RAID 0 stripes data across multiple drives, increasing read and write speed. There's no redundancy: if one drive fails, all data is lost.

When is RAID 0 useful?

Only for data that's safe elsewhere or regenerable: video scratch disks, cache, build artifacts, cloud-synced game libraries. Never for original data without backup.

How much faster is RAID 0 really?

Theoretically n-fold with n drives. In practice 2-4× on sequential access depending on controller and bus. On 1 GbE networks the speed boost often disappears because the link is the bottleneck.

What happens when a drive fails in RAID 0?

The entire array is lost. There's no redundancy, no recovery. The only fix is restoring from backup.

RAID 0 or JBOD – which is safer?

JBOD is safer. With JBOD you may lose only the failed drive's data. With RAID 0 you lose everything because stripes are spread across all drives.

RAID 0 Explained: Speed Without a Safety Net

Updated: 2026-04-29

RAID 0 is the fastest RAID level – and also the most dangerous. There's no redundancy: one failed drive equals all data lost. Yet RAID 0 still gets recommended in places it doesn't belong. Here's the honest read.

Short version

RAID 0 stripes data across multiple drives – parallel reads and writes, theoretically n-fold speed. But: no protection, no backup, no safety net. One drive dies, everything's gone. In a home NAS there's almost no use case that justifies the risk.

How striping works

RAID 0 chops files into blocks (e.g. 64 KB) and distributes them alternately across drives. A 1 GB file on 2 drives ends up half on each. On read, both drives are accessed simultaneously – theoretical speed doubles.

With 4 drives: theoretical 4× speed. In practice less, because controller, RAM and bus limit. But noticeably faster than a single drive.

Capacity and performance numbers

With 4×8 TB drives (140 MB/s sequential per drive):

Usable capacity: 4 × 8 = 32 TB (100% efficiency)
Sequential reads: ~500 MB/s (3.5× scaling in practice)
Sequential writes: ~480 MB/s
Random IOPS: 4× single-drive

Compare: RAID 5 with same 4×8 TB = 24 TB usable at ~360 MB/s writes. RAID 0 is roughly 30% faster, plus 8 TB more capacity.

The risk problem

With n drives in RAID 0, failure probability multiplies. At 1.5% annual failure rate per drive:

1 drive: 1.5% failure chance/year
4 drives RAID 0: 5.9% chance/year (for everything in the array)
8 drives RAID 0: 11.4% chance/year

With 8 drives you statistically lose all data within ~9 years at 67% probability. With a single drive it'd take ~67 years.

When RAID 0 is acceptable

Video editing scratch disk: Source data exists elsewhere. Drive failure = annoying, not data loss.
Cache layer in front of slower storage: Cache content is regenerable.
Render output, build artifacts: Reproducible.
Game library with cloud sync: Steam/Epic can re-download.
Temp storage in CI/CD setups: Throwaway data.

Common pattern: data is safely stored elsewhere. RAID 0 is a performance boost, not storage.

When RAID 0 is a mistake

Family photos, documents, anything personal
NAS primary storage with only one backup
Plex/Jellyfin library that isn't separately backed up
Backup target (yes, some do this – don't)
4+ drive setup without separate, regular backup

Compared to alternatives

RAID 0 vs JBOD: JBOD concatenates capacity without striping. JBOD failure: in the best case you lose only the failed drive's data. RAID 0 loses everything. JBOD = safer fallback when performance doesn't matter.

RAID 0 vs RAID 10: RAID 10 delivers similar write speed plus redundancy. Costs 50% capacity but is realistically safe.

RAID 0 vs RAID 5/6: RAID 5/6 are slightly slower on writes (parity), but survive disk failures. Compare RAID 5 vs 6.

RAID 0 vs SSD: A modern NVMe SSD is faster than any HDD-RAID-0 setup today. Pure speed → just go SSD.

Common myths

"RAID 0 is fine, I have backups."
Backup limits damage, doesn't eliminate it. Restoring 32 TB takes 12-50 hours depending on backup medium. NAS is down that whole time.

"With good drives nothing happens."
Enterprise drives run 0.5-0.8% AFR vs 1.5%. With 8 drives in RAID 0: still 4-6% chance/year. Statistics don't care.

"I need maximum speed for my NAS."
Most NAS connect via 1 GbE (125 MB/s) or 2.5 GbE (312 MB/s). A single modern HDD already pushes 200+ MB/s sequential. RAID 0 doesn't help when the network is the bottleneck.

Recommendation

For home NAS: avoid RAID 0. RAID 5 or 6 are barely slower in real use but survive failures. If you genuinely need speed and data is regenerable: a single SSD as cache in front of RAID 6.

Compare options for your setup in the RAID Calculator.

RAID Complete Guide

All RAID Types Explained

What happens when RAID fails?

RAID is not a backup