2x SSD Raid versus Non-raid

[pbaumer2013]

Hi,

I am going to be ordering an ASUS Zenbook which comes with 2x256 GB SSD. I am understanding from my search on google, that it is a RAID configuration.

Why would they use those SSDs in RAID and limit the total capacity to 256 and not use them both as regular drives and increase capacity to 512Gb?

I am planning to disable the RAID and use them as 2 256GB disks, as I need more than 256GB. Are there any drawbacks of doing this? Do SSDs fail more often than HDDs?

Thanks a lot, Paul

P.S. I am a newbie about SSDs and RAID.

 

[beginner99]

It's probably RAID 0, meaning you get 512 GB of space and faster speed (theoretically, not really noticeable in real usage) at the cost of much lower reliability. If one drive fails in RAID 0, you lose all data.

 

[Smoblikat]

It's probably RAID 0, meaning you get 512 GB of space and faster speed (theoretically, not really noticeable in real usage) at the cost of much lower reliability. If one drive fails in RAID 0, you lose all data.

Versus if one drive fails in a single disk you lose all your data? 😉

 

[pbaumer2013]

OK, so the first thing to check is then the type of RAID. Thank you guys. Appreciated.

 

[beginner99]

Versus if one drive fails in a single disk you lose all your data? 😉

I know you know this but just for the OP:

With 2 drives the chance of a drive failure is double because there are 2 drives that can fail.

 

[jcb79]

While looking at the Acer S7-392 with the Haswell's i see that they list their SSD's as being in RAID 0. This is interesting to me. Agree that RAID 0 increase the likelihood of losing a functional machine by 2x, as you depend on two drives to NOT fail, rather than just one? And agree that with 2x SSD in RAID 0 not much benefit if any could be realized. But most importantly, does this open the door for a SSD as OS Drive and a HDD as a Storage Drive? Does anyone know if the disc controller would allow for this? And finally, what are the odds of someone having access to pictures of the internals of the S7-392's?

Thanks

clay

 

[Enigmoid]

There is no benefit to RAID 0 on a ULV CPU. Heck, toms did a review on 3 gbps and 6 gbps SSDs and found the difference in opening apps, startup and shutdown was minimal.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-upgrade-sata-3gbps,3469.html

2% difference. Though it will be noticeable in transferring files.

For views of the internals check youtube reviews.

Yes, if the notebook has a mssd slot and a 2.5" HDD caddy you can do a SSD boot and HDD storage. I have one in my notebook and its great. Fast performance and lots of space. The data drive is listed as a separate drive in 'my computer' similar to if you hook up an external driver. This will affect battery life though as idle power consumption will rise slightly.

 

[jcb79]

Thanks Enigmoid for the info. I am completely comfortable with all points you raised and that is why I remain curious, curious of how and why they have accomplished this. Are they trying to take advantage of extra, smaller SSD's they already have around? Why 2 x 64GB SSD in RAID 0? And if i can make better use of the foundation they have laid. But i still haven't confirmed the actual details of the arrangement and the options, if any, it offers.

When asking owners via Amazon, this is what i got:

"It has 2 64 GB ssds in RAID 0, but they operate through one SATA port, but two controllers. The SSD is fast (2x as fast as most other SSDs), but sdd + hdd is not possible."

And another poster included a screenshot from their Intel Rapid Storage Manager which showed 2 x 60GB SSD's in RAID 0 Array of 119GB when assembled.

So we are getting closer to the actual answer, just not quite there.

Thanks Again!

clay