Replacing Hard Drive With SSD (Truckee MoBo)

[tiyoo]

Hey guys,

So I am currently using an older desktop: HP Elite 580t

My set up is interesting because I bought this several years ago through a friend who works for HP. The harddrives are RAID...but not sure which RAID Version:

Here is a screenshot of my overall system:

Here is a screenshot of my motherboard stats:

So, I am trying to replace the harddrives because every once in a while they are starting to make a lot of noise and slowing my computer down.

]I am also tired of how long it takes to start, shutdown, and just overall access to files. This is what I would like to do:

I have two unused 120GB SSD's that I would like to replace the HDD with. I also have a 500GB External Harddrive to transfer most of what's on the currently harddrives. Obviously I am still going to have to make some decisions early on as I am cutting my space by like 80% pretty much.

Here are my questions:

1) Can I "UnRaid" a hard drive and use one of them as a back up (in case one is still good)

2) Replacing the SSD should make things run faster and smoother right?

3) How many slots do I have on my mother board for harddrives? I am thinking 4 because I see 4 separate spots on the motherboard picture:

I am sorry if this is too many pics, I am just trying to cover everything I can so you have as much information as possible. I will take any help I can get at this point.

 

[SortNVF]

4x sata II is correct as for number of connections on the MB http://www.findlaptopdriver.com/pegatron-corporation-2a86-mainboard-1-04-specs/
Not that you need it, but you could install a sata pci board and get more disk connections if you like.

As for the unraid. Well theres numerous different raid configurations, wich in some cases meens no and some yes.
Basically RAID 0 wich is the dirty fast option, meens only half is stored on each drive, wich meens you need both of them running to make sense of the contents.
Pros for this option is speed, cons is double the risk og HDD crash.

Some of the other raid options, just pile disks into one "logical drive" other options make duplicates of everything (runs two discs as perfect copies of eachother)..

Im guessing your setup is raid 0 for speed, wich meens you need a third disk to make a backup of its contents.

I actually dont know how you ask the system what raid is configured (other than pull out one and see what it says). but im hoping someone will tell us both.