Hardware controller Options for RAID - Sager NP8651 (Clevo P650SE)

After my RAID configuration crashed on me, and not being able for the life of me figure out how to set it back up so I can install windows on the RAID config (when installing all the options except "new" were greyed out in installing to a partition, windows saying the drive is locked, yadda yadda yadda) I currently have it set up so one SSD has the OS and another is empty - used for storage..

I still am kind of irked because I miss the boost in performance the previous setup gave me, but at the same time understand that doing so is risky (as many have mentioned before). The HDD has saved me countless times in getting into windows which helps! So I've done some research and have read about hardware raid controllers. Which essentially allows you to RAID two cards without using the software (which is unreliable)

So here is my question.

1. Is there a RAID controller that exists that allows you to put together two m.2 sata SSDs? If so what is it?
2. Would such a controller be compatible with the Sager NP8651 (Clevo P650SE) motherboard?
3. Would such a controller be able to use m.2 Sata SSDs?

I've seen many setups which allow you to do this on a desktop, here is the closest I've found.

StarTech.com Dual mSATA SSD to 2.5" SATA RAID Adapter Converter - storage c

Weblink: Click here



Main Features

• Storage controller
• 2 Channel
• mSATA
• 6 GBps
• RAID 0
• 1
• JBOD
• BIG
• SATA 6Gb/s

Maximize system speed by adding SSD performance
Utilize the full potential of your SATA III controller, with mSATA SSDs reducing your data transfer bottleneck with file transfer speeds up to 6 Gbps. mSATA SSDs also save you money by reducing your power consumption over regular platter drives.

• Add data redundancy to your SSD system, by adding an additional SSD in a RAID array (RAID1)
• Increase the capacity of your SSD system by adding an additional SSD in a RAID array (RAID 0/BIG)
• Turn two unused mSATA SSD drives into a hardware RAID 2.5in SATA solid state drive

I can include tech specs but I just wanted to give you an idea. All in all, has anyone with this laptop been able to use a hardware raid controller or is it just an exclusively "desktop thing"?

Thanks!

 

That will work to get two drives installed but you will not see a speed increase because it plugs into one SATA port on the motherboard and that port is limited to the max speed of one port.

The best thing to do is get into your BIOS, set the SATA configuration to RAID, then reinstall Windows to your SSD's. That way you get the full benefit of RAID 0.

 

Yes any controller is limited by the speed of the bus you connect it via, I guess the only viable setup would be an X4 PCI controller hooked into a PCI-E M.2 slot, but that's going to require a new PCB and cable setup to a 2.5" bay which does not exist currently.

Keep your normal raid setup and set up an external disk to do regular image backups and if something happens just re-image it.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I figured something like this didn't exist yet (You PC hardware creators out there better jump on this potential cash cow!)

Kind of glad I thought ahead and followed your guys' advice in the beginning on making a backup before doing RAID, because I still have the original OS setup installed on my HDD for backup and all of my files since I got this laptop, along with two external hard drives for extra storage. Man is that setup helpful!

I was able to get it setup on the RAID config I had before. But for those who want to know how I did it on this particular laptop, it turns out that I just needed to go to bios, set from ahci to raid mode with uefi off, make a raid config in the bios intel raid config screen, reboot and go back into bios, then set my uefi and network stack csm to enabled. Also setup my boot order to load from the usb first to boot into the windows installation drive, which allowed me to install the OS over the unallocated RAID config with no issues.

Overall looks good and no data was loss since I got em all on the backup drive. I'll just reflash the OS anytime it decides to give me issues in the future. Realistically it only takes about an hour or so from start to finish so I don't mind! Thanks again for the help!