What HP desktop sff systems less than 4 years old offers native hardware RAID support>

[pygmalion7]

Hello. I admit to being frustrated by what I thought would be a fairly simple question. I have used HP desktop SFF systems for years and absolutely swear by them both for reliability and HP's extensive support programme. I want to purchase a HP SFF desktop system (a current model from 2017 onwards), that supports SATA RAID 1 at the hardware level. I don't want to use operating system raid and I don't want to purchase a separate raid card, and I don't want to puchase a workstation tower. I want a desktop SFF system that will enable me to install 2 x SSD hard drives of 1TB and mirror them at raid1 before I install the operating system that I want. Many HP desktop manuals mention RAID support but this appears to be a precursor to using the operating system RAID driver as the raid enabler. I want Hardware native supported RAID 1 at the bios level. Can anyone help on this?  It's been almost 1 week of searching already and no nearer to an answer. Thank you.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Any Elitedesk 800 G# SFF would have that kind of support.

For example, here is the link to the Elitedesk 800 G3 model series (with 7th gen core processors).

http://www8.hp.com/h20195/V2/GetPDF.aspx/c05378305

See page 9 for the drive configuration options.

TWR and SFF models can be configured with multiple data drives in a RAID array

Page 82 has more info...

Redundant Array of Independent Drives (RAID) – Support RAID 0 and 1
Flexible implementation:
• RAID 0 (Striping)
• RAID 1 (Mirroring)
• Configurable email alerts
• RAID management software
• DPS Self-Test can be executed on physical hard drives while in RAID mode.
• The RAID Setup Utility (accessed through CTRL-R) can be protected by the F10 Setup password.

[pygmalion7]

Hi Paul. Thank you for your reply. I am going with this and will accept your recommendation as the 'confirmed' solution when I have hands-on implemented the Elitedesk 800 G3 desktop with Raid 1. There are a few stages to this so please bear with me. I will post the stages of confirming this solution as they unfold over the next few weeks. Stage 1 is to acquire the desktop unit and stage 2 is to acquire the second failover ssd drive or identical drive pair, and configure them as a raid 1 mirrored array. I will keep the thread posted with the progress as it happens. Interestingly, I've seen an online detractor of the raid 1 rig setup, but anyone who's had a drive fail usually unerxpectedly, will attest; no backup solution (however eloquent), can replace the instant immediate peace of mind provided by a second mirrored hd stepping in to provide seamless spofless (at the hd / ssd level anyway) functional continuity; enabling you to replace the single failed drive at your convenience, choice, or leisure; (which is the whole point).