This post is more than 5 years old
1 Rookie
•
16 Posts
0
33341
April 13th, 2014 12:00
XPS15 - Changing mSATA SSD to RAID1 data partition instead of Intel Rapid Start
Hello,
I just got an XPS15 9530 with the 1TB HDD and 32GB mSATA SSD that is supposedly used for the Intel Rapid Start / Rapid Storage Technologies.
I have taken partition backup images of all partitions using the USB based Clonezilla Live tool before I first booted into Windows and did the initial configuration process.
Now I am thinking about disabling the Intel Rapid Start/Storage and instead using the 32GB mSATA SSD for creating a 32GB RAID 1 array using the SSD and an appropriately sized HDD partition.
Obviously this is going to give me a longer bootup time, but I would gain a 32GB data partition that is protected against data loss by a RAID1 setup in case the HDD should fail, which is a lot more important to me.
Ideally, I would like to encrypt that RAID1 data partition with Truecrypt and also access it from a Linux system which I want to install on the machine as well.
As far as I understand (correct me if I'm wrong), there is the choice between setting up the RAID1 either using a lower level RAID functionality that is part of the BIOS or using Windows 8 storage spaces.
Since I want to be able to access the data from Linux as well, anything that requires Windows is a no-go.
I have already reduced the original Windows 8.1 OS partition to a size of about 150GB, so there is enough free space on the HDD.
The Windows OS is still pretty much untouched, so I wouldn't mind doing this in a way that requires setting up the OS once again from scratch using my images, but I would prefer a way in which the current Windows system will "survive".
This is the basic idea, but I have some questions about the details that I am not yet clear about:
1. How do I set up the RAID1 between the SSD and the HDD partition in a way that it becomes accessible from Linux? What settings do I need to change in the BIOS, and how do I access the management interface for the low level BIOS RAID functionality? Do I boot into Windows and use the Intel Storage Manager to create the RAID1? Or would that create the RAID in a way that I will be locked into Windows again to access the partition?
2. Will I run into problems setting up Linux (probably some Ubuntu flavour) as a second OS due to the fact that this is a GPT rather than a traditional MBR setup? It was no problem accessing the system from a Linux based Clonezilla Live system, but that was booted from a USB stick, not installed on the HDD.
3. Windows offers a "Reset Windows" feature that somehow wipes everything and restores the original state the way it was before I first turned on the laptop. I assume that it has a separate bootable partition with a recovery system and a system image for that, but am not sure about the details (which partition(s) is the recovery system and the image on). Once I am done, will this still work or will my Clonezilla images be the only way to restore that original state?
Thank you,
MSA
M.S.A.
1 Rookie
•
16 Posts
0
April 25th, 2014 00:00
Here is an update after talking to Dell and Intel support:
Either both drives have to be HDDs or both have to be SDDs.
ejn63
11 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
•
321.3K Points
0
April 13th, 2014 15:00
RAID 1 at the hardware level requires a pair of matched-size drives -- or, if you use two unmatched sizes, will result in a total that's the size of the smaller drive. You WILL NOT be able to run Windows in a 32 G partition for very long - it's too small.
You cannot set up a RAID 1 mirror between the SSD and a 32G partition on the hard drive for that reason.
Whether Linux will work in GPT mode alongside Windows 8 depends on the Linux distribution.
M.S.A.
1 Rookie
•
16 Posts
0
April 13th, 2014 23:00
Just to clarify: I do have a 150GB OS partition on the HDD, which I will keep as OS partition - no RAID here.
The RAID1 partition will be for data only - documents, files, etc. No OS or installed programs.
ejn63
11 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
•
321.3K Points
0
April 14th, 2014 06:00
To set up RAID 1, as above, you will need an SSD that's the same size as your hard drive -- even then, it makes little sense, since you're basically constraining a fast SSD to run at the speed of a relatively slow hard drive.
M.S.A.
1 Rookie
•
16 Posts
0
April 14th, 2014 11:00
I think it just dawned on me where our disconnect might be:
Does the RAID1 need to be set up for entire disks rather than individual partitions?
In old Linux software raids you could create raw RAID-type partitions (rather than whole disks) and then group those in RAID0 / RAID1 / RAID5 and format those with whatever FS you wanted.
I though the same would be possible here:
Have Disk0 (1 TB HDD) with a 150GB OS partition and a 32GB "raw RAID" (or whatever we call them) partition.
Have Disk1 (32GB SDD) with a 32GB "raw RAID" partition.
Then group together both 32GB raw RAID partitions in a RAID1, formatted with NTFS.
Use the 150GB OS partition as is and whatever other space is left on that 1TB for whatever else (LInux OS, data, ...)
Of course, if you can only RAID entire disks rather than just portions of them, then that won't work... Is that the case?
ejn63
11 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
•
321.3K Points
0
April 14th, 2014 12:00
Hardware RAID mirrors at the physical disc level, which is why you cannot do that.
Software RAID is another matter - and though RAID1 at the drive level provides redundancy, such that you can replace a drive that fails, software RAID doesn't - if the OS fails to load for any reason, the redundancy is rendered essentially useless.