HP Laptop Review: "first business Ultrabook"

HP looks to boost PC sales with "first business Ultrabook"

The HP Folio

Fresh off a decision to keep its PC business, HP is joining the Ultrabook crowd with the new HP Folio. It's not the thinnest Ultrabook, but HP is claiming to offer the longest Ultrabook battery life at up to 9 hours, and also makes the ambitious claim of having built the "first business Ultrabook."

We could argue that the whole point of Ultrabooks is to create a business-friendly option for people lusting after ultra-slim laptops. While the MacBook Air is the most popular device in the category, Windows is by and large preferred over Macs in business settings, and any Ultrabook can presumably be outfitted with the Professional version of Windows 7. But HP says it is adding an extra security feature designed for mobile professionals: A "TPM [Trusted Platform Module] Embedded Security Chip that protects data in e-mail as well as information on the hard drive for security-conscious users." There is also an optional USB 2.0 dock for connecting to audio, video, and network equipment, to create a desktop-like experience.

The first HP Folio will be available December 7, starting at $899.99. However, the first Folio with the TPM chip won't come out until January and pricing for that model was not announced. Since we haven't gotten our hands on the Folio, we don't know if it improves upon the awful trackpad in the Asus Zenbook. But we can tell you the basic specs and show you some pictures provided by HP. While the Notebook Review folks took a look at a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit model, HP said Windows 7 Professional is one of the available options.

The HP Folio, in all its front-facing glory.

The Folio has 4GB of RAM and uses Intel Core i5 processors, as well as Intel's Rapid Start Technology to get things up and running quickly. 18 millimeters thick (that's 0.71 inches) and weighing 3.3 pounds, the Folio will have a 13.3-inch "high-definition (HD) BrightView display," and HP's TrueVision HD webcam along with a backlit keyboard.

Not the thinnest machine ever, but nice and compact in the closed position.

The storage will be all solid-state disk with 128GB the only size option revealed so far. As for the trackpad, or the "imagepad" as HP calls it, gestures using 1, 2, and 3 fingers are supported. Ports include Ethernet, RJ-45 and USB 3.0.

The HP Folio will compete in a increasingly crowded market for Windows-based Ultrabooks, all of which are trying to top Apple's MacBook Air. HP quotes IDC as saying 95 million Ultrabooks will ship annually by 2015, and we recently covered IHS iSuppli research that predicts Ultrabooks will account for 43 percent of worldwide notebook PC shipments by the same year.

HP also announced redesigned HP ENVY notebooks for users who are more interested in raw power than a slim profile. With 15-inch and 17-inch models, the ENVY boasts an option for Intel quad-core chips and AMD Mobility Radeon high-def graphics processors. The ENVYs will hit the market in the US on Dec. 7 with prices ranging from $1,099 to $1,599. Here's a look at the 17-inch machine, which can handle a 128GB SSD along with up to two 1TB hard drives, with battery life up to 9.5 hours.

Guide Smartphone: The Prices Shrink as First-Time Buyer Numbers Increase

Smartphones used to be reserved for those wealthy enough to fork over hundreds of dollars for a handset — and over a grand each year to actually use said handset over a data connection. But the times, they are a-changin’.

Although the iPhone dominated smartphone sales last quarter — with the iPhone 4 and 3GS taking the number one and two spots, respectively — a new trend is taking shape: super-cheap smartphones for the masses.

The average price of smartphones has dropped for four consecutive quarters, down to its current price level of $135. The NPD Group found that for those who intended to buy a smartphone in the $200 to $250 range last quarter, 64 percent ended up getting a sub-$200 handset instead.

A combination of wider budget-friendly offerings and price-reduced older models are key to this trend. And with consumers clutching their pocketbooks ever tighter, it’s a welcome turn of events for those hoping to dive into the smartphone scene. Indeed, 59 percent of mobile phone purchases last quarter were smartphones / ipad Accessories (up from 46 percent of all mobile phone sales during the same quarter in 2010).

“We’re seeing that middle tier of advanced feature phones disappearing,” NPD’s executive director of industry analysis Ross Rubin says. Consumer priorities are changing, particularly for those enlisted in the dumbphone ranks. “Mobile connectivity is becoming so important that they’re making an investment on a better handset with a higher monthly fee,” Rubin says.

