Partitions and RAIDS

[renbail]

I'm going to admit, that I'm entering a section of computer technology that I have no idea how it works, but based on what people are saying about RAID, I have to know if I want to learn what it does and I need to add it to my system.

First question: I have a 500gb HDD on my system, but being stupid, I make it so that only 200gb was available to me while the rest (270gb) is in unallocated space. I would like to know the following

1. How can I use this unallocated space and merge it back into my Primary Partition?
2. Can I use this Unallocated space to RAID? (I guess I need to know what a RAID does first)

Last question: I heard that in order to RAID, many said that you need another Hard Drive.

1. Does it matter what type of Hard drive do I use?
2. I do have another Hard drive which I would like to install into my computer, what do I need to do in order to set up a RAID?

I know there are types of RAIDS like RAID-0 to RAID-5 now and days. I'm just totally lost at the moment. I would just like to have my disk data transfer rate go at a better pace.

 

[renbail]

I do have Windows 7 and I'm able to enter the tool that can work with partitions. So, just to confirm, with I want to add my Unallocated Space into my current Primary partition, I want to extend the volume of my Primary with the unallocated?