The first time you encounter them, RAIDs can seem a bit overwhelming, from having to buy two or more HDDs to figuring out the types 1 or 5 or 0+1, and then people start asking about stripe sizing.   AnandTech can give you some help figuring it all out, and get you started on building your own array, be it for safety, speed, or a bit of both.

"With the increased use of computers in the daily lives of people worldwide, the dollar value of data stored on the

average computer has steadily increased. Even as MTBF figures have moved from 8000 hours in the 1980s (example:

MiniScribe M2006) to the current levels of over 750,000 hours (Seagate 7200.11 series drives), this increase in data

value has offset the relative decrease of hard drive failures. The increase in the value of data, and the general

unwillingness of most casual users to back up their hard drive contents on a regular basis, has put increasing focus

on technologies which can help users to survive a hard drive failure. RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) is

one of these technologies."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

  
Storage

• Hitachi

  Deskstar 7k1000 1TB Hard Drive Review @ HardwareLogic

• Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini 80GB External Hard

  Drive Review @ Bigbruin

• Super Talent Exelerator 2GB Ready Boost Review @ Virtual-Hideout
• iStar T-7M1-SA Removable SATA Hard Drive Rack @ DragonSteelMods
• Akasa Combo Card

  Reader Review @ Techconnect

• Western

  Digital Passport Mobile Hard Disk Drive with 250GB Storage Capacity @ X-bit Labs

• Seagate Freeagent Pro eSATA/USB Storage @ TweakTown
• CA Secure & Store Flash Drive @ DragonSteelMods