Adding extra HDD/SSD using non-raid system

[rezaganji]

I have a thinkpad W520 (Core i7-2820QM, 16GB Ram, 500GB HDD, Nvidia Quadro 2000M)

My questions are:
-Do I need RAID to install extra HDD?
-How can I install Win7 from pre-installed partition on my original HDD?
-I have got Intel SSD 520 series 180GB, how would you rate this?
-Can I additionally add mSATA SSD on top of these two HDD?

Thank you

[skie]

I'll take a shot at this..

-Do I need RAID to install extra HDD?

No, you don't have to use RAID to install your 2nd harddrive - just a hard disk caddy (that replaces your ODD). In fact - if you didn't configure RAID when you bought your W520, you won't have it available now anyways.

-How can I install Win7 from pre-installed partition on my original HDD?

There are a few ways you can do this - you can clone your original HDD to your SSD using Acronis True Image (or a similar tool), or use ABR to backup your OEM activation, and do a clean install using a Win 7 ISO. Both are workable but I'd recommend a clean install for various reasons.

-I have got Intel SSD 520 series 180GB, how would you rate this?

I have the exact same drive (both 240GB and 180GB versions) and have got no complaints. My T420 with the 180GB drive boots Win 7 so quickly that the Windows logo isn't even completely lit up by the time it's done.

-Can I additionally add mSATA SSD on top of these two HDD?

Yes, mSATA SSD is independent of the hard drive bay and the Ultrabay slot; as long as you don't use a WWAN card you can insert an mSATA SSD into your W520.

Hope this helps!

[rezaganji]

Skie,
Thanks a lot for your informative answers.
I have another question:

Can I have different Operating systems on my 3 drive options and choose which one to boot with when I am booting my laptop? (for example Win 7, Ubuntu, and Mac OS X)

[skie]

Hello,

I haven't personally done multi-booting on any of my ThinkPads, so I'm sure someone else would be better-positioned to answer this - however, I'm pretty sure you can install more than one OS (even on the same drive), and press F12 during the booting process to choose which drive to boot from.

[davidhbrown]

You can set the boot sequence in the BIOS and override this with F12. You can actually boot from more than three devices; options include USB drives.

The process is somewhat different if you have multiple OS on one drive. Such a drive will be configured with a program (called a boot loader) that allows you to select which OS to use and possibly specify parameters -- a little like what you get in Windows when you hold down F8 or recover from a crash or if you did an upgrade install of Windows and still have an earlier version on hand.

While I prefer to boot into a single primary OS (Windows 7) and do other things (Linux, XP/IE6 testing) via virtual machines, I do keep an emergency flash drive configured via YUMI (http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multi ... b-creator/) with numerous bootable disc images of utility software and OS installers from which it lets you select at boot.

I've been very happy using the mSATA as a system drive -- especially now with 256GB sizes available -- and the primary drive bay for storage. Very rarely do I need to put a third hard drive in, but it's nice to have the option.