striping doesn't improve access speed, it improves sustained transfer rates. those matter in large, completely linear read/write situations (like opening a 2gb file, copying a 2gb file, that sort of thing) - not typical (even multitasking) use. as already mentioned, it is a big threat to your data because the loss of just one drive will hose you.
see
http://faq.storagereview.com/tiki-in...leDriveVsRaid0