Laptop Software RAID 0 with Optical Caddy HDD+Internal, How good?

[bhvm]

Hello everyone,
I am using HP p028TX as my primary laptop, Reviewed here-
[Honest Review] HP P028TX Laptop Review [Core i3 1.9Ghz, 4GB ram, 1TB HDD, Nvidia 830M 2GB, Beats] | NotebookRevie

The laptop is Mostly used For Photo/Videos and Gaming. The laptop came with 1TB HDD and I am lately running out of space. Its very cumbersome to use External USB HDD for certain Data. I have ordered an optical Drive HDD caddy with a view to adding one more HDD and enjoy software RAID.

Here's what I plan to do-
1> Install One more 1TB HDD in Optical Caddy.
2> Convert Both Disks (Internal+Caddy) to Dynamic Disks.
3> Setup Striping RAID 0 array for the data part. I am not touching the Boot partition nor willing to install Windows on RAID.
4> Enjoy higher performance of software for Games/ Large videos etc.

Here are my doubts-
1> Will conversion to Dynamic disks mess up the windows 7 bootup? Is the process better from Inbuilt disk management or I need some professional tool?

2> Will the Windows Image Backup Still able to backup/Restore system C:\ partitions from Dynamic disks? (To external USB HDD)

3> Is the Configuration Reliable Long term? (I am aware of Risks regarding RAID 0, Many PCs at my office Run RAID 0). I am more curious regarding the reliablity of DYNAMIC DISK.

4> Is it very cumbersome to restore/Recover data from a Dynamic disk in case something messed up? I do keep backups of Data on USB HDD, But I rely on windows Image backup for my Tuned/customized partition C:\ of Windows 7

 

[Siddhartht]

In simple terms. NO.
Okay, while it might seem like a good idea, but it is technically not feasible. Even software raid like that requires some sort of preboot support which I don't think is available on a consumer grade laptop ?
Now moving on to your ""makeshift somehow done raid using software inside windows"....I'm not sure how that works. It might be a good idea to get a small SSD and use it as a cache for frequently used programs.

 

[bhvm]

Well, For the short answer, I did it. And it went PERFECTLY.
I've done many soft RAIDS in windows XP. With 7, its just better.
Read speeds are in the range of 208 (Minimum) to a whooping~416~512 MB/s.
Write speeds are 176~196MB/s

Both HDDs are 1 TB SSHD (That explains 416 MB/s)

Most importantly, there are no noticeable overheads or CPU load from software on my Teeny i3 4030u.
Games load MUCH faster now.