Gateway P-171, Reference Manual

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CHAPTER 4: Using Drives and Accessories
52
Setting up an optional RAID
About RAID
RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive/ Independent Disks) lets
your notebook use multiple hard drives more efficiently. Your
notebook supports RAID 0 and RAID .1.
RAID 0 for performance
RAID 0 lets your notebook see multiple hard drives as a single
drive. This type of RAID can increase file access speeds, which
is important if you work with video editing, sound editing, and
high-performance games. RAID 0 is also an affordable way to
increase your total file storage capacity.
How it increases performance
All hard drives have limitations on how fast they can read and
write files. If half a file is stored on one RAID 0 drive and the
other half on another RAID 0 drive, each drive only has to read
half of the file. So, the entire file is accessed by the notebook
up to twice as fast. If the entire file happens to be stored on
only one of the drives, the file is accessed at the same speed
as if it were on a standard hard drive setup. Dividing up files
between multiple hard drives like this is called striping.
In the graphic below, each letter represents a unique block of
data, and each column represents a separate hard drive.
Tip
Your notebook must be turned on to remove CDs and DVDs using this
method. If you do not want to turn on your notebook, manually eject the disc
by inserting an opened paper clip into the manual eject hole.
A
C
E
B
D
F
RAID 0