I would never use Raid 0 unless
1) There is no critical data on the Raid 0 drives
or
2) You are doing regularly scheduled backups to another drive/other
media. If there IS critical data on the Raid 0 drives, I'd
set it up with a good DDS or DLT or AIX tape backup and good automated
backup software so that if/when the Raid 0 dies, you're all
set.
Of course, for the cost of good backup software and a good backup
system you could alternatively buy some more drives and go for
a striped and mirrored RAID setup, which would mean you'll never
lose data unless an absolute catastrophe occurs (e.g. you're
struck by lightning). Oh, and REAL raid like this requires
a REAL (read: SCSI) raid card, not a $20-50 IDE raid solution.
Sure, you can just live dangerously. I have done that. But only
on machines where I understand I might, at any time, lose everything
I have without any chance for recovery. Unlike a single non-raid
drive setup, data recovery programs don't work with failed raid
arrays...So if you lose a Raid drive...goodbye, good luck, and thanks
for all the fish.
Kwad