Question - Hard Drive Configuration (Solved)

[J.Dre]

Decided to just get a regular HDD @ 7,200 RPM, which saves me $300, then I'll buy an SSD off the internet (Samsung 830 Series or Intel 520 Series).

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I'm stuck on the Hard Drive configuration for a new Laptop. If you know your way around computer hardware, please post!

I want whichever is best between the two, performance wise.

Current Options:

• 1 TB RAID 0 (2x 500GB 3B/s SATA 7,200 rpm)
• 750GB 7,200 RPM + 32GB mSATA Caching SSD

Questions:

1. Which setup is the fastest, overall?
2. Which setup is the best for my intentions (below)?
3. Is the second option a SINGLE drive, with 32gb cache SSD devoted? (sounds fast)
4. Is the RAID 0 option with two HDD's, running at 3B/s (triples), just as good as the second option?
5. RAID 0 means: two drives of the same type working together to decrease overall write/read time. If I chose this option and later replaced one of them with an SSD, would something go terribly wrong as they are configured for RAID 0 specifically? Would it even work properly?

There's only a $50 difference between these two choices, so I'm not sure which would be best performance wise.

My Intentions:

The selection above is only a temporary setup. I plan to add at least one 256 SSD (myself) and keep a storage drive, or add two SSD's. Dell wants too much money for SSD combinations.

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P.S. I've tried Google, all I get is a bunch of nonsense about people bragging how fast SSD's are, ha ha.

 

[Zisly]

I'm curious as well, bujp, bring up J.dre's post!

 

[Excellent]

1. Which setup is the fastest, overall?

750GB 7,200 RPM + 32GB mSATA Caching SSD is better in performance, SSD is slightly faster and is safer to use.

2. Which setup is the best for my intentions (below)?

Well for storage/important files always choose ssd, RAID 0 is potentially dangerous to use because it can get unstable and can bring up interferences.

3. Is the second option a SINGLE drive, with 32gb cache SSD devoted? (sounds fast)

It sounds fast, and SSD is fast,safe etc. But it is all about personal experiences/opinions, I got a SSD for my OS and movies etc.

4. Is the RAID 0 option with two HDD's, running at 3B/s (triples), just as good as the second option?

It might be a little faster/slower but it can get unstable and dangerous (e.g. crash or any interferences).



I think you should go to a computer shop or something and just ask someone there =P

 

[J.Dre]

Thanks for posting, I'll probably go with the 750 gb + 32gb mSATA.

Here's my guess about the two: The RAID 0 drives above will run more efficiently during computer use, playing games, etc. However, the mSATA allows a faster boot time for games, the OS and other programs. In other words, you want both or an SSD, which I plan to add at a later time. I suppose both have their pros and cons, but I'm not sure which configuration would be best for upgrading.

Would the RAID 0 still work, if I swapped them both out for SSD's (aftermarket from Internet) or are these drives configured by Dell to work only with each other? I'm confused about this.

 

[Excellent]

Well Dell have their own configuration etc. If you order a thing there you have to stay at Dell, that's why I am not using Dell of Lenovo =P.

About the Hard Disks, they do not improve your gameplay or whatsoever, they only improve the loading of games/startup of your OS they only start up and go to sleep and let your RAM + graphic card doing its job at gaming.

All in all, SSD is safe and slightly faster if you compare it with a normal hd etc. You could use RAID 0 but it is potentially dangerous.

 

[Rambo]

Well I heard this quote at some site.

"The lower HDD size, the more Performance"

I don't have that kind of knowledge in Hard Disks, so I can't really answer your questions.

But if I were you, I would go with the second option.

Good luck

 

[J.Dre]

Well Dell have their own configuration etc. If you order a thing there you have to stay at Dell, that's why I am not using Dell of Lenovo =P.

About the Hard Disks, they do not improve your gameplay or whatsoever, they only improve the loading of games/startup of your OS they only start up and go to sleep and let your RAM + graphic card doing its job at gaming.

All in all, SSD is safe and slightly faster if you compare it with a normal hd etc. You could use RAID 0 but it is potentially dangerous.

Hmm, okay. I'm not sure still which I should choose. I keep reading more and more about the RAID, and it seems to be quite good. Maybe I'll just give in and get a regular HDD running at 7,200 rpm to save $300, then use that $300 to buy an SSD on Amazon or something. I can get a Samsung 830 Series, 256 GB SSD for $273 on newegg.com. But then I have to reinstall everything and that's going to be brutal - 200+ updates, 50+ drivers, etc.

Well I heard this quote at some site.

"The lower HDD size, the more Performance"

I don't have that kind of knowledge in Hard Disks, so I can't really answer your questions.

But if I were you, I would go with the second option.

Good luck

Yeah, I've heard similar things about RAM as well. I'm sure there are differences, but ones you wouldn't notice; only benchmarks would show them.

 

[kornholi]

P.S. I've tried Google, all I get is a bunch of nonsense about people bragging how fast SSD's are, ha ha.

That's because SSDs are fast... faster than you think.

 

[J.Dre]

That's because SSDs are fast... faster than you think.

Yep, I bought one.