How to "fuse" 2 SSD drive

Guys, I just bought the new Razer Blade and want to install two SSD drives that I want Windows to recognize as only one drive. It should arrive on Monday, So I want to prepare as best I can (this is my first time modifying a computer, much less a laptop). So read through the thread by Cyanide:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/oth...ger-msata-ssd-2nd-gen-razer-blade-w-pics.html

I will follow it to the letter. But I intend to install these guys:

1) Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD3 mSATA 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive that I bought on NewEgg ( Newegg.ca - Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD3 mSATA 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD))
2) Crucial M4 CT512M4SSD2BAA 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive ( Newegg.ca - Crucial M4 CT512M4SSD2BAA 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD))

But I was wondering, do I need to do anything extra so that the Motherboard can recognize both drives? Then, how do I make sure that Windows recognize both as only one?




Also, I really do not like Windows 8. So if I follow what Cyanide wrote, when it is time to reinstall the OS, can I plug in a DVD-drive with a DVD of Windows 7 Ultimate?



Finally, do I only need to install the drivers from the page as to complete my Blade configuration:

Razer Support

and

Razer Support


Oops! I almost forgot: is there a sequence that I have to follow when I install these Razer softwares and drivers?


Thanks in advance for your advice, guys!

 

You don't need the firmware updater, just the drivers on the 2nd link.

As far as sequence, I would do both chipset drivers first, then video card (both Intel HD graphics and the nVidia one), then USB > Bluetooth > Audio and WLAN last.

You do not need the Dataplex or Rapid Storage Technology if you're installing 2 SSDs.

 

Thanks for answering man!

This my first try, so I want to be as prepared as can be.

 

I would like to know how everything went.

 

as they are different sized drives, you cant run them as a raid if the bios even offers it (i cant remember if it does or not) but the easiest way if it works, is to convert them to dynamic disks after the install and then extend to the other ssd to join as one. i dont play with dynamic disks all that often but if i recall correctly, if you install in uefi mode you can boot from them.

the process would be as such.

when you are installing make sure you are booting in uefi mode (if you are creating a bootable usb disk with win 7 or win 8 it needs to be fat32, ntfs will not allow boot from uefi) select your flash drive from the boot menu but make sure it says uefi (ie mine is kingston, and gives two options boot kingston or boot uefi kingson)

after the install starts when it gets to the point where it says install hit shift + f10 to open a command promt
get into diskpart with the diskpart command which might take a little time to give you the prompt afterwards

when it does type list disk which will show you all the disks in your system and the two you want should be disk 0 and disk 1 most likely but verify by checking size

type select disk 0 or select disk 1 (or whichever ones the two ssd's are)

type clean which will erase the data and partition information from the drives if anything is there already (not that i need to say it, but this will delete ALL YOUR DATA so if theres something there already back it up first)

type convert gpt which will convert the disk to gpt

type select disk 1 or 0 (again depending on which ones list disk showed as being the ssds and also being the opposite of what you selected in the other step)

type clean

type convert gpt

at this point, if you type list disk you should have the list come back up and it should show that both disks are in gpt format. you can convert to dynamic from this but i dont really like doing it from here as sometimes windows installer balks at trying to install to a dyn disk.

type exit

and either type exit a second time or just close the command prompt

click on install and when you get to the part where it selects the disk to install to, if everything is working out fine you should just be able to select the disk and click next (dont hit new as it sometimes will reconvert it to mbr instead of gpt)
if it doesnt allow you to install to your chosen disk you can try to refresh the screen with the rescan or refresh button whichever it is, or chances are you did not run the installer in uefi mode which the blade might not be able to do im not sure on this one, though i think it can.

if everything works out, and you are at the part of the installer that has the list of things its doing and shows the percent completed, if you hit shift f10 again and enter diskpart and type list disk you can verify that both disks are still gpt format (you only really need to verify that the disk you chose (i assume the msata ssd) is gpt as the other you can technically do from within windows.

once install is completed and you are able to use windows, if you go into disk management (right click on computer, select manage and then when the management console loads click on disk management)

right click on the ssd that has your system on it and select convert to dynamic disk

i forget at this point what you do, so you either need to convert the second disk to dynamic first then extend the first disk to the second disk, or you might be able to just extend the first disk without converting afterwards.

in any case. after the process is done, you should have one larger drive that should show as around 700+gb of storage instead of a 256 and a 512gb

hope this helps and let us know how it goes.



for what its worth, the same process can be used to create a software mirror in windows as well.