A better option is to just make periodic backups (at whatever interval you need) with software such as Macrium Reflect and a separate drive.
As drives have become more reliable Raid is not used as often as it used to be. Raid 1 would appear to be a good option since both drives have the same data. However, if one of the Raid drives fails - for whatever reason - recovering with the second drive is not a simple task. I had a Raid 1 configuration at one time and my system got corrupted by a Windows update. Although only one of the drives was corrupted, I had to "jump through hoops" to get the good one restored to the point it was usable. Since then I no longer use Raid and just make the backups and have not had an issue if I needed to restore.
1. I have an XPS 8930 w an Intel Optane SSD installed. I would like to know if one could replace the Intel Optane with an NVMe-SSD
2. and then create a RAID 1 array with a SATA SSD of the same size, using the Intel Rapid Storage software that comes with the system? (I was able to create a RAID 1 using 2 hard drives with it)
Technically, you can RAID 1 two identical SSDs and it will work.
I, like the other commenters, don't think RAID is worth the trouble, though. The one exception with RAID 1 might be where system up-time and availability is critical or recovering intra-day data (meaning data not yet backed up) is important. This assumes when one drive in the array fails you can quickly identify the good drive, break the array and run with only the good drive until the bad one can be replaced and the mirroring rebuilt.
Considering the time I spent recovering from a Raid 1 corruption, I could have done a disc restore with Macrium Reflect and been back in business faster.
I'm a retired LAN/WAN Network Manager. If its mission critical, setup like we did with our LAN File Servers, set up automatic back up at night when the system is not being used. We did full drive backups, not incremental, every night. We tried a full backup on Monday night and incrementals the rest of the week but we found it was confusing and actually took more time to recover if there was a server problem.
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
March 31st, 2019 03:00
A better option is to just make periodic backups (at whatever interval you need) with software such as Macrium Reflect and a separate drive.
As drives have become more reliable Raid is not used as often as it used to be. Raid 1 would appear to be a good option since both drives have the same data. However, if one of the Raid drives fails - for whatever reason - recovering with the second drive is not a simple task. I had a Raid 1 configuration at one time and my system got corrupted by a Windows update. Although only one of the drives was corrupted, I had to "jump through hoops" to get the good one restored to the point it was usable. Since then I no longer use Raid and just make the backups and have not had an issue if I needed to restore.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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17.4K Posts
0
March 31st, 2019 11:00
1. Yes, you can.
2. No. No RAID. Just make them separate drives:
C: NVMe-SSD (for Windows ... bootable)
D: SATA-3/600-SSD
E: spinning HDD
... like that.
Techgee
2 Intern
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623 Posts
0
March 31st, 2019 13:00
Technically, you can RAID 1 two identical SSDs and it will work.
I, like the other commenters, don't think RAID is worth the trouble, though. The one exception with RAID 1 might be where system up-time and availability is critical or recovering intra-day data (meaning data not yet backed up) is important. This assumes when one drive in the array fails you can quickly identify the good drive, break the array and run with only the good drive until the bad one can be replaced and the mirroring rebuilt.
JFKMD
7 Posts
0
March 31st, 2019 14:00
Why not RAID?
It will not work or you do not recommend it?
JFKMD
7 Posts
0
March 31st, 2019 14:00
By identical SSDs, do you mean size or also type?
Since one will be an NVMe and the other is SATA, I was wondering if you can create a RAID with them?
System up time is critical in this case.
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
April 1st, 2019 03:00
Considering the time I spent recovering from a Raid 1 corruption, I could have done a disc restore with Macrium Reflect and been back in business faster.
I'm a retired LAN/WAN Network Manager. If its mission critical, setup like we did with our LAN File Servers, set up automatic back up at night when the system is not being used. We did full drive backups, not incremental, every night. We tried a full backup on Monday night and incrementals the rest of the week but we found it was confusing and actually took more time to recover if there was a server problem.