Dell computer - Can I do this?

[Kartikp]

I'm thinking of buying a Dell Dimension 9100 machine.
There is an option where you can buy it with 2x160gb drives in RAID 1 mirror.

Would I then be able to easily add a 250gb storage of data files without affecting the RAID setup?

[soberion]

No, because you'd only have 160 Mb storage available, the other 160 Mb used as the mirror, unless I'm missing the obvious...

[bumfrog]

when you say add storage of data files, I'm guessing you mean another hard drive. If so, then yes, it's not a problem as the computer will see the mirror as one array and the other drive as a seperate entity.

if however you mean you want to copy 250gb of data onto the mirror then soberion is correct, it won't fit as you'll only have 160gb of storage.

[M@rtin]

You could always reconfigure the drives to run in non-raid mode, then you'd just have 320Gb storage. RAID 1 is slow anyway, and not essential unless you have critical data.

[mattbrat]

or for them to run in raid 0, then it would be faster and 320GB