New Desktop

[Directive]

Yes, you're absolutely right Palm. Making this way more complicated then it needs to be.
I will install both drives in my tower and RAID them to one drive letter.
I will find software that will sync folders and files on a timer.

[Directive]

Windows itself can make the RAID 1 setup. Like so (be sure to watch from 1:56): http://youtu.be/LZeMVg0242M?t=1m56s
This is what you would call "software RAID". Also, at 2:50 he says "remember, this is a redundant system, not a backup." which you should make sure you understand. This RAID 1 protects against data loss from either of the drives dying, but does not protect against accidental overwrites or deletion (or corruption) unless you have something like Shadow Copy keeping track of old versions of your data.

OK, I installed both drives but I do not get an option to Mirror anything. Weather allocated or not, nothing states Mirror as an option.

http://i.imgur.com/2zcocJA.jpg?1

By the way, is it easier or better I post the link to my images or post the image itself? For other to read and load that is.

[palmboy5]

I will find software that will sync folders and files on a timer.

Syncing from what to what?

What if you select Delete Volume (I assume you havent put anything on the drive yet, because you'll lose that stuff) on Disk 1 so that both Disk 1 and Disk 2 say Unallocated?

I usually put a link to click unless the picture is particularly small.

[Directive]

I have a program that will take select files and folders and sync them once per week to the other drive.

I tried it both un-allocated and both allocated and one allocated and one not. Never gives that option.

[palmboy5]

Alright, I suppose if Windows strangely doesn't have the Mirror option, using a program that automatically syncs the two drives will work too. And, if it's periodic like you say, the secondary drive can also act as a form of backup (provided you discover your mistake before the next sync happens).

[Directive]

I followed the directions on this page...
http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-8/creat ... windows-8/

Under "Setting up a Storage Space" I created a pooled storage space using both drives. Is this the same thing as the RAID mirror?

[palmboy5]

Storage Space would work. The RAID 1 equivalent as they state is:

Two-way/Three-way Mirror – This is the best option and basically writes data to either two disk or three disks simultaneously, so that you have multiple copies of your data. Two-way mirroring requires at least 2 drives and three-way mirroring requires at least 5 drives. Five drives are needed because it has to protect your data in case of two hard drive failures. This is equivalent to RAID 1.

[Directive]

OK, so I am now backing up to 2 HDDs using PureSync.

[palmboy5]

Seems like PureSync and Storage Space Two-Way Mirror would do the same thing... you're doing both?

[Directive]

I have the mirror set up to write to both drives at once. I have PureSync set up to sync select folders on my main "c" drive to my mirrored drives as backup. It will auto sync once per week so I don't have to remember to do it.

[palmboy5]

Okay, cool! Now for you to test the actual resiliency of the system, as well as put yourself through the motions of how to handle a drive failure, by unplugging a drive while the system is running!

[2005]

For clarification, I think he means removing the data cable while the system is running. Removing the power cable from a
drive while the system is running is a VERY bad idea.

In other news:

I finally bought my first SSD last night!!! I got a Samsung 850 Evo 250GB for $99 shipped from newegg.
Can't wait to try it out, just excited because I've never owned or used on before, even in one of the systems
I've done repair work on.

[palmboy5]

Can't wait to see CrystalDiskMark benchmarks for it!

Although... your motherboard doesn't have SATA III ports so it'll be gimped to 300MB/s theoretical max.

[2005]

Yeah, I did some reading on that just after I bought it. I didn't realize I didn't have SATA III ports.

However, most of what I gather says that while "synthetic" results and large data transfers will take
performance shots... the "real world" performance of the drive shouldn't suffer much at all because of
the SATA II bottleneck.

In part I did it because I feel after 5 years of usage, this WD Blue that I bought back in 2010 is starting
to push it's luck. This thing could chug along for years to come, and it could also crap the bed quite abruptly.
The other part was the price, I feel I got a pretty good deal on the drive and Samsung is pretty much the only
SSD I trust in terms of reliability.

This Windows 8 install is now a few days over 2 years old. According to systeminfo (ran from the command prompt)
my original installation date was 3/2/2013. It takes a good 7-9 min from off to up and usable. This is rather unacceptable
for many reasons. Some times when I get home from my first job, I have less than 10 min to get online and get ready for
our daily status meetings. On top of the long ass boot time, it takes me a good 2-3 min to get into my google account because
we use the 2 step verification. Just knowing that from the time I push that power button to the time I'm starting to log into
my google account will be less than 60 second is comforting. The same way if I had to reboot unexpectedly during the day,
I know that my down time will only be a min or two tops.

I'm most curious to see how much faster the OS installation goes, and how much faster windows update procedure goes.

I think I may do a clean install on my WD Blue as well, just to have it as a backup drive incase my SSD would go down unexpectedly.
Working from home has really made redundancy a top priority for me.



What's also strange is that I ordered this through newegg, because amazon had the same price but charged me tax where newegg didn't.
Since I have a newegg preferred account, and used it to buy the drive, I figured I'd get rush processing and free faster shipping. I ordered it
Tuesday night and it says it won't be here until Tomorrow. That's the longest I've ever waited for something when shipped through my preferred
account.

[palmboy5]

I just... don't turn off my computer. The wait period is how long the LCD monitors take to turn on.
Although depending on whether I lock my computer, I have a gripe: you know the Windows 8 lock screen with the time and full wallpaper? Why do I have to wait for the wallpaper to scroll up and out of view before I can begin typing my password?? WHY CAN'T I JUST START TYPING IMMEDIATELY??

Funny thing. I have Amazon Prime and ordered an iPad Air 2 (GASP!) on Thursday but the estimated delivery for the 2-day shipping is... Wednesday. It's probably because the third party store I ordered from is slow to ship but I went with them anyway because they don't charge the California sales tax. (Saves $52)