Crucial M4

[roblaw42]

Hi
I am in the final steps of buying parts for my computer. I have seen a lot of people recommend SSDs and I was thinking about getting the Crucial M4 to run the OS and a game.
My question is this: I already have 2 1tb hard drives which I will put in raid-1. Is it possible to use an SSD for the OS and still have 2 data drives in raid-1? Will this cause compatibility issues?
Thanks

 

[g-unit1111]

That's the main idea behind using an SSD. In my workstation I'm running a 64GB Crucial M4 and a Samsung Spinpoint F3 and they work perfectly fine. I don't know about running a RAID-1 setup but when you install the drives the trick is to go into the BIOS and set your SSD as your primary, your optical as your secondary (for booting to OS install/repair) and then any additional storage you have as the third option.

When you start loading your SSD the main thing is you want to use it for your OS only, then offload all the larger files onto your second and third drives.

 

[roblaw42]

Does anyone know if an SSD is compatible with RAID-1 data drives?

 

[g-unit1111]

Does anyone know if an SSD is compatible with RAID-1 data drives?

That's not an issue. All drives made after 2009 use the same SATA-II or SATA-III interface - any motherboard will run any drive.

Now if you run your RAID setup off your RAID controller, then run your SSD off your motherboard - that's not an issue either. Just connect the SSD first, load Windows, all that stuff, then you hook up your RAID setup - set it as the secondary, and configure the drives in Windows.

 

[Eddie C]

Great choice in SSD by the way, most reliable one on the market right now, and from what I've seen in benchmarks, the fastest in terms of gaming, launching applications and most importantly, boot up.

But yeah, I've checked this up and it should be fine.

 

[RetiredChief]

Yes you can set the controller to raid and use both the SSD and the pair of HDDs in a raid1 configuration. As long as the SSD is NOT a member drive of a raid set trim will still be pased to the SSD.

Cavet - this provided they are on the Intel Sata port. Make sure the M4 is on the Sata III port for best performance.

 

[g-unit1111]

Yes you can set the controller to raid and use both the SSD and the pair of HDDs in a raid1 configuration. As long as the SSD is NOT a member drive of a raid set trim will still be pased to the SSD.

Cavet - this provided they are on the Intel Sata port. Make sure the M4 is on the Sata III port for best performance.

The way I usually set it - primary drive goes to SATA-0, optical drive 1 goes to SATA-1, second HD goes to SATA-2, third HD goes to SATA-3, and so on.n