RAID stands for "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks".
Basically what it does is theoretically half the write time and read time. Below I will show you the difference at which non-RAID and RAID -0 ATA hard drives
theoretically read and write to the hard drives.
Non-RAID Read/Write
Say the hard drive was the write your username "Cheerios", and it were to do this letter by letter over time - time increases DOWN the page
Write.
C
h
e
e
r
i
o
s
See the length of your name now
If one line were to equal a second then it would take the hard drive 8 seconds to write your name.
RAID -0 | Read/Write
Same situation but writing to 2 hard drvies simultaneously
First HDD | Second HDD
C | h
e | e
r | i
o | s
This would theoretically take half the time (4 seconds with time increasing down the page).
RAID -1 does a mirror image of you main hard drive, its the best way to back up your information - you get it twice!
Main HDD | Backup HDD (mirror)
C | C
h | h
e | e
e | e
r | r
i | i
o | o
s | s
Hope that helps. Also hope it displays correctly