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The same system also comes without a hard drive, and I could put in two SSD's in RAID 1; I guess Sandeep always advocates for RAID, presumably for reliability. What is wrong with using the built-in motherboard RAID if I go that way? And has anyone ever had a SSD fail catastrophically?

Motherboard RAID is not true hardware RAID. A RAID Controller is essentially an independent computer. It has its own CPU, memory, etc. The motherboard RAID will use the system's resources.
1) RAID Will be in tact if motherboard goes bad
2) Transferable between computers
3) Better performance (especially with RAID 5)
4) Cache Memory (better performance)
5) Battery backed cache in case your computer loses power, the integrity of the array is maintained and writes will be completed at next power on.
6) Active monitoring (view health and status in the OS)
7) Email Alerts, management tools,
8) Much better support compared to mobo RAID support
9) Easier Recovery

I have 7 Crucials going strong. One of them in a fish tank.

Sandeep Luthra | LTMedical.net
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