And just because these new handsets are labeled as “budget” doesn’t mean they’re completely lacking in the comforts of other smartphones. Models typically bear single-core processors, yes, and also have a smaller screen, but the displays aren’t impossibly small. They’re often 3.2 to 3.7 inches, which is within the iPhone realm of 3.5-inches, though much smaller than 4.3- or 4.5-inch plus Android stunners on the market.

That said, the new entry-level smartphones often include cheaper parts, which can make it more difficult for software upgrades. Other than those caveats, the new smartphones have most of what you need: a capacitive-touch display, a major mobile OS like Android, 4G capability, and even high-end features like 8-megapixel cameras.

AT&T in particular has had a lot of success with budget smartphones, like the dirt-cheap $30 Huawei Impulse 4G and $100 HTC Inspire, Rubin says. And even the iPhone is entering this new mid-range space: Although the iPhone 3GS has been available for cheap since the iPhone 4’s debut, Apple has stepped up its offerings in the budget department by now offering the iPhone 4 at a lowered price — and the iPhone 3GS for free.

Although a phone’s price can be a big hurdle, monthly data fees are really the offenders that continually take bites out of bank accounts. In fact, carriers are keenly aware that less-pricy data plans are important in converting feature phone users to smartphone users, and are wisely making concessions.

“Carriers seem committed to adjusting their pricing to get an even greater number of people using their wireless data,” Rubin says.

Sprint just lowered its pricing plans for non-smartphone mobile devices like tablets and mobile hotspots. Verizon also recently began an offer for double the data for the same price. This tactic seems directly targeted at current smartphone users looking to get a better deal than their current plan offers, but could certainly aid new smartphone owners worried about incurring overage fees. Prepaid smartphone data plans are also available.

Does that mean premium smartphone purchases are on the outs? Absolutely not. Apple has sold record numbers of its shiny new iPhone 4S, and the HTC EVO 3D and Motorola Droid 3 were the third and fourth most popular smartphones sold last quarter.

“In general, the handset market overall is saturated. Gains are coming from people switching smartphones or trading up from feature phones,” Rubin says.

For now, the bigger gain for carriers and handset-makers alike are through first-time smartphone buyers, and we’ll likely see more price-friendly options cropping up alongside premium models over the coming months.

How to Make your smartphones smarter ?

You've got the basic apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Maps on your smartphone, so what's next?

USEFUL

Out of bread? Just whip out your Android, iPhone or BlackBerry phone, load up the free OurGroceries app and add bread to the shopping list, which will be automatically updated on your partner's phone so they can pick some up on the way home from work (made by HeadCode).

Instapaper ($6.49) for the iPhone lets you clip and save online articles so you can read them when you have time (Marco Arment). There's a free Android version too, EverPaper (Hiroshi Araki).

On holiday in Spain but can't understand the menus? Just point your camera at words and Word Lens uses augmented reality technology to translate for you in real time (Quest Visual).

FunBecome an instant bartender with the Mixology app for iPhone and Android, which lets you put in all the liquor and mixers you have and pulls up cocktails you can make. The app is free and has more than 7900 recipes (Digital Outcrop).

Got a song in your head but can't remember what it's called? It's SoundHound to the rescue. The free app for Android, Apple, Windows Phone 7 and Nokia devices can recognise songs played to it, and if you say the name of an artist or band it will call up song lyrics and YouTube videos (SoundHound).

Emailing is so passe. Bump lets you select a photo, app, song, Laptop Battery , message and so on and share it with your friend (who also has the app, which is free for Android and iPhone) by simply bumping your two phones together (Bump Technologies).

PHOTOS

You've probably seen the retro-looking photos with a circa 1970s feel on friends' Facebook pages and wondered how they did it. The answer is Hipstamatic, a $2.59 iPhone app that lets you swap lenses, films and flashes to create different photo effects (Synthetic Corp).

Photo sharing is simple with Instagram, a free iPhone app that also lets you put retro finishes on photos and then share them through the app's social network or Twitter and Facebook (Burbn). For Android-owners, there's Lightbox, which is much the same as Instagram and also free (Lightbox).

Got a postcard-worthy snap? Postino – free for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone, lets you convert photos into real-life postcards (AnguriaLab).

FoodWith more than 28,000 recipes, Epicurious is one of the most popular cooking apps available, and also lets you create shopping lists and email them and recipes to yourself and friends. Free for iPhones, Windows Phone and Android.

