Esata pcmcia express slot + raid for laptop ??

[WarraWarra]

Question:
Is this a good idea below or a waist of time / money ?? Plz feel free to suggest better options.
What ? :
Esata pcmcia express card slot for laptop + external esata 2 / 4 / 5 bay hd encolsure + decent hd's say wd4000kd's and possibly raid 5 or 10 or whatever might work ?

Alternatively:
Might have to travel with it , weight ? , 160gb 7200rpm sata laptop hd's in raid via external something ??? if this is possible.

Purpose:
Needed for good speed + med security of data + I can boot of any usb / firewire / ?? devices not sure about esata express card pcmcia slot devices.

Laptop: Dell e1705 , t2600 2.16ghz core duo , 7800gtx 256mb , pathetic sata 33MB/s 60gb 5400rpm laptop hd , 2gb g-skill 667mhz , 17" 1440x900 , 130w psu + heavy duty laptop battery.
Future upgrades = intel x7800 cpu + nvidia 7950 gtx 512mb .

Thanks for the advice / help.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Ya.
Get 7.2k rpm hard drive of the largest size you can afford (fastest).
Get an external USB hard drive for backups. RAID is not a backup solution!

Good to go.

 

[WarraWarra]

Thanks for the help.
Now to find a comparision chart showng which of the pcmcia express cards actually works propperly / is the best bang for the buck's .

 

[WarraWarra]

I might have found a solution.
There is 2 makers both has 2 hd's per enclosure boxes and sata out or esata , waiting on 1 for info http://www.american-media.com/product/external/ds/ds.html
They have a ds3 model that can do sata but not sure what is going on on their website.
( ds-2316su2sbk )

Thecus = this looks like a winner for what I need = 2.87 lbs no hd's , 2hd bays + raid inbuilt controller for both raid 0 and 1 via a switch at the back + 1 esata out port , 2x usb as well + external psu cable same as laptop.
Price is about us$130 bit high but not a problem and if the express card is useless for doing raid but still functiones as normal 2 port sata , then this box already has the raid in = bonus or if both raids work = easy upgrade = buy 2nd thecus + 2 more hd's LOL.
Some express cards has had issues being raid / 2 port capable and so you might end up stuck with us$30 more expensive part and still has 2 esata ports on the card , same as cheaper express card esata adapter.

Looks like budget of us$30 -> us$65 for the esata express card with 2 ports raid or non raid card , us$130 + shipping for the Thecus and then either 2x us$80.00 + shipping for wd4000kd's or maybe something faster.
Total: us$380.00 or less inc. shipping

http://www.thecus.com/products_over.php?cid=1&pid=3
Pics:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822102002
Included free desktop pci type slot sata card 5* us$30 value not bad.

Now I just hope this works in both linux / xp pro sp2 and or has decent speed. Esata parts chip hunting for linux compat.

Edit:
PS> I might now be able to use Xp Pro and still run vmware / virtualbox and linux inside these virtual pc softwares + now have better performance rock on yeah.