Raid 0 on a laptop?

[feridoun]

Hello

My new Acer Aspire 1682 wlmi has two 30GB hardisks and I was wondering if
anyone has experience or ideas on how to convert it into a Raid 0
configuration?


Also what's the best to back up the files already on there.... will an image
work on a reconfigured hard disk?

Thanks!
--

 

[old jon]

Hello

My new Acer Aspire 1682 wlmi has two 30GB hardisks and I was wondering if
anyone has experience or ideas on how to convert it into a Raid 0
configuration?


Also what's the best to back up the files already on there.... will an
image work on a reconfigured hard disk?

Thanks!
--

My personal choice would be to keep them seperate. If C: goes down, D: is
still OK.
best wishes..OJ

 

[Joe]

Your laptop does not have two 30 gig drives. It has one 60 gig that has been
partitioned into two 30 gig partitions and it would be possible to remove
the partitioning and have one 60 gig drive.

Joe

 

[feridoun]

Thanks, that makes sense! I don't see why Acer split it up in the first
place... maybe it makes it easier for them to install their stuff.

 

[kony]

Hello

My new Acer Aspire 1682 wlmi has two 30GB hardisks and I was wondering if
anyone has experience or ideas on how to convert it into a Raid 0
configuration?

The experience is that you dont' have two drives but if you
did, you should not RAID0 them.

Also what's the best to back up the files already on there.... will an image
work on a reconfigured hard disk?

Depends on how you reconfigure it, and whether the image
program is set to only restore the image contents or also
recreate the partition.

Generally speaking, you're better off not relying on images.
If you can get a full WIndows CD (just copy someone's CD,
that is not illegal as the license is tied to use not the
media it came on) that works with YOUR license that came
with the notebook. In other words, your installation key
would have to work for it to be valid.

 

[kony]

Thanks, that makes sense! I don't see why Acer split it up in the first
place... maybe it makes it easier for them to install their stuff.

.... because OEMs like to just wipe out the whole OS
partition before a full restoration. That requires having
at least one 2nd parititon for the (data, image, drivers,
whatever is necessary to implement the rest of their
particular strategy). Some OEMs make the 2nd partition much
smaller and hide it, like Dell.

 

[JF]

X-No-Archive: yes

Thanks, that makes sense! I don't see why Acer split it up in the first
place... maybe it makes it easier for them to install their stuff.

Because you top-posted I cannot quote parts of the other relevant post
without cut and pasting and I really can't be bothered to compensate for
your inconsiderate posting style.

The thought of backing up a 60 gigabyte drive doesn't bear thinking
about. Logical drives within large partitions are a more sensible
approach. One for applications in which your source discs or application
discs provide the necessary back up material; another for data you've
produced relating to those applications such as a drive for pictures (if
you're into digital photography for example). One for sound files or
reference works such as CD-ROM encyclopaedias such as Grolier in which
one clones the entire CD-ROM into a logical drive and then installs the
work in the normal manner using the reference work's logical drive as
the pseudo CD-ROM drive.

Please don't top-post.

 

[feridoun]

X-No-Archive: yes


Because you top-posted I cannot quote parts of the other relevant post
without cut and pasting and I really can't be bothered to compensate for
your inconsiderate posting style.

The thought of backing up a 60 gigabyte drive doesn't bear thinking about.
Logical drives within large partitions are a more sensible approach. One
for applications in which your source discs or application discs provide
the necessary back up material; another for data you've produced relating
to those applications such as a drive for pictures (if you're into digital
photography for example). One for sound files or reference works such as
CD-ROM encyclopaedias such as Grolier in which one clones the entire
CD-ROM into a logical drive and then installs the work in the normal
manner using the reference work's logical drive as the pseudo CD-ROM
drive.

Please don't top-post.

--

As I've only got a baseline setup at the moment, with compression the back
up only came to 10gb which i stored across a network connection on to my old
desktop.

I then used Paritition Magic to merge the drives, with no loss of data. I
can now easily transfer My Documents from the old desktop to the new
computer without fear of running out of space.

Thanks for all of your suggestions.

 

[feridoun]

My new Acer Aspire 1682 wlmi has two 30GB hardisks and I was wondering if

The experience is that you dont' have two drives but if you
did, you should not RAID0 them.

I thought RAID0 gives better performance (plus a larger disk area), why
isn't it a good option?

 

[Pen]

Because if either drive dies all data is lost.
Go here and read about RAID;
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAID.html

 

[kony]

I thought RAID0 gives better performance (plus a larger disk area), why
isn't it a good option?

Because that results in all mass storage being lost with
either drive (if there had been two) failing. Any
well-engineered data storage should have at least a minimal
level of redundancy. IF you are aggressively backing up
that data to other drives, that might be sufficient- I can't
make that call but always err towards a conservative stance
when it comes to other people's data.

RAID does not give more disk area, you always end up with
the same amount or less depending on RAID level. If you
meant a single larger partition, most advanced users find
that the opposite of desireable.

Further, with two physical drives it's usually faster to
allocate usage of the two such that while performing a job,
both drives are in use for different purposes. For example,
one drive has OS, the other apps, and whichever is least
burdened, the application data. Within more demanding apps,
the source and destinations for larger files can be split
between the two physical drives too. This does not apply to
mutiple partitions on same drive nearly as much as different
drives.

Add to that the real possiblity of drive failure due to the
more harsh environment due to the mobility of laptops and
the risk escalates.

 

[Chris van Bladel]

I thought RAID0 gives better performance (plus a larger disk area), why
isn't it a good option?

because laptops commanly have one harddisk. This harddisk is partitioned
in to two drives (but still one physical drive).

The poster could create one large disk, but in most casses the second
partition is used for recovery and backup so you don't want to remove
that partition.