For a foodie app with a local flavour check out Fast, Fresh & Tasty ($6.49, for the iPhone). It's the first app by Wellington firm Click Suite, which teamed up with local food producers such as Silver Fern Farms for seasonal recipes.

Get the kids interested in cooking with iCooking Little Chefs, $1.30 for Android. It has 56 recipes that little ones will find easy to prepare; now you've just got to get them to do the washing up (Apps of All Nations).

TRAVEL

Draw on the collective wisdom of more than 50 million traveller reviews of hotels, restaurants and tours, and find cheap flights with the free TripAdvisor app for iPhone, Android, Nokia and Windows Phone smartphones (TripAdvisor).

Find the nearest petrol station, restaurant or supermarket with AroundMe, free for iPhone and Android (Attorno A Me S.R.L). Like Google Places (also free for iPhone and Android), it uses your phone's GPS to figure out where you are and what's around you.

Keep track of your travel details with TripCase, a free app for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android. The app will store your travel-related information, like flights, hotels and car reservations, and will warn of flight delays, gate changes and let you search for alternate flights .

Apple's battery: 6 Tips to Boost Your iPhone's Battery Life

The iPhone has always been pretty good about battery life, particularly in terms of standby time, but something changed recently—and in a big way. Reports are all over the Web about how iPhone 4S owners in particular have noticed vastly reduced standby time compared to older iPhones, on the order of 10 to 15 percent reductions per hour, although other people are saying they don't see a problem at all.

It turns out there is something to this story, though: Apple has confirmed that a bug in iOS 5, not the iPhone 4S itself, is responsible for the poor battery life many people are seeing, and said that a fix is in the works. It turns out that the iOS 5 bug means you'll also see the problem with an older iPhone, or possibly even an iPad or iPod touch, if you install the new OS on it.

Already have iOS 5? Here are six things you can do right now to boost your iPhone's battery life.
1. Set time zones manually. This time around, by default, iOS 5 tries to auto-adjust your time zone based on repetitive calls to the GPS radio, which is a huge battery drain. For now, turn this off: head to Settings -> Location Services -> System Services (which is located all the way at the bottom) -> Setting Time Zone. Note that this setting isn't in the Date & Time section, which makes it tough for people to find.

2. Disable location services when not needed. You can also disable all Location Services, which is a good rule in general for conserving battery life, but you'll need to re-enable it for GPS navigation and other tasks as necessary.

3. Disable as many notifications as possible. Notifications were a battery drain with earlier versions of the OS; I usually kept them turned off on test handsets, and saw several days of standby time on a charge even with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS enabled. The new iOS 5 has a completely different notification system, with an Android-style pull-down bar at the top that collects multiple notifications and organizes them. In the process of adding this, Apple removed the global notification toggle in the Settings menu, so you can't just disable them all in one shot anymore. You can, however, disable app notifications, while leaving important ones (such as text and voicemail) intact. In other words, you can turn it back into an approximation of the original system, which separated call notifications from app notifications automatically.

To do this, head to Settings -> Notifications, tap a given category (Phone, Messages, Reminders) or app (Walgreens, Zillow, and so on), and toggle Notification Center at the top to Off. The fewer notifications you enable, the more standby time you should see. While you're in there, note that you can change the way they appear; you can return a given notification to an alert window in the center of the screen, the way it used to be, instead of with the new bar on top.

4. Check for e-mail manually. E-mail is another perennial battery drain; normally I set all accounts to receive updates manually (i.e. when I load the app), instead of at a set frequency or via "push." The same goes for Facebook and Twitter updates; if the app is constantly refreshing them in the background, it's hitting the radios and consuming power, and you're not even reading them.

5. Check for software updates. Right now, iOS 5.0 is still current, but be aware that there's a different procedure now: You can check for OS updates right from the phone, instead of using a USB cable and syncing with iTunes. Head to Settings -> General -> Software Update. Apple / ipad Accessories / iPad Cases recently sent iOS 5.0.1 to developers, according to BGR; updates include bug fixes for battery life, among other things. Keep an eye on PCMag for the latest news on iOS updates as well.

6. Some minor things can still help. Finally, you can still do all the usual, old-school things to improve battery life, such as reducing screen brightness, disabling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and so on. The only one that really helps here, in my experience, is screen brightness, but you need it cranked to see the Retina Display in bright sunlight. This was never a big issue with the iPhone, though; the above tips, plus an eventual bug fix from Apple, should resolve the vast majority of battery life issues with iOS 5.

