[SOLVED] Need Hard Drive Purchasing Advice

[Slybelle]

Hi, my son has an old Alienware computer. I've upgraded the graphics card and now it's in need of a third hard drive. What he has is:

Alienware Aurora ALX + TactX Headset	​
317-4088​	1​	Overclocked Intel Core i7 930 QC (3.36GHz, 8MB Cache)

Hard drives:
1TB RAID 0 (2x500GB) SATA II (3Gb/s) Solid State Hybrid, 7200RPM

Any help is appreciated. I'd like to keep it under $200 if possible. Thanks!
~Vikki

 

[General Kenobi]

Hi, my son has an old Alienware computer. I've upgraded the graphics card and now it's in need of a third hard drive. What he has is:

Alienware Aurora ALX + TactX Headset	​
317-4088​	1​	Overclocked Intel Core i7 930 QC (3.36GHz, 8MB Cache)

Hard drives:
1TB RAID 0 (2x500GB) SATA II (3Gb/s) Solid State Hybrid, 7200RPM

Any help is appreciated. I'd like to keep it under $200 if possible. Thanks!
~Vikki

You could get a 1tb ssd and if you want more storage get a 2tb hdd

Ssd;
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX50...500+ssd&qid=1603897894&sprefix=1TB+MX5&sr=8-3

 

[USAFRet]

Any help is appreciated. I'd like to keep it under $200 if possible. Thanks!
~Vikki

$200 =
1x 1TB Crucial MX500 $115
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NAND-SATA-Internal/dp/B077SF8KMG
+
1x 2TB HDD $55
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-Internal-Drive-3-5-Inch/dp/B07H2RR55Q

No RAID at all..

or
2x 1TB MX500. $230
Again, no RAID.

 

[Slybelle]

Thank you. Seems the 2tb may not fit so I'll go with the 1tb
How do i make sure I can add another hd?
Lastly is RAID something needed? He games a lot.

 

[geofelt]

It is not clear to me exactly what your unit looks like.
Can you provide a link?

I think your problem is relatively simple.

I am guessing that windows is installed on the raid-0 device.
Raid-0 combines two devices into one logical device and writes data alternately on each.
In theory, it can double the data transfer speed.
In actuality, raid-0 is worthless and confers no benefits outside of synthetic benchmarks.

For added capacity, buy a 1tb samsung 860 evo ssd. It will cost about $120.
Use the free samsung ssd migration app to copy your windows C drive from the raid-0 array to the 860 evo.
When done, boot from the new ssd and reformat the two old devices into two individual devices, giving you the extra capacity you want.
For about $250, you could buy a 2tb 860 evo and have everything on a single larger C drive.

You can download the ssd app and instructions here:

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

www.samsung.com

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you. Seems the 2tb may not fit so I'll go with the 1tb
How do i make sure I can add another hd?
Lastly is RAID something needed? He games a lot.

A 2TB HDD is exactly the same size as a 1TB.
And no, RAID is not needed or wanted. That 1TB SSD is lots faster than 2x HDD in RAID 0.

 

[Slybelle]

Not sure how to post a link from the tablet. It is win 7, bought in 2011 and the graphic card is now Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 580 8GB

224-7420​	1​	Alienware Aurora ALX + TactX Headset	​
317-4088​	1​	Overclocked Intel Core i7 930 QC (3.36GHz, 8MB Cache)	​
317-3195​	1​	12GB Triple Channel 1333MHz DDR3	​
330-6078​	1​	Alienware TactX Keyboard, US	​
320-8253​	1​	21.5" Alienware AW2210 OptX Full HD Gaming Monitor, 21.5" viewable image size	​
320-1646​	1​	Nvidia GeForce GTX460 Dual	​
421-1308​	1​	Dell V515w Printer Driver	​
342-3040​	1​	1TB RAID 0 (2x500GB) SATA II (3Gb/s) Solid State Hybrid, 7200RPM

 

[Slybelle]

A 2TB HDD is exactly the same size as a 1TB.
And no, RAID is not needed or wanted. That 1TB SSD is lots faster than 2x HDD in RAID 0.

Thanks for the info, I should've asked if it's possible to add a third hard drive as the computer came with two. Or do I need to go with an external?

 

[geofelt]

Thanks for the info, I should've asked if it's possible to add a third hard drive as the computer came with two. Or do I need to go with an external?

Likely, you can.
Most motherboards will have 4 or more sata device slots.
A photo of the motherboard would verify that such slots are available.
Then, your power supply will need an available sata power cable. Adapters can supply this if necessary.
Lastly, you need a place to physically install a drive.
If the extra drive is a ssd, they can go almost anywhere.
Again, a photo of the drive space with the covers off could help.
In a video, I saw, it looked like you would be ok, but I have no idea if the video was of the same pc as yours.

 

[Slybelle]

Thanks I ll see if I can get a decent pic.