RAID 0 (Striping)

RAID 0 stripes data evenly across multiple (two or more) physical disks. It does not store parity or mirror data for fault tolerance.

Table 1 describes RAID 0 across a number of parameters.

Table 1  RAID 0

Parameter

Rating

Description

Read Performance

RAID 0 offers the best read/write performance because data striped across multiple physical disks can be both read and written simultaneously. With the minimum two physical disks, RAID 0 can perform two operations (read or write) simultaneously. The number of simultaneous operations increases with the number of disks in the RAID 0 set.

Write Performance

Fault Tolerance

RAID 0 does not contain parity or mirror data for fault tolerance. Data is not recoverable if any one of the physical disks fails.

Efficient use of disk capacity

RAID 0 does not offer fault tolerance. The storage space on the virtual disk/array is used fully and efficiently to store data.

Note: When creating a RAID 0 with physical disks of different sizes, the storage space added to the virtual disk/array by each physical disk is limited to the size of the smallest physical disk. For example, a RAID 0 virtual disk/array comprising of 150 GB and 100 GB physical disks creates a 200 GB virtual disk/array (twice the size of the smallest physical disk 100 GB).

Automatic rebuild

Not Applicable. RAID 0 does not offer fault tolerance.

Minimum number of drives

 

2

Suitable Applications

 

RAID 0 is ideally suited for applications requiring best read/write performance and where fault tolerance is not required.

 

Figure 1 describes RAID 0.

Figure 1  RAID 0: Illustration

 

Figure 2 shows a Flash® demo of RAID 0.

Figure 2  RAID 0: Flash® Demo

Note: To view the Flash® demo for RAID 0, install the latest version of Adobe Flash Player at http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/