Envy 15t SSD RAID (original or aftermarket) discussion

Hi,

my Envy 15t came with 1 HDD. I now put two Crucial M4 512GB 7mm SSDs in and bumped up memory to 32GB. I paid about $1000 when I bought the Envy 15t aftermarket 1.5 years ago; now about $200 for the RAM and $800 for the SSD makes this a $2000 machine that I hope to be my "Hyper-V server on the go".

Attempt 1:
At first I tried Windows Server 2012 RC and create a storage space. However, extending partitions failed; formatting the second drive enforced a GPT (not MBR); and in general it was a bad experience so far at least when using the GUI options available. Even though I got some good results for some benchmarks it seemed I was not using the full capacity of my SSD in RAID mode. The overall layout of the disks looked whacky.
Fail.

Attempt 2:
I installed the latest Intel Matrix Storage drivers and now can use TRIM (before that did not work).
I also was able to define a volume spanning both drives.
I chose 16K stripe size (the SSDs page size is 8kb, so 2*8K= 16K).
I then deleted all my partitioning and recreated everything (command line tool DISKPART), formatting with a 16k cluster size matching the stripe size.

I even was able to get my QuickWeb working on this (by just copying the relevant files back on the new partition).


Q1:
Do you agree that my setup is a good idea?

Q2: What would you have done differently?

Q3:
One huge problem: I do not seem to be able to modify or delete the RAID volume I created. Not with the Intel software at least after the OS has loaded. Anybody has an idea about this?

Q4:
Is there any way to access the BIOS raid options?

Q5:
I read reports of people complaining that benchmarks of 4K reads are bad on a Matrix raid configuration. Is this significant though if you are dealing with 16K clusters anyways? Also - it seems the benchmarks are not multithreaded - the OS will work multithreaded and hit the SSD in parallel, will it not?
So I am not convinced yet that meddling e.g. with power savings settings is a good idea.
What's your take?


Thanks,

 

> Q1:

No

> Q2:

Wouldn't have attempted to make a laptop a "Hyper-V server on the go". I would have built a server box for that purpose for half the money. Ever heard of remote desktop?

 

Thank you for your comment but I hoped for helpful comments on the actual RAID configuration.
Try to carry a server box around when you fly out to customers - you do not want to put it in checked baggage. You often do not have a a reliable internet connection available.
Not to talk about monitors, general agility and speed to set something up. I can easily carry around 2 of those machines AND my main work notebook.

 

Even though you didn't find my honest comment helpful, you're welcome. Being the imagination lacking, ignorant yuppy that I am, out of curiosity, what kind of business or person that does not have a reliable internet connection would be interested in or have solutions that would require having a network infrastructure?

 

You did not comment on the RAID setup or any specifics pertaining to the setup that would help to improve or validate it.

Take the given notebook as the fact.

When you have worked a while in technical PreSale or similar capacities (where you travel and are confronted with/encounter infrastructures you do not control) you learn one thing: Expect nothing. Be glad if there is one power outlet.
From meeting rooms without any internet at all or spotty WiFi connections, to corporate internet access that does not let guests in (and it takes 2 days to get it activated for someone visiting) or blocks relevant ports or VPN connections, ... many, many reasons.
You need to control your environment.

 

Sure - but my setup cost me:
about $1000 for the Envy 15t (refurbished 1.5 years ago), $200 for the 32GB RAM, $800 for the 2 512GB SSD = $2000.
processor speed is the least of the issues typically, RAM and speed of the storage subsystem is more important when it comes to virtualization.

Seems I am finding noone to help with my RAID setup questions though