HP introduces Slate 2 tablet for businesses, not consumers

Hewlett-Packard has released its next tablet, the Slate 2, and it's anything but the successor to the pseudo-cult-hit that was the HP TouchPad.

In fact, the Slate 2 is actually a follow-up to HP's Slate 500, which launched more than a year ago at a price of $800, running Windows 7 and marketed to businesses and not consumers.

The Slate 2, again, isn't a consumer tablet, HP says, noting that it envisions the gadget "for business and vertical markets such as education, healthcare, government and retail, where jobs frequently take users away from a traditional desk." So don't go expecting to see this device showing up in you local electronics retailer.

The new HP tablet / Hp Laptop batteries  for businesses will sell for $700, and like the Slate 500, the Slate 2 will weigh in at 1.5 pounds, feature an 8.9-inch touchscreen and make use of an optional stylus. On the Slate 2, a software update will enable users to also use an on-screen swipe keyboard, HP said.

The Slate 2 will run on Intel's 1.5-gigahertz Atom Z670 processor, offer up to six hours of battery life and encrypt data on the device's hard drive. A VGA camera is built into the front of the Slate 2 while a 3-megapixel camera is on the back and the tablet has 2 gigabytes of RAM, a hard drive of up to 64 gigabytes and one USB port -- the same as the Slate 500's setup.

As far as looks, the Slate 2 looks pretty much exactly the same as the Slate 500 and retains the same dimensions, and both tablets run Microsoft Windows 7. This is an update -- not a whole new device. In fact, even the press image HP offered of the Slate 500 last year and the Slate 2 this year look identical, except for the simulated graphic on the screen (see above).

So, when will we see another consumer tablet from HP? It might be a while. The company has said that it will produce Windows 8 tablets next year sometime and that its WebOS plans are still up in the air.

iPhone 4S Battery Woes: What it happen?

The iPhone 4S is just the latest example of a phone's battery life falling short of some users' expectations.
Before this battery drain debacle, iOS 4 users complained of similar issues, as did owners of the iPhone 3GS. And Apple's not the only phone maker to take heat. HTC's Evo 4G got criticized for weak battery life last year. So did the original Droid before that. New phones like the Droid Charge suffer from disappointing battery life as well.

Obviously, there's a bigger problem here, bigger than the iPhone 4S and bigger than Android: smartphone batteries stink. What we need is a breakthrough.



Sure, a decent smartphone can probably make it through the day with moderate use. But I don't know of any smartphone that can endure a full day of heavy use. Did you make a few long phone calls, or watch a movie, or go on a crazy Angry Birds binge? You better keep your phone holstered for the next few hours if you want enough power for the commute home.

And how ridiculous is it that shutting down Wi-Fi, turning off notifications and lowering your screen brightness is considered "sensible battery life management practices," as my colleague Ian Paul put it? I'm sorry, but smartphone users shouldn't have to do those things. Our phones should shine brightly. Let the notifications flow. Users should never have to micromanage Wi-Fi, 3G and GPS. They should be on, all the time, ready to use.

Unfortunately, that kind of use just isn't practical on today's smartphones. If you want to the phone to last a day, you must conserve. And with the rise of battery-draining 4G LTE, the need to curtail your use is only getting worse.

So this is my rallying cry. Smartphone makers: the next big breakthrough shouldn't be about how many processor cores or megapixels you can cram into a handset, or how many millimeters you can shave off the casing. It should about getting through a full day of heavy use, and having enough juice left over to last through the next day if necessary. Let's see a true 24-hour battery.

There's hope in new approaches, like the kinetic charging patented by Nokia, or the "subconscious mode" of idle operation researched at the University of Michigan. (Nvidia's Tegra 3 processors actually have a fifth core that serves a similar purpose, using minimal power for basic tasks.) Some day, photovoltaic cells could replace lithium-ion batteries, and stay charged by converting waste heat into energy. Or, lithium-sulfur batteries, researched by Stanford University, could provide up to four times more power.

Until we get a battery life breakthrough, some people are always going to complain about how long their phones last on a charge. That's the nature of getting a new phone like the iPhone 4S. You want to play with it for hours, but your heart sinks as the battery meter slides toward empty. It's time for a change.

