Is Sony's RAID Technology worth it? What about memory 4? 6? 8?

I am considering buying a customized Sony Z. Sony keeps changing the available options. I could have gotten exactly what I wanted 3 months ago -- but since then it has been crazy.

Now the Z options are pretty much back to the way I want them -- except Sony will not let me choose only 1 SSID drive or just one memory chip.

1. I either have to get two 64GB HDs, two 128 GB HDs or two 256 GB HDs.

I want only one 256 GB HD. I want the option to add a second one later if I wish. Two is ruinously expensive.

However, the sales person said that in order to take advantage of RAID Technology, you have to have two drives which work simultaneously so if one fails the other one has the info.

The tech person says that, e.g., if I choose two 128 GB HDs, I will still be able to use all 256 GB of space but the RAID advantage will still be there.

I figure two 128 GB HDs is more expensive than one 256 GB HDs

Deciding now to get two 256 GB HD is a little premature for me. I am not sure whether a venture which would need a lot of storage space for photos, etc. is going to get under way. It won't be clear for several months. And the cost of two now will $800 to the price.

2. The other limitation is on memory. SONY will only let you chose two 2GB memory, one 4GB + one 2GB or two 4GB of memory.

I want just one 4GB -- for the same reason I want one 256 GB HD.

The memory choices have nothing to do with the RAID technology -- SONY is just being a PIA. Going from a total of 4GB -> 6GB -> 8GB is about $90 a bump.

So generally -- what do people think?

 

#1. I can't tell by your post if they are talking about Raid 0 or 1. Raid 0 is when data is split between two drives to increase read and write performance, and in such case you'll also get double the capacity when combining drives. Raid 1 on the other hand is when data is duplicated onto two drives, and storage space is effectively the limit of the largest drive, where the data is the same on each drive. Generally when doing Raid it's best the drives are identical so it might be in your best bet to order them at the same time.
#2. They almost ALWAYS pair memory because modern CPUs have dual or more channel interfaces, so it uses a technique that is sort of like Raid 0 in that it uses two sticks each independently but each with a dedicated read/write path effectively doubling read/write bandwidth in dual-channel configuration. For best performance you need two sticks usually of the same type and size (although recent Intel processors I believe lift the same size limitation but there's probably a performance penalty under some cases).

 

1. Either the rep is trying to sell you load of bs, or he doesn't know himself. Like gaah said, if data is copied to another drive, that's RAID 1 and you only get 128GB, not 128GB x2 = 256GB of space. On the other hand, if you use RAID 0, you get 128GB x2=256GB of space, but data is not copied to another drive, instead data is SPLIT into two drives for faster read/write operations. Note that SSDs are, IMO, safe enough that RAID 1 is not very useful (IMO!!). Also, SSDs performance also degrade over time, so TRIM was introduced. One problem with TRIM is that RAID is not supported, yet. Maybe in a few months it will, who know, then it would not be a problem for you. But I would stay away from RAID right now.

2. I have no idea why SONY does that, but memory is cheap at newegg.com. Not sure what you can do though.

Personally, I would avoid SONY laptops. They're IMO, the PC version of Apple. They do have some really nice options for pretty powerful yet very light laptops.

 

Well the thing about the vaio z hard drives (iirc) is that they're not standard 2.5" drives and they are made custom slim for the vaio z. Might not be very easy to upgrade later for if you have to buy it from sony. It might also be incredibly hard to access, I haven't looked at the vaio z's internals recently but sony, like asus, are known to have proprietary internals that are a nightmare to upgrade.

I reckon the memory should be fairly easy to upgrade but you never know. Might decide to be jerks about it and put the RAM modules under the keyboard and require you to take out the fan or somethiing. I think reason they don't let you buy 1x4GB is because it wouldn't cost the same as 2x2GB and it would confuse/anger people who don't understand why.

 

Hi

I don't understand why this sony guy told you about Raid1 (two mirror disk) because sony Z use raid0 (data split between the two, whith an increase in speed)

It is uncertain that it will be possible to add another sony SSD to a Z1X because sony use a proprietary form factor here, there might be a way but nobody suceed in it yet.

You will be able to add another (standard) SSD through removal of the optical drive, replacing it with a caddy bay containing a SATA slot (search for this, there's many threads about)

 

Regarding 1:

The Sony rep is clueless, as usual. These drives are in RAID 0 not RAID 1, so if one drive fails, you lose all of your data. The advantage of the RAID 0 is its speed. And yes, it is quite a nice little feature.

The Sony drives are proprietary as mentioned and cannot be replaced with a standard 2.5" drive. You can only add/replace using the proprietary Samsung/Toshiba drives being used in the Z11/Z12. Buying one of these drives from Sony is extremely expensive. My recommendation would be to buy the size you think you will need, and not worry about how many different drives the system actually composes. By the way, the way Sony talks about this is somewhat misleading anyway, since the 512GB option is actually four logical drives (quad RAID) using two physical 256GB drives. I will say that I regret the size I purchased...I wish I had gotten a larger one. Remember that there are always external storage options too though.

Regarding 2:

This shouldn't be surprising, as more customers would probably buy the one 4GB stick and then upgrade to more RAM with aftermarket chips, which doesn't exactly help out Sony. But check out the owner's thread or do a forum search, because I'm pretty sure at least one user reported getting 4GB of RAM on a single stick on his Z.

