RAID 0
Raid 0 - Striping
RAID 0 consists of two or more drives. Data is split into blocks - A1, A2, etc (see diagram) and each complete set of blocks is termed a 'stripe'
RAID 0 is fast but this comes at a price, if one drive in the array suffers a failure, then access to all of the data is lost
Reads and writes are done synchronously meaning that when a request for a file is bigger than the block size, then multiple drives are read simultaneously, giving the fasted possible access times.
Advantages of RAID 0
Because of the simultaneous reads and writes, RAID 0 is very fast and can be used where fast access to data is necessary. Such as video editing, music recording, graphic design, computer games - many arcade games machines use RAID 0 as their primary storage to provide the fast graphics.
- Fast data reads and writes
- Maximum cost efficiency
Because there is no redundancy in RAID 0 regular backups are critical. Should a single drive in the array fail, then access to all data is lost.
Disadvantages of RAID 0
Because there is no redundancy, if one drive fails, access to the data is lost.
- Higher risk of failure - proportionate to the number of drives in the array
- System rebuilds take longer