Top-shoppingmall Show you How to Set Up RAID on Your PC

Configuring two or more hard drives in a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) setup can increase performance and/or provide automatic protection against data loss from drive failure. RAID used to be expensive, hard to implement, and limited to businesses with dedicated IT departments. Now, motherboards in most desktop PCs support RAID, and Windows 7 provides software RAID that requires no special hardware at all. The technology is easily within the reach of the wallet and skills of any reasonably tech-savvy PC user.
What type of RAID do I want?

RAID comes in a number of flavors--or levels--that offer data protection, enhanced performance, or both. In addition to the seven core levels (RAID 0 through RAID 6), you'll encounter a number of variants and combinations. Some controllers (and dedicated external storage and NAS boxes) can layer and even abstract RAID levels, allowing you to mix and match different capacity drives and add capacity without any additional configuration.

Here are a few of the RAID levels you'll find on affordable, consumer-level RAID adapters, motherboard chipsets, Alarm Systems , Baby Monitors and Windows software RAID:

JBOD (extend, spill over): JBOD, or Just a Bunch Of Disks simply allows you to extend a volume (drive letter, e.g. C:\) onto other disks. Data is written to the first disk until it's full, then to the second disk, then the third, etc. It offers no boost in performance or redundancy and is a holdover from the days when smaller disks had to be chained to handle large amounts of data. It's largely irrelevant given today's more capacious hard drives.

RAID 0 (Striping): This setup increases hard-drive performance by splitting, or striping, data across two drives. By leveraging two data busses, data can be read and written more quickly. Unfortunately, RAID 0 provides no data protection--in fact, it actually increases the chances of data loss since the failure of either drive in the array results in the loss of the data stored on both drives. RAID 0 setups are standard on high-end gaming PCs and graphic design workstations, and provide a measurable, albeit modest performance boost for hard-disk-intensive programs.

RAID 1 (Mirroring): A RAID 1 setup protects data from drive failure by simultaneously writing the same data to two hard drives. Since each drive is an exact duplicate of the other, you can continue working if one fails. RAID 1 offers no gain in performance and effectively reduces available capacity by half -- two 2TB drives provide only 2TB of storage.

RAID 5 (Distributed Parity): Though you get both faster disk performance and data protection from this setup, it requires a minimum of three hard drives. Instead of using an entire hard drive as a backup, RAID 5 spreads redundancy information--called parity bits--across all of the array's drives. Where RAID 1 requires 50% of available storage for redundancy, RAID 5 requires only 33%.

When one of the drives in a RAID 5 array fails, the data content of that failed drive is reconstructed using the parity bits on the surviving drives and written to a new, replacement drive. The array is still usable in the meantime.

RAID 1+0, 0+1, 10: Some adapters combine (referred to as nesting) RAID 0 and RAID 1 to provide both data redundancy and increased disk performance. This works by either striping data across a pair of drives then mirroring (0+1) them with another pair, or striping data across two mirrored pairs (1+0, aka 10). RAID 0+1, 1+0, and 10 require a minimum of four hard drives.

What do I need to set up RAID?

A Fresh Backup (existing data only): If you're installing and configuring hardware RAID on a fresh system with no OS (your best option), or are adding disks for a separate array, skip this. Otherwise, back up your important data. Best practice is to have three copies of your data: the original, a backup, and a backup of the backup, preferably offsite.

If you have existing data that you want on the array, you'll need to back it up, then restore it from a backup you make before creating your array--a process that writes new data to your hard drives regardless of what's there. This is not necessary with Windows software RAID 0, however, it's far faster than letting Windows re-sync (copy the data to) the mirror in the background.

Transferring an existing operating system is tricky, and with older versions of Windows, sometimes impossible. See "Transferring Existing Windows Installations to RAID" on the next page for instructions.
Windows Software RAID: Starting with Windows XP, Microsoft integrated RAID functionality into its operating systems. What type depends on the flavor of Windows:

    Windows XP allows spanned volumes (one volume over two or more disks), aka JBOD.
    Windows Vista Ultimate allows JBOD and RAID 1 striping.

    Windows 7 Home allows JBOD and RAID 1 while Professional and Ultimate add RAID 0 mirroring. Windows 2000 Professional also has JBOD, 0, and 1.

    Windows Server operating systems from 2000 on have JBOD, 0, 1, plus support for RAID 5 distributed parity.

