this too. Does the M17 have AHCI mode or just IDE?

 

My friend and I thought hardware, too. One of us should inquire AW staff, manuals, or something, and post a solid link or quote to prove the answer.

 

I thought the differences between software and hardware RAID is negligible now days?

 

As far as ICH10 being faster, it isn't (at least not with my SSD).

I have benched both my desktop and M17x and the results are almost identical.

 

I don't know about SSD, that's a good point, but it is faster on normal drives although the gap is decreasing (google it) there's a reason why the call NVraid the fakeraid

 

Thanks for the info

Doesn't matter much as long as it works and is fast, right? lol

 

Yeah well the Intel mobo's may be a little faster when it comes to RAID, after all they have a long history with servers and such, however when it comes to video, they cannot even compete in the same level as Nvidia mobos it's a good trade off.