Raid Questions

Hi,

Never used a RAID setup before, but I'm looking to use it in my next build. (HD-Video Capture/Editing)

So my questions are - Using two SATA-II hard-drives, at 500GB each, with 16MB Cache each, and in RAID-0:

1. The "virtual disk" would consist of both drives and equal to about 1TB, correct?
2. Would the 16MB of Cache on each drive also be doubled for the "virtual disk"? (thus giving it 32MB Cache)
3. Total performance for using both drives in RAID-0 would be about double that of using one No-RAID SATA-II drive?
4. Would software or hardware RAID control be recommended?
5. Does using more hard-drives in a RAID-0 increase or decrease performance? (say 2 vs 4 drives)
6. How does RAID-5 compare to RAID-0 in performance?

Thanks

Thanks for the reply.

So would a hardware or software controller be better? (I understand RAID cards cost a lot?)

From what I understand the RAID cards are more stable etc. than the on board RAID. But I'm not willing to risk the data loss so I have no first hand experience.

If you are worried about loosing data you shouldnt be using RAID-0, wether it is onboard or on a dedicated card. With 2 drives running in RAID-0 you have also doubled your chances of loosing your data for if one drive dies all data is gone.
If you are that concerned about your data and still want performance you should be looing at RAID-5, alot of motherboard these days support it in software and will offer redundancy and close to the same performance as RAID-0.
It is slightly safer with a hardware RAID dedicated card, it will reduce overhead on your other components and will also have more scalability and options.
Depends on your budget and what you are using it for in the long run. With video editing you will want performance, your data is valuable to raid-5 would be a better option. Budget will then determine if its worth going the dedicated card.