Windows RAID offers several advantages. You can create arrays from within Window Drive manager so there's no BIOS to configure. It's also more flexible with mirrors, allowing you to create them from existing volumes containing data, as well as delete either half of a mirror with the other remaining intact. You can mirror individual partitions, including partitions from different drives onto a single drive.

Though you'll see a lot of talk about hardware RAID being faster, this discussion predates modern CPUs which can easily handle the overhead. Windows RAID is actually quite fast.

RAID controller: If you don't use software RAID, there's hardware. You probably already have a RAID controller in your PC; many older midrange and high-end motherboards come with secondary RAID controller, and newer motherboard chipsets offer integrated RAID obviating the need for an additional controller. Check your PC or motherboard documentation to find out if your motherboard supports RAID (and if so, which levels), and for specific installation instructions.

If your PC doesn't have integrated RAID, you may use an adapter card. Basic PCI and PCIe adapters supporting RAID levels 0, 1, 10, and sometimes 5 can be found online for $100 or less. Adaptec, Promise and other vendors offer a wide selection of pricier, but more capable RAID adapters with onboard cache and advanced features. If possible, buy a card that supports greater-than-2.2TB disks and 6Gbps SATA III.
Two or more hard drives: If you decide on Windows software RAID, you may use any drives you choose. They need not be the same size if you're mirroring individual volumes, though it's generally a good idea.

Back in the days of parallel ATA, it was a no-no to mix drives from different vendors on a RAID controller. Sometimes it would work--more often it wouldn't. With the advent of SATA, mixing vendors is no longer as problematic.

Also, though there are controllers that allow mixing and matching capacities without losing storage space (using advanced parity techniques), these are still relatively rare. Using drives of different sizes usually results in total storage capacity that's only a multiple of the smallest drive. For example, combining 500GB and 320GB drives in RAID 1 would be 320GB * 2, or 640GB instead of 820GB.

In practice, you'll save yourself a lot of time and sidestep possible issues by building your array with identical hard drives--meaning drives of the same make, model, and size. You need at least two drives for RAID 0 and 1, three drives for RAID 5, and four for RAID 0+1, 1+0, and 10.

Floppy drive (Windows XP-only): If you plan to install Windows XP on your new array, you will need a floppy disk with your RAID adapter's Windows drivers, and a floppy drive to read it--Windows' installation won't install the drivers from an optical drive. Thankfully, this incredibly annoying limitation of Windows XP doesn't apply in Windows Vista and Windows 7 which can read drivers from hard drives, flash drives, or optical media.

Tools: You'll need a small, non-magnetic Phillips screwdriver to remove and replace the fastener screw that secures the adapter card to the PC chassis, as well as to install any new hard drives. You might also want a simple grounding strap that attaches to your wrist; look for one at your local computer store for less than $15. Alternatively, never touch exposed contacts or electronics.

How do I install a RAID adapter?

Here's how to physically install a RAID adapter card in your PC. If your motherboard already supports RAID, skip to "Configuring the Adapter” below.

1. Unplug your PC and position the case so that you can comfortably reach into the interior. If you have a tower case, you'll find installing an expansion card easier if you lay the case on its side.

2. Protect your PC's delicate circuits from static electricity by properly grounding yourself. If you don't have the patience or time to buy a grounding strap, at least make an effort to ground your body by touching your PC's case before touching the inside of your PC or any component.

3. Locate an open PCI or PCI Express expansion slot and remove the cover bracket that blocks the slot's access port on the back of the case. Typically, a single screw secures the bracket.

4. Remove the adapter card from its packaging, handling the card by its edges (not the edge connector on the bottom); avoid touching the chips and circuitry on either face of the card.

5. Align the adapter card's connector with the expansion slot and gently but firmly push down on the top edge until the card is securely seated in the slot. Secure the card to the chassis with the existing screw or other clamping mechanism.

6. Once the card is installed, install and connect the hard drives to be used in the array. See "How to Install a New Hard Drive" for instructions.

7. Reassemble the PC and power it up.

Configuring the Adapter

Each RAID adapter has a firmware configuration program, unique to that make or model, that lets the user select the type of RAID array to install and choose which hard drives to include in the array. Sometimes the RAID functionality is embedded in the motherboard's BIOS. Refer to your adapter or motherboard documentation to guide you through the specific installation steps for your adapter.

