How full is that 600 GB RAID0 array?
Backup ALL your data ASAP! If you have more than 200 GB of "stuff,"
offload as much of the data as possible to external HD, another large
internal HD, or DVD. Buy Norton Ghost or Acronis TrueImage plus an
external HD, and make an image of the remaining system. Verify it can be
restored.
Convert your current RAID0 array to a RAID1 array, then restore the image
from the external HD.
RAID1 carries certain risks, too. If the source drive becomes corrupt or
contracts a virus, the mirror is also affected. The dire warning to backup
data ASAP should be the standard battle cry regardless of the drive
arrangement.
I've run RAID0 on C: (36gb Raptors) for 18 months with no issues, and
recently set up another for my storage volume (250gb x 2). Both are run
from on-chip and on-board controllers on the motherboard. I do heavy photo
and video editing and find the speed increase an important advantage. I do
backup important files hourly and automatically with batch files and clone
C: once per week, rotating five drives in mobile racks, one off-site. I
would do this if I was running single drives, as my business is on this
computer. I also have three copies of photo archives in separate external
drives, one off-site.
Part of the decision to use RAID0 on my storage volume (D
was cost. A
single 500gb drive is ~$315, a 400gb $200, and two 250's cost me $200.
Since the controller was already in place there was no extra cost for it.
This has sped up PhotoShop noticeably because D: is the designated scratch
disk.
I wouldn't recommend it for most people, but there is a place for RAID0 for
some applications. If either of these arrays fails I can recover in <30
min.
