external RAID controller ?

Hi folks,

I am about to buy a Sony Vaio F13Z because it is the best I can do in terms of ports, screen and speed for the money. Sadly, I cannot afford a laptop that supports more than 8Gig of RAM. I will use it for video editing and photography.

I want to be able to help it along a little so is it possible to add an external RAID controller and HDDs via either the PC Express 34 or the eSata or USB 3 ports?

If I do that am I permanently welded to the RAID - do I have to lug the whole shebang if I travel with the laptop?

Is the internal HDD ok for this - 500Gig 7,200 with i7 740Q ? Please forgive the Qs I am just getting my head around this......!

thanks....

 

You would need to carry the external RAID device around with you if you were booting your OS from it (and had no alternative OS installed on the local HDD). If you just used the array as an external storage medium, then it would be plug and play...

 

Ok thanks then I wonder which is the best way to go both for speed and redundancy?

And whatever I do, what can I do for a RAID controller as the Sony F13Z doesn't have one? I can't seem to find this info for laptops only desktops. Bit of a learning curve for me, but I know it is important for getting the best out of a laptop for video editing... Specially when it only has 8 Gigs.

I need an idiots guide...

 

do a search for usb 3 raid enclosure or esata raid enclosure

an example I have used before

NCIX.com - Buy AMS Venus DS3R Pro Black Aluminum HOT-SWAP 2-BAY SATA RAID 3.5IN Hard Drive Enclosure USB2.0 eSATA - DS-DS3RPRO In Canada.

the best you can do on a budget is get a Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive and run off of that and later swap to an SSD at a later point if you dont want to haul around an enclosure. it wont help with redundancy but if you image your drive with acronis etc. an keep good backups you should be reasonably safe.

I would go with running off the momentus drive and keep an external 1T drive for daily backups

 

Thanks that helps I had a look and googled some more so now I see the controller is part of the deal....

what is the best way to set it up? Does Windows 7 "need to be told"? Installed differently? Do I need to partition the internal HDD?

This has cheered me up because it is do-able and maybe makes the Sony more useful (when really I wish I could afford a Lenovo W510....)..

 

nope all you need to do is plug it in and go for the external RAID enclosures. it handles it all internally.

and no need to partition your main drive either.