    Typically, you launch the setup program for a RAID adapter by pressing Ctrl-R, Ctrl-A, or some other key combination during the PC boot process. Watch the screen for a prompt, or check your adapter's documentation. On some PCs you may have to press the Tab key to see the boot messages and the prompt.
    If RAID is embedded in the BIOS, as with many Intel motherboards, you will need to launch the BIOS setup. This is typically done by pressing F2, Ctrl+S, Del or some other key combination.

    Choose the drives and create the array.

    If asked to select a stripe size or chunk size for a RAID 0 or RAID 5 array, select the default size. Playing with these settings may increase performance for users with plenty of time and energy to experiment.

Installing Windows and the Adapter Drivers

If you are installing Windows XP or 2000 onto your array:

1. Carefully watch the bottom of the screen at the beginning of the setup process for the prompt, and press F6 if you need to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver. Be quick: You have only a few seconds to press F6 and launch the installation process.

2. Wait for the screen that says 'S=Specify Additional Devices' in the lower-left corner. Press S.

3. When prompted, insert the floppy disk with the adapter's drivers into the floppy drive and complete the driver installation. Once that's done, Windows should continue the Windows installation routine.

If you are installing Windows Vista or Windows 7 onto your array:

1. Choose Custom (Advanced) Installation.

2. When asked where to install Windows, if your RAID volume does not appear (Windows Vista and 7 do have some RAID drivers) click the Load Driver button at the bottom of the dialog.

3. When prompted, insert the floppy disk, CD, or flash drive with the adapter's drivers and complete the driver installation. Once done, you should be able to see the drives attached to the RAID controller. If not, you may have pointed to the wrong driver or the array hasn't been created yet.

Transferring Existing Windows Installations to RAID

It can be difficult, and sometimes impossible to transfer an existing operating system installation to a RAID array. It all depends on the hardware and Windows operating system involved. Follow the steps below for the best chance of success.

Transferring Windows XP

1. Install or enable the RAID controller in your PC. Do NOT create any arrays.

2. Boot to Windows and install the RAID drivers. If your boot drive is attached to the RAID controller (some storage controllers such as Intel's Storage Matrix pull double-duty) you may not be able to boot. If that's the case, you'll either have to attach the boot drive to a non-RAID port or use a secondary RAID controller for the new array. Start over.

3. Create a backup image in a safe, accessible location (external hard drive, flash drive, hard drive not to be included in the array, etc.) of the entire hard drive containing the existing OS installation using Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image or another program. Preferably one with bare metal restore capabilities, i.e. driver support for hardware that wasn't in use when the image was made.

4. Reboot and create your array. Preferably, with new disks while keeping your old disk as a backup.
5. Restore the image using the program you created it with. If your system won't boot, try again using the bare metal restore functions.

Transferring Windows Vista or Windows 7

1. Create an image of the hard drive containing the existing OS installation in a safe, accessible location (external hard drive, flash drive, hard drive not to be included in the array, etc.) using Windows backup.
2. Reboot and enable/install the RAID adapter.

3. Create your array. Preferably, with new disks while keeping your old disk as a backup.

4. Boot using your Windows Vista/7 installation disc, and select Repair your computer.

5. Click on Load drivers and following the prompts, load the RAID drivers and any drivers required for the device you backed up to.

6. Restore your system using the backup image you previously created.

Using Windows software RAID

Windows XP, Vista, and 7 all offer software RAID which is a more than viable alternative to hardware, and easy to implement. Which levels are available with depend on your flavor of Windows

The basic procedure for implementing Windows RAID is as follows:

1. Open the Start Menu, right-click on Computer and select Manage.

2. Scroll down the tree on the right to Disk Management (under Storage) and click on it.

3. Right-click over the large drive icon to the left for operations that will affect the entire disk (extend, stripe, mirror, or RAID 5). Only what's available on your version and possible with your disk setup will be enabled. For some levels, a wizard will pop up. Follow the prompts. If the disk is not dynamic, this will automatically convert it.

4. On dynamic disks, right-click over a volume on the drive and you'll see an option to mirror that individual volume (Windows 7 Professional/Ultimate, Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows server OS's only).

Note: Depending on the amount of existing data, it can take an extremely long time for new Windows RAID mirrors to sync up, and disk performance will suffer till the process is completed. It's far faster to back up your files, create new mirrored volumes, then restore the data. If you do opt for letting Windows sync all the data, keeping Drive Manager open and on top will speed up the process.