For those who crave data security and integrity, a multiple HDD solution in conjunction with RAID 1 (mirroring) may just be what you need. If the idea of having mirror copies of data copied to each of the hard drives in a RAID array appeals to you, then RAID 1 may be viable. Note that you need HDDs of a similar capacity for this to work effectively, and your total available size of the array will be the size of the smallest HDD in the array.

So two 250 GB HDDs in RAID 1 will still give you a new space of 250 GB. Valuable data like costly software, per¬sonal records, and vintage music collections are the best can didates to be stored on a RAID 1 array.



Although RAID 0 (striping) isn't recommended, it does bring about significant increments in speed, especially if you are RAIDing the HDDs on which you intend to install your as, or applications. Striping basically breaks up files into smaller modules and these are alternatively stored piece-by-piece on the various drives that are part of the RAID 0 array.

There is the expected danger of data loss, since no single HDD will have a copy of the entire file(s) or program that has been copied to I installed. But this technique does speed up HDD access, as well as read and write operations. It is best used for non-valuable data like games, and other software for which you have the installer discs ready