 

Thank so much everyone for your explanations. Yes Sony is RAID 0.

I am buying it for its light weight and incredible display so I can carry it around easily.

It was hard to decide to spend so much for any laptop -- but the reviews and personal reports of how great it is just made me decide to bite.

My partner offered to help pay for it so he could use it for stuff he needs which will use up a lot of the HD space.

Yes you will find previous purchasers with 1 4 GB RAM and one 256 SSD. Sony was selling the Z with that just a couple of months ago. But they kept changing the configuration options available every couple of weeks. For the past 2 months one couldn't get an i7 only an i5.

So with my partner's help I went for the whole enchilada.

There was an option for Fresh Start which I would have preferred but my partner wanted the free Adobe software. I was assured that I could make CDs of the relevant software and wipe the HD clean and give myself a Fresh Start so I could get the Adobe package.

Given that he seemed a little confused about the RAID (not knowing about 1 vs 0 ) I hope he is right about the wiping the HD. I do not want the bloat ware -- and I hate Norton IS 2010. I have it now based on review -- and you wouldn't believe how it prevents simple common programs from operating. And I am sure it is difficult to uninstall it.

So I ordered it tonight but if people think I should have gone with the Fresh Start option -- please say so soon, I can change that part of the order if I get it in soon enough.

Here is the deal:

Product: US-VPCZ1290X-LBOM
Component: Large Capacity Battery
Component: No Fresh Start
Component: Adobe Bundle ($448 value)
Component: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066 (Reg. price $300.00)
Component: Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter
Component: No Mobile Broadband Built-In
Component: Norton Internet Security™ 2010 (30 Day Trial)
Component: Blu-ray Disc™ Player/Burner
Component: No Engraving
Component: Intel® Core™ i7-620M processor (2.66GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz (Reg. price $150.00)
Component: 13.1" VAIO Full HD Premium Display (1920x1080)
Component: Premium Carbon Fiber
Component: Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
Component: 512GB (256GBx2) Solid State Drive with RAID 0 Technology (Reg. price $1,300.00)
Per Unit Price: $3,484.99
Quantity: 1
Total Price: $3,484.99
Description: VPCZ1290X Configure-to-Order
Ship Method: Expedited
Estimated Ship Date: 08/19/2010
Extended Service Plan: 3 Year Express Ship Service Plan with Accidental Damage from Handling Protection [Sony recommends]
Price: $399.99

Of course this does not include tax -- plus I bought several accessories (2 extra AC adapters - one travel AC adapter, a privacy filter, a notebook and adapter case and a carrying case.

My total without tax was: $4267.27 -- I haven't paid that kind of money for a laptop since my IBM laptop 15 years ago.

I sure hope it is worth it. If not, I can send it back.

 

My USA CTO VPCZ119 came with a one stick of 4 gb RAM. I think all the VPCZ11's came with 1x4gb stick of RAM(It said on the site back then and i asked the Sony sales rep). Since the VPCZ12, the CTO's have been 2x2gb. This was one of the reasons I went CTO over pre-configured, since all the preconfigured models were 2x2gb.

 

@Justitia

Hi of course it is worth to have RAID 0 and 8GB RAM !!
I just building my AW series with T9900 I have 8GB RAM too what I still need is 2x 1.8 SSDs and i will make Quad RAID with 4 SSDs that will be awesome !!
I removed BD-Drive so there is SSD now ..

 

As I said (buried in my long post above) Sony limited the options -- even in the custom made ones. When you bought it-- you could opt for 1 - 4GB Ram -- I almost bought it then (also with 1 256 SSD.)

But I waited and then Sony's options *for the CTO* custom-to-order one, where yo select the components -- no longer allowed you to do that. Believe me, I placed phone calls to SONY, asked to speak to supervisors, etc. Nothing I could do could get them to budge on this.

I am not talking about the pre-built ones -- I am talking about the custom-made ones --- they would NOT let you select 1 4GB stick, you have, as of now, only 3 choices -- in the CTO -- 2 x 2GB= 4, 1x4GB+ 1x2GB= 6 and 2x4GB=8GB.

I also realize that the Z model series is now different. it is Z1290X as opposed to the Z119, when you could order 1X4GB RAM and 1X256GB SSD -- at least in the beginning -- you can no longer order the Z119.at all now.

 

I can be wrong, but I believe the recovery disks will bring your computer back to the same factory condition, meaning it would include the Adobe Bundle along with everything else that originally came with it.

I did not get Fresh Start but I did install my own copy of Windows 7 Pro, since the Adobe Bundle comes pre-installed, I do not have it anymore.

Did you get a discount with your purchase? They usually offer a 15% off with the purchase of a warranty plan and two accessories.

 

Yes, I got the 15% discount. .

What the sales rep said is that I could re-download the Adobe after my own fresh start with a license # I would get. He also said I could create a CD of the Adobe software if I wished. I hope that is true.

 

Just FYI, two 128 GB SSDs are not necessarily more expensive than one 256 GB one.

Also, with the Sony Z, you can't really do much in terms of changing the SSDs yourself, so the best bet is to get what you want when you order (i.e. if you want 256 GB of storage, get the 2x 128 GB config), rather than expecting to add or change the SSDs in the future.

 

you can always add an expresscard SSD i believe they are up to 128GB now

 

Did not saw any expresscard SSD over 64GB. And this kind of SSD seems to heat a lot according reviewers.