Thinkpad W520 with dual HDDs/RAID

Hello all,

I'm considering buying a Thinkpad W520. I'm looking at the rightmost model on this page from Lenovo's UK site. It's the only one that can be supplied preconfigured with two hard drives.

(I'd definitely need two drives, and I would also strongly prefer not to have to fit one myself after buying the laptop.)

On the Lenovo site, the two drive configuration can be supplied as either RAID 0 or RAID 1.

Could anyone with this configuration of laptop comment on whether:

(1) The RAID controller is hardware-based? (some forum posts from a couple of years ago suggested that this was only the case with the now-discontinued 17" Thinkpad)

(2) It is possible, with a clean installation of Windows, to use the drives in normal SATA mode without RAID?

My reason for asking is that I need the capacity of both drives (so not RAID 1), but am not 100% sure if this will be compatible with some of my software (Pro Tools music sequencer) and may therefore want to switch to using one HDD for the OS and another for data. I have also heard that only a hardware-based RAID setup would provide a suitable performance gain for audio recording.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

Anyone?

 

Hmm, I asked Lenovo too and just received this incomprehensible reply:

"All orders on the online Store will only come with one HDD in Raid."

 

Without visiting the site... The raid on the W520 has to be configured by Lenovo. Enabling it is not possible if you do not buy it from Lenovo that way. Once the laptop has it you can choose to run the laptop with raid 0, raid 1, or no raid.

 

It is software-based (Intel) RAID. However, there is obviously some corresponding hardware built into the motherboard, so if you do not order it, you will never be able to enable it. The second is definitely possible. You can disable and break your array apart if you do not want it or need to do something that requires this.

 

Thanks for posting.

It sounds like it's "firmware based RAID", then (at least according to Wikipedia's definitions) - since it does require specific hardware (hence "configured by Lenovo"), but isn't actually controlled by the hardware.

 

I would not be surprised to learn the special service disk can be used to enable RAID on a machine that came from Lenovo with RAID disabled.

 

the maintenance disk doesn't contain any commands to enable/disable RAID functionality.   i have the latest version and confirmed that no such option exists when running the maintenance program on W510 and W520 systems.

the SATA controller is different on non-RAID models.   there are specific FRUs for each configuration, the last three of which are what customers would get if they don't opt for RAID: System service parts - ThinkPad T520, T520i and W520

intel has different part numbers for their RAID/non-RAID controller chips so i highly doubt they'd build in a way to flash a RAID BIOS on a non-RAID controller.   i've not yet personally found any evidence of this having been done.   i'm sure there are some ICH9/ICH10 owners out there who would love to have an ICH9R or ICH10R via the flip of a switch.

in short, as aadadams said above, if someone wants RAID from the factory then they'll need to configure it at the time of purchase.

 

Bummer. Thanks for confirming.

 

Thanks for the further discussion - it's very helpful.

Can anyone who uses RAID 0 on the W520 comment on the performance? Is it worth the CPU overhead required by the Intel RAID software?

 

use an SSD as your main drive and a 1TB notebook drive in an ultrabay HDD adapter.   this will be much faster than two HDDs in RAID 0 and more reliable, too.

RAID 0 can be a ticking timebomb if you don't keep regular backups.   if one drive goes down then the entire array is gone with no way to recover.

 

Or SSD in the mSATA and dual HDDs for massive storage

 

I backup daily, so if the RAID arrangement offers a performance gain I would be willing to live with the increased risk from striping the data between the drives.

Regarding a mixed SSD/HDD setup, I couldn't see any options for this on the Lenovo (UK) site. Am I missing something?

I realise that it would be possible to change the drives after buying the laptop, but I'm really keen not to fiddle with the hardware (beyond BIOS tweaks), because I feel I've spent enough time doing that with desktops over the years, and one of my reasons for getting a laptop would be to avoid the time and risks of self-building. (speaking as someone who once set fire to a motherboard...)

 

You can have three storage devices in the W520, T420, T420S, and other ThinkPads.

mSATA, primary drive bay, and the Ultrabay.

 

Just to add to the above, mSATA gets added aftermarket. See here (last option).

 

In theory, RAID 1 has higher read speeds than RAID 0 if the software is smart enough to use both disks for seeking (since they are identical copies). RAID 0 has higher write speeds, though (RAID 1's write speed is the same as having 1 disk). Though in all honesty, having a SSD + a 1 TB HDD gives you much faster performance on the main disk and a good amount of storage. Personally, I archive all the data I don't need mobile onto an external drive and use the disk in my ThinkPad for the OS, programs, and crucial files only.

 

Hmm, thanks for the comments. I agree that a combination of SSD and HDD would be best, and I'd snap it up if Lenovo offered it.

I've been considering a Clevo-based laptop that can be supplied in that configuration, although the build quality of the Thinkpad looks a bit better.

It may be easier to go for the Clevo so that I don't have to fiddle around with the drives myself. (It's certainly cheaper!)

 

you could order the W520 with an SSD and purchase the ultrabay HDD adapter and your choice of HDD separately.   the only effort you'll need is to eject the optical drive and plug in the adapter.   common parts like storage and memory on the W520 are purposefully made to be easily changed.   most W520 owners will agree that it's a very, very simple system.

if that doesn't convince you then take a look at this page under the 'hard disk drive' and 'serial ultrabay enhanced' sections (the W520 is identical).   there are videos and graphical instructions to show you the process of changing an SSD/HDD and removing the optical drive.   decide for yourself if it's difficult.

if you need further convincing, download the W520 hardware maintenance manual here and page through the section on replacing FRUs.   this will also give you a detailed idea of how easy (or difficult) common components are to change.

 

It's cheaper to order it with a HDD then add a mSATA SSD. You can either sell the HDD or convert to external drive if you want larger HDD(s).

 

Ok, thanks everyone for your comments.