Vortex IV - RAID 0 on mSATA

[Artiom]

Hi!

I got a brand new Vortex IV 17 laptop at the beginning of March and I am wondering if it is possible to fit in there two mSATA SSDs to work in RAID0.
As this laptop is based on Clevo P170SM barebone - it is advertized to have 2 msata ports, but I found this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/740339-clevo-p170sm-raid-0-msata-port-4-fail-2.html
There users complain that the second mSATA port is not stable, however this should have been fixed in the newest motherboard revisions.

I am interested to know if someone tried such setup recently and if there are any pitfalls as it is better to gather as much information as possible before spending money.

Thank you for attention.

 

[ubuysa]

Personally I don't see the point of RAID 0 on two SSDs. RAID 0 is a performance aid, striping data across two drives, but SSDs offer such excellent response times (and also cost quite a bit) that RAID 0 doesn't seem like a sensible choice to me. Perhaps I'm missing something?

RAID 1 might make sense for availability reasons but then I wouldn't be using an SSD as a mirror drive, partly because it's fractionally less reliable than an HDD but also because of the cost cost.

If I had two SSDs I'd use one for Windows and programs and the other for high performance data.

 

[mantadog]

Might I ask why you would need 2 SSD's in RAID 0? You will not notice the difference in every day usages, unless you have a specific need then I wouldn't bother. As for if its technically possible, I have no idea.

 

[Artiom]

Thank you for responses.
The laptop is used for both gaming and as a workstation. I am working as a developer and I need to work on huge projects - so I want to squeeze as much performance as possible from it.
Basically the usage pattern is the following:
1. Developing projects with lots (hundreds of thousands) of small files.
2. Running several virtual machines at the same time.
3. Programming GPU-intensive graphics (as hobby).
4. Occasionally playing games.

I was thinking to buy 2x120GB mSATA SSDs for the host os, along with all needed tools (and, probably projects), then, over time to add 2x2.5" SSD for virtual machines. As a "big" storage a NAS can be used.
What do you think?

 

[mantadog]

The best people to ask if it's even possible would be PCS. I really have no idea.

Hmm most of that will run just fine from a single SSD, the only doubt I would have is over the 1st point. It depends how you need to load those files. If its just a case of loading small files bit by bit as you need them then a single SSD excels at that specific task. Best start by asking PCS directly if its possible, then I would try it with a single SSD and if that doesn't work upgrade to a 2nd.

Have you used a SSD before?

 

[Artiom]

Yes, currently it has one 2.5" 120GB SSD (which is not enough) and a 2.5" 500GB HDD for storage.
Anyway, currently I'm interested if the second mSATA port works fine or not - everything else can be decided later.
Thank you for help.

 

[mantadog]

I have found various conflicting advice from google, so I can only suggest asking PCS directly if they know of any reason why it wouldn't work.

 

[ubuysa]

When in doubt I fall back on the KISS principle; Keep It Simple Stupid.

BTW. I'm not calling you stupid or even hinting it, stupid is just the last S in KISS. Oh heck, I wish I'd never started now.