RAID in Notebook PCs -HT

[VezZiE]

I used to work with one powerful desktop for all my computing needs. But due to a lot of field-trip study, I decided to switch for a laptop.

So far I didn't feel any significant speed decrease switching from AthlonXP 2Ghz -to-> Mobile Pentium 4 1.9Ghz; But I really miss the fast transfer rate using a RAID card.

I hope there are some of you can help me with the following queries:

1. Is there somekind of device that can RAID two external HDs?

2. Or maybe using an external Firewire/Usb 2.0 Hd is fast enough ?

3. Which one is actually faster (in real application) FireWire HDD or USB 2.0 HDD?
[ Yes, I know that USB 2.0 promised a faster transfer rate. But some user reported that Firewire still runs faster. Can somebody verify this? ]

Well.. in short, any ideas on how to make an External HDD run as fast as RAIDed IDEs?
Thanks..

 

[glugglug]

Originally posted by: VezZiE
I used to work with one powerful desktop for all my computing needs. But due to a lot of field-trip study, I decided to switch for a laptop.

So far I didn't feel any significant speed decrease switching from AthlonXP 2Ghz -to-> Mobile Pentium 4 1.9Ghz; But I really miss the fast transfer rate using a RAID card.

I hope there are some of you can help me with the following queries:

1. Is there somekind of device that can RAID two external HDs?

you can get SCSI externals easily enough... but then you are defeating the purpose of having a laptop no?

2. Or maybe using an external Firewire/Usb 2.0 Hd is fast enough ?

USB 2.0/firewire drives don't approach the speed of ATA even though they are both priced more like SCSI

3. Which one is actually faster (in real application) FireWire HDD or USB 2.0 HDD?

Neither is worth looking at

 

[VezZiE]

I don't mean to post a duplicate thread, but at first I really don't know which forums should this subject belongs to. So I post it here and the General Hardware forum. I think this subject could be considered as "Highly Technical" since not many ComputerUser done this before.

One interesting enlightement comes from Bovinicus @ General Hardware Forum:
He suggest using a SOFTWARE RAID; Yes, software! instead of Hardware (which I don't think it is manufactured in laptop yet). Connecting HDD inside the laptop w/ HDD in Swappable Modular Bay (Which means you can't swap it anymore ). But it does claims a slight boost in performance!

For those are interested in this subject, please join us in the more active forums Here @ General Hardware.