7 Posts
0
1600
November 28th, 2021 17:00
XPS 8940, RAID options
Hey folks,
Looking for some validation on the RAID options I have. I'm proficient with software, but just now getting into hardware.
I'm looking to create a media/gaming machine and would like to have a few things:
- SSD for boot drive at a minimum. Preferably SSD for everything
- 4TB storage
- RAID 1 or RAID 5 for data redundancy. I don't need huge performance all the time, but I need the system responsive when I use it.
What are my raid options? Are all the below possible?
- Initially I was considering a 4TB SSD with a two way mirror onto a 4TB HDD. After more reading, I learned that this would slow down the whole thing, unless I get an Aptec controller, which I don't even know will work.
- 2 4TB SSDs. Would re-install windows and then setup RAID I assume. Expensive and probably not worth it for me. Not sure if I can make 2 SSDs work on this machine
- Keep the original 250GB SSD as a boot disk and setup 2 4TB HDDs in RAID. Slow and cheap. This seems like the most reasonable option right now. I could re-install windows on a 2TB SSD for a little more space for things I don't need mirrored all the time.
- 3 2TB in RAID 5 setup. Seems like the ideal setup. Cheap enough and fast
Looking at the 8940 specs, I see one M.2 SSD slot and 3 SATA slots.
Option 4 seems like the best one for me, but I see only one M.2 slot for an SSD. Can I get some cheap hardware to be able to use 3 SSDs into that one slot without a huge performance hit?
Otherwise, option 3 seems like the least headache.
Appreciate any thoughts and suggestions
No Events found!
vampircho
7 Posts
0
November 29th, 2021 16:00
I ended up deciding to use a 2TB SSD in the M.2 slot with an 8TB 3.5 drive to replace the smaller drives that came with the machine. SSD will be the boot disk, while the HDD will be used for media and less used applications.
Will use a nightly backup of both disks to an external drive instead of RAID.
vampircho
7 Posts
0
November 28th, 2021 17:00
Adding to the original post:
I don't technically need RAID, just a way to have a backup. Nightly would be fine.
This machine will be always/mostly on as I may host some websites on it.
Would a 4TB SSD with a backup to a HDD be good enough for me? What software or approach should I take to make this as efficient as possible? Maybe something that could do daily delta writes for efficiency?
vampircho
7 Posts
0
November 28th, 2021 18:00
Will keep adding to this as I dig more.
Can I setup raid 5 with 3 M.2 SSDs using the M.2 SSD slot and 2 of the PCIe slots using an adapter such as this one? Will this have a performance loss?
These 2TB SSDs are pretty cheap for cyber Monday ($200).