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    W520 Raid with SSD

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by cpm22, Mar 29, 2011.

  1. cpm22

    cpm22 Notebook Consultant

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    Does anyone know if you can order the w520 with raid and then replace the HDD's with SSD's. Also, can one be a HDD and the other an SSD?

    Also, do you think it better to have the Lenovo configured Raid or to do it with something else (I'm not sure what the something else is but I imagine there are other options)
     
    cpm22, Mar 29, 2011
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  2. pkincy

    pkincy Notebook Evangelist

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    Excellent question. And also if someone could please explain what RAID is.

    BTW, I don't see it on the site yet, although tabook.pdf does mention it for the W520.

    Perry
     
    pkincy, Mar 29, 2011
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  3. Mech0z

    Mech0z Notebook Evangelist

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    Raid for 2 drives is either
    Raid 0 : Max speed, double size no backup so if one drive fails, all your data is lost
    Raid 1 : Single drive size, Double read speed but if one drive fails you can replace it and still keep your stuff.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
     
    Mech0z, Mar 29, 2011
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  4. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    I don't recommended using SSDs in RAID. For one, TRIM is not passed through the RAID controller to the RAID drives so your drives will be degrading at a faster rate than just running it normally. And honestly, are you going to be running your SSDs all the time to the point you need RAID? Even assuming RAID 1, RAID 1 isn't backup, it's data redundancy. If drive 1 gets a virus/OS corruption then the 2nd drive gets it. I would get a single large SSD for your OS and unless you have godly amounts of money, get a traditional HDD for backup.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Mar 29, 2011
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  5. halobox

    halobox Notebook Deity

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    Agreed. Unless of course Intel added TRIM support to the new controller. I don't think they did but I will find out.
     
    halobox, Mar 29, 2011
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  6. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    AFAIK Intel RAID controller will pass TRIM along to non-RAID drives when SATA operation is set for RAID, but not to the actual drives in RAID. I haven't heard anything new.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Mar 29, 2011
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