XPS700 with preformance raid / adding storage drive ??????

Question

I want to add a storage drive (300- 500 GB) to my new system with Serial ATA 2 RAID 0 With Dual 320GB Hard Drives.
Since this is my first computer with a Raid set up I am assuming that I will need to get a SATA drive but what other considerations do I need to think of?? Also does anyone know how many additional drive I can add to the XPS700 with this setup? I thought the machine would hold four drives and could the two ( 3rd & 4th ) additional drived be in a raid configuration??

krdomingue · Answer

You can easly add two more SATA hard drives and depending on what is in your floppy drive bays, you could add a PATA hard drive also.

Considerations:

SATA is better than PATA,
Speed, at least 7200 RPM,
Disk Cashe, 300 MB,
Size: As much disk space as your wallet can handle, although the smaller the drive the less search time.

You can have only one set of RAID drives, although you can set up 4 drives in a RAID 0 configuration. Don't know why you would want to do that. 4 drives on RAID 0 mean 4 times as likely to loose your data due to drive failure. You would also loose all your data converting your current RAID drives.

My order came with a set of 500GB Raid 1 drives, I have added a 500GB drive fro media storage and will eventually add a 4th 500 GB drive as I need it and prices come down on them.

dwlovell · Answer

You can add more drives to the RAID array, but you have to break the array and rebuild it with the new drives, which means that any existing data/OS will need to be backed up and reinstalled after you create the new array that spans all the disks. You also need all the disks to be the same size/speed if you dont want to lose capacity on the disks or speed by the array downgrading to the speed of the slowest drive.   Pros of creating a new RAID set with 4 drives:   - 4x read/write speed with 4 drives instead of just 2x with 2 drives - sounds cool when you tell your friends - ability to just have one big C: if you want (this is subject to opinion)   Cons of creating a new RAID set with 4 drives   - as krd mentioned, if have a single drive failure, the entire array goes down, losing all 4 drives worth of data - more cumbersome to remove a data drive from the system. (ie: you have to rebuild the array anytime you remove/add drives.)   What I recommend is to leave your first two drives in RAID 0 for speed of OS/applications, then add the two new drives and maybe put them in a RAID 1 (mirror). You sacrifice one drive's worth of space because its mirroring the data in two places, but you get enhanced performance for reads and either drive can fail without losing any data. If any drive fails, you just send it back to dell for a replacement and then replace in your machine and the RAID controller can rebuild the mirror to the replaced drive so you can continue to have the protection.   krd says you can only have one RAID array on the XPS 700, but most RAID controllers i have seen allow you to create multiple arrays. You might need to confirm in the manual or the RAID config program to be sure.   -David

jstchilln · Answer

I looked in the manual and will have to look again. I have added drives in the past but I think this will be a lot more difficult.

krdomingue · Answer

@dwlovell wrote:

krd says you can only have one RAID array on the XPS 700, but most RAID controllers i have seen allow you to create multiple arrays. You might need to confirm in the manual or the RAID config program to be sure.

-David

When I asked this question I was told it was either/or, but not both. I actually wanted to set up two RAID 1's. The manual does't say you can, but it doesn't specifically say you can't. I would be interested to hear if anybody was successful at setting up two seperate RAID arrays. Even if you can, I don't think I would set up a RAID 1 with a RAID 0 secondary. I don't need the extra read/write time it would give and I am leary of adding to the likely hood of a disk failure.

XPS Gamer · Answer

You should be able to create two separate arrays.  If you wanted two RAID 1 arrays, you would have to completely reformat your machine.  If you are going to add two more hard drives, they include the power connectors, but not the data cables.

krdomingue · Answer

Cabling isn't a problem. I have data and power cables for 2 extra SATA hard drives (total 4 SATA hard drives and 2 SATA optical drives) in my XPS 700, plus there is a spare ide cable. I just want to hear from somebody that was sucessful at setting up two seperate arrays. I am not interested in being the first on to try.

XPS Gamer · Answer

According to Page 26 of the manual, you can create RAID 0 and RAID 1 configurations.  RAID 0 arrays up to 4 hard drives and RAID 1 arrays up to 2 drives.  Like I said earlier, if you want two RAID 1 arrays, you will need to delete your RAID 0 array, create 2 separate RAID 1 arrays, and reinstall Windows, Drivers, and Programs on one of the arrays.  The manual also gives step by step directions on how to create an array successfully.

krdomingue · Answer

I don't want to sound snippy, but if you haven't done it or know of somebody who has, then don't be so sure it can be done. The manual says you can set up a RAID 0 and it says you can set up a RAID 1, it does not say you can set up multiple RAID arrays at the same time. It doesn't say you can't, but it doesn't say you can. I have learned the hard way not to assume things like this. You may also notice that Dell doesn't offer a preset multiple array XPS 700 system. That doesn't mean it can't be done, but it isn't a good indication. As I said before, when I asked, Dell said it can't be done. But of course, that wouldn't be the first time I got a wrong answer from a Dell CSR.

I just want to hear from somebody that has actually done it.

dwlovell · Answer

I agree with you krd. Generally when you post to a forum you are asking for confirmation from people who have done it, not responses that say 'It should work'.   That being said, I have used a lot of RAID controllers and I have never seen one that only allowed 1 array to be created.   I also got my XPS 410 yesterday and went into the RAID manager and it looks like it is the stock Intel Matrix Storage Technology RAID controller and it has options that say to create/delete arrays and there is a place where it lists your arrays and it actual says something like 'Raid Volumes:' or 'Raid Arrays:' in plural, so at least there is the implication that it would support multiple arrays.   I wont be using RAID until I buy some more drives, so I cannot test it for now. One other thing I am curious about is whether yo u can create multiple RAID volumes on a single set of two drives. ie: some controllers allow a configuration like the below:   - 2 physical 100GB drives - Create one RAID 0 volume using 20GB of each disk, total 40GB - Create one RAID 0 volume using 80GB of each disk, total 160GB   This configuration has some caching advantages as well as the OS will actually see the two volumes as distinct disks instead of just a single 200GB disk that you have to partition in the OS, but its not a huge difference, I just wonder if it works.   When I get my hands on a few more identical drives, I will try all these options and let you guys know what happens.   My ideal config that I am going to setup is: 1 Raptor WD740ADFD 16 MB cache - 10,000 rpm -> non-raid single drive only -> for app/OS speed 2 Dell 320GB 16MB cache 7200 rpm drives -> RAID 1 (mirror) as my data safe drive   I would possibly do RAID 0 with two raptors, but tests have shown its not really faster for random seeks used by most games and I would need to remove both floppy and media card reader to fit them in the 410. with 3 drives i only need to remove the floppy.   -David

XPS Gamer · Answer

If you don't want to take my advise, then fine.  It will work, if you don't believe me wait until someone eventually posts with the same answer.  My XPS Gen 3 has multiple arrays (RAID 0 and RAID 1), so it would not be advantageous for Dell to strip that functionality off of a high end $5000 machine.  I have done many RAID arrays in the past and know that if you have enough ports on the RAID controller, then it will support multiple arrays.  Your XPS has 6 ports on the motherboard, 2 are being used for optical drives and 4 are for hard drives.  It just comes down to whether or not you are comfortable with configuring RAID volumes and reloading your operating system.

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XPS700 with preformance raid / adding storage drive ??????

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