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M17 wihtout RAID0, can I do it myself?

post #1 of 10
11/4/08 at 8:18am
Thread Starter 
Alienware wants an extra $300 for 2x250GB RAID0 array in the new M17. If I don't order it initially, can I buy an extra drive later, reformat, and set it up myself? A 250GB HDD is only ~$85 on Newegg. Thanks in advance for the help.
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post #2 of 10
11/4/08 at 1:00pm
You should be able too, but others may have more experience doing it on an AW.
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post #3 of 10
11/4/08 at 1:01pm
RAID is a pain in butt to do sometimes... I dont like it... no real gain...
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post #4 of 10
11/5/08 at 5:28am
It's easy to set up. Just install the second drive, and enter the bios and enable RAID.

After that, you need to re-install the OS. You'll need to load the RAID controller drivers at the beginning of windows setup, press F6 when it asks if you need to load RAID drivers. Then it'll install the OS across the RAID array and you're set.

I've set up RAID on my laptop (m9700) and on a desktop, but I don't do that much hd reading and writing intensive work, so it didn't really make much difference. It did shorten load times during games a bit, but not much. I've since disabled RAID and use my drives independently.
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post #5 of 10
11/5/08 at 11:39am
I always have an issue getting the OS to install correctly without screwing up...
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post #6 of 10
11/5/08 at 1:31pm
Yes, you could buy a second drive later and setup RAID. The RAID controller is already part of the system. You'd just need the drivers off our support site.
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post #7 of 10
11/5/08 at 2:44pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all of the helpful replies. If there's not a significant performance gain, then I won't bother with it. The laptop is obviously for gaming, so I was just considering all of my options. Thanks again guys.
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post #8 of 10
11/6/08 at 1:10pm
For gaming, a RAID 0 won't speed things up regarding graphics performance and speed, it will only load things faster.

Graphics are mostly dependant on CPU, video card and adequate amount of RAM.

Also, when creating RAID arrays it is most recommended to get a hard drive that is identical in brand, model and speed to the one your computer already has.
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post #9 of 10
11/7/08 at 1:26pm
Thread Starter 
That makes sense. Thank you for the helpful information. I've pretty much squashed the idea at this point.
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post #10 of 10
11/7/08 at 10:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by littlefrankus View Post
I always have an issue getting the OS to install correctly without screwing up...
Omg, does it really take 2 months to go thru your phases?

You are scaring me.
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