To RAID 0 or not RAID 0 in new Gigabyte laptop

[Xia Qin]

I just purchased a Gigabyte P35K laptop and have been debating whether or not to implement RAID 0. The computer will have 2 256gb mSATA SSD and one 7200rpm ATA HD for storage. I was interested in establishing a RAID with the 2 SSD.

Following conversations with sales staff, I am of the impression that the seller does not have a lot of confidence in the reliability of the RAIDs implemented in its laptops. My understanding is that this has to do with the reliability of the RAID adapter. (Frankly, I am uncertain whether the P35K uses software or hardware RAID.) Given what I am paying for my system, I would like to maximize performance. I would be willing to accept some risk that the array would fail in the future. With good backup, this would not be a huge concern. However, if I could expect the RAID to fail repeatedly, then it would not be worth it.

I would love to hear others' experiences with regard to RAID 0 reliability in laptops. Should I avoid implementing RAID 0?

 

[Dereck47]

There's nothing inherent about a RAID-0 array that will cause drive failure; your odds of drive failure increase when you drives in a RAID array.

That being said, there's no real-world performance benefits to having 2 256GB SSDs in RAID-0.
Here's an article on the subject: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html

 

[Xia Qin]

Thanks for the prompt response. Based on the P35K manual, I have read that the system uses bios RAID. My understanding is that bios RAID performs poorly compared to hardware RAID and can even be worse than single (non-RAID) disks. Is this correct?

 

[Dereck47]

There are 3 types of ways a RAID array can be created:

Software RAID: The RAID array is created by the Operating System (Windows)
Firmware RAID: The RAID array is created by the motherboard's BIOS
Hardware RAID: The RAID array is created by a RAID controller card that connects to a PCIe slot on the motherboard
Here's an example of a hardware RAID card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118107

To get the best performance (benchmark) from SSDs in a RAID array, hardware RAID is the best, but it is also the most expensive.

Since the P35K is a laptop, your only RAID options are software (Windows) and firmware (BIOS).

Create your RAID array with your BIOS.