Raid 0+1: 0: Performance & Capacity. 1: Reliability. How easy/diff?

raid 0+1 requires 4 drives. raid 0 and 1 need only 2. 3 if you include a backup. Now in theory you can do a hardware raid 0 and then do a software mirror of that raid 0 to a equal size drive. The problem with this configuration is you have two weaknesses. One is if you experience disk corruption at the software raid level and two is if the raid 0 becomes corrupt and thereby corrupts the software mirror. What I ended up doing is a single mirror set with backup (3 drives). I would have done the 0+1 raid if i had the room in my case. I'd go for it if you have the $$$. I recommend raid 0,1, and 0+1 for OS/storage. Raid 5 and higher for long term data storage.

As for drives I recommend the WD caviar 640GB Blacks

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I would decide on what capacity you need and your budget before deciding on a raid level and ignore speed gains. That is what SSD's are for. RAID 5 wastes less disk space, but if you need less than 1.5 TB, just get two cheap 1.5 TB and mirror them. Its simple and a disk failure results in a quick rebuild compared to RAID 5. Try to avoid booting off a raid 5 partition if you can.

goobah, why do you recommend avoiding booting from a RAID 5 partition? What potentially could happen?