XPS m1730 RAID question

Apologies if this question seems overly newbie-like for some people but:

I'm buying an XPS m1730. The highest I can afford right now is the £2000 stock option with RAID 0 drives. And then only because it's on discount.

Is it possible to disable RAID and use the hard drives seperately? What are the possible drawbacks to doing so?

If anyone could answer these queries for me, I'd be most grateful.

 

Yes, you can disable RAID by resetting the HDD during the startup process. However, doing so will wipe your HDD clean. That means, you will have to reinstall everything using the provided reinstall DVD. You have to reinstall your OS, and all its driver (drivers can be found on dell's website). This is actually not difficult even for a noob like me, but you need time.

Drawbacks that I could think of is lower performance for your HDD, cause RAID 0 will improve your HDD performance. If you are worry about partitioning, you can do so even in RAID when you reinstall your OS. So, I don't really see the point of disabling the RAID, unless you want to change from RAID 1 to RAID 0.

In addition, I would like to point out to you that I've heard problems with the 8700M SLI. I do not know if it's true, but I seriously think you should reconsider that. I personally went for the 8800M SLI.

 

Ah, do I have the option to disable during reinstall, or is it in a BIOS option somewhere?

Edit: CKH, I don't think I have to worry then, my stock model has the 8800's in SLI.

Edit again: Oh, you said startup process, which is most likely the BIOS functions.

Really I want to disable RAID because, well, call me weird but it seems somewhat risky having a setup that can ruin a lot of data if one teeny things messes up. I might try keeping it on for a while to see if I change my mind, and to see if it's more stable than I thought, but it's good to know I have the option of disabling it.

Thanks for the input, it's much appreciated.

 

Basically, when you startup the pc, it starts with the DELL logo and 2 option, F2 for setup (BIOS) F12 for (i forgot what this is). Then it continues with the next screen, here you press CTRL + I to enter the INTEL RAID thing. This is where you are given option to delete a RAID volume, reset HDD to non-raid, or create a new RAID volume. After you reset the HDD, go to BIOS and set the SATA to (any of the other 2 besides "RAID on"). Finally exit bios, and do your usual reformatting.

If you want to enable RAID again, you have to go to BIOS and set SATA to "RAID on". Then go to the INTEL RAID thing I mentioned earlier to create a RAID volume (note that this also wipes everything on the HDD). Then, continue with usual reformat.

 

Okay. Thanks very much for clearing that up for me - it was a great help.