Final answer:
The primary benefit of data striping in a RAID configuration is improved performance and increased data transfer rates. Data striping distributes data across multiple drives in the RAID array, allowing for parallel access and significantly reducing access time.
Step-by-step explanation:
The primary benefit of data striping in a RAID configuration is improved performance and increased data transfer rates. Data striping distributes data across multiple drives in the RAID array, allowing for parallel access and significantly reducing access time. This means that when data is read or written to the RAID array, it can be accessed from multiple drives simultaneously, resulting in faster and more efficient data transfers.
For example, in a RAID 0 configuration, which uses striping without redundancy, a large file can be split into smaller blocks and written to different drives simultaneously. When that file needs to be accessed, it can be read from multiple drives at the same time, leading to faster read speeds.
Data striping also offers improved fault tolerance. By distributing data across multiple drives, the failure of a single drive does not result in complete data loss. Redundant arrays, such as RAID 5 and RAID 6, combine data striping with parity information to provide fault tolerance and data protection.