Data storage is a crucial part of your IT infrastructure. We’ll cover the basics of RAID, a data storage technology, (and an important one) in this article.
RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. RAID is a system that improves performance, reliability and fault tolerance for a networked attached storage (NAS) device or the hard disk of a server/workstation. In general, the server/workstation or NAS device will contain a RAID controller that manages an array of disks. These disks are used to mirror or copy data at the same time in different locations. There is also software RAID that does not require a RAID controller. Even though RAID does provide redundancy for your system, another backup method should always be implemented for your business as well. There are different types/levels of RAID that focus on performance, fault tolerance or both and, for those real geeks among us, these are listed out below.
For those of you who’d just like to know that someone has your back and will help you protect your crucial business data, contact us here at Nettology. We’re based in suburban Philadelphia and can design, configure, install, and support a data storage solution that’s right for your business.
And now for those REALLY interested in RAID – data storage technology….
- RAID 0— Striping without parity, improved performance, additional storage, no fault tolerance
- RAID 1— Mirroring without parity, fault tolerance for disk errors and single disk failures. Minimum number of drives: 2
- RAID 5— Striping with distributed parity, improved performance, fault tolerance for disk errors and single disk failures. Minimum number of drives: 3
- RAID 6— Striping with dual parity, fault tolerance for dual drive failures. Minimum number of drives: 4
- RAID 10— Mirroring combined with striping, better performance, fault tolerance for disk errors and multiple drive failure (one drive failure per mirror set). Minimum number of drives: 4
- RAID 50— Combines multiple RAID-5 sets with striping, improved performance, fault disk errors and multiple drive failures (one drive failure per span). Minimum number of drives: 6
- RAID 60— Combines multiple RAID-6 sets with striping, improved performance, fault disk errors and multiple drive failures (two drive failures per span). Minimum number of drives: 8
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