Thinkpad W540- Should I Get RAID?

Hello all,
I am looking to purchase the W540 with the following specs:
Intel Core i7-4800MQ Processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.70GHz)
15.5” 3K (2880 x 1620), IPS LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
W540 NVIDIA Quadro K1100M 2G
16GB PC3-12800 DDR3L (4 DIMM)
128 GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA3
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer
That being said, I have a 1TB hard drive that I plan to replace the laptop's optical drive with after I receive it. So do I need to get RAID? I have done some reading about it and have become very confused as I'm reading about two drives only working as fast as the slowest drive with the capacity of the smallest one. I would like the laptop to run off of the 128GB SSD and use the 1TB as basically extra file storage. 
Thank you!
Alex

RAID is a technology that can virtually combine multiple drives into one to increase performance and/or reliability. For example, you can use RAID to combine two drives into one with double the read/write speeds. You can use it to completely mirror one drive with another in real time for a redundant backup. Other RAID modes combine these two concepts for even better performance/redundancy.
RAID is not a necessity just for using multiple hard drives. You only need it if you are using one its features. IIRC you cannot even order a RAID-enabled system without ordering it with two preloaded drives.
W540: i7-4700mq, K2100m, 8 GB DDR3L, 512 GB SSD
T510: i7-620m, NVS 3100m, 8 GB DDR3, 512 GB SSD

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