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    Earliest Thinkpad with RAID option?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by a1z, Aug 7, 2009.

  1. a1z

    a1z Newbie

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    Which Thinkpad is the earliest model with SATA RAID option?

    A quick Google search says TP w700 is the one that provides support for 2 hdds as well as RAID 0 and/or RAID 1 option. Am I correct? I know the risk of RAID 0, but has anyone tried RAID 0 on a TP and saw stability of the system?

    Thanks in advance for any comment.
     
    a1z, Aug 7, 2009
    #1
  2. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    I think raid has to supported on the hardware side and the W700 is the first to do so unless someone cares to prove me wrong. Due to being priced like ThinkPads of yore, not many have one here.
     
    ZaZ, Aug 7, 2009
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  3. AuroraAlpha

    AuroraAlpha Notebook Consultant

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    The w700 is the first 17" model ever made for the Thinkpad line and thus the first one that could fit two internal harddrives reqiured for RAID.

    That said you can use the ultra-bay caddy to have RAID on any Thinkpad, but its not exactly convient for most people.
     
    AuroraAlpha, Aug 7, 2009
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  4. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

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    HDDs in the UltraBay do not support RAID. The W700 is the first Thinkpad to house 2 HDDs not counting the UltraBay drive, so it is the first Thinkpad to have RAID support.
     
    MidnightSun, Aug 7, 2009
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  5. a1z

    a1z Newbie

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    The BIOS of w700 must have an option to configure AHCI, "Compatible", SATA, RAID 0 and RAID 1 when 2 HDDs are installed. Correct?

    Otherwise, I don't want to see a BIOS withhoding the options to configure the system, as seen in VAIO and Toshiba laptops' BIOSes.

    Thanks in advance.
     
    a1z, Aug 8, 2009
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  6. jonlumpkin

    jonlumpkin NBR Transmogrifier

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    I suppose you could use software RAID in Linux on an earlier model, but that's not really RAID anyway.
     
    jonlumpkin, Aug 9, 2009
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  7. zephir

    zephir Notebook Deity

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    You can do software RAID in Windows as well, via Disk Management.
     
    zephir, Aug 9, 2009
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