| What is a raid setup on a computer system? | | | | in speed, two examples which come to mind are |
| Like anything else it depends who you talk to. | | | | game servers and peer to peer (P2P) file or |
| Raid hard drive systems had their acronym | | | | music file sharing servers. |
| explained as "Redundant Array of Individual Drives | | | | However since there is no allocation for error |
| "and "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives". | | | | correction or redundancy RAID 0 is not a safe |
| The acronym for this is the shortened term | | | | system for vital data. Data will be lost on disk |
| "RAID". | | | | failure. Only use RAID 0 in situations where you |
| Capacity, reliability and performance are all | | | | need the extended disk capacity or performance |
| important for file servers or other computer | | | | gain but not enhanced data reliability. |
| systems when you are storing large or very | | | | Secondly in sequence there is RAID Level 1. |
| important files. | | | | In the same way that RAID 0 focuses solely on |
| It is often said that "It is not if you hard drive will | | | | storage capacity and performance with no |
| fail. It is at what point in time your hard drive will | | | | concern whatsoever on reliable data storage |
| fail". | | | | RAID 1, which us also called "Disk Mirroring" uses |
| Of course if your hard drives fail even if you | | | | disks in pairs to save the files in a redundant |
| have backup the last bit of data which was being | | | | manner. |
| written onto the hard drive when the failure | | | | Several points. |
| occurred will be lost. | | | | One performance may be slower as it takes time |
| You can get much greater capacities, avoid losing | | | | for the host adapter to send the data and for the |
| data from disk failure, and do all this with the | | | | drives to write it to disk, |
| RAID (the acronym for the system). | | | | Secondly a user may delete or damage files |
| RAID can now be done with standard | | | | which of course will be stored in that way on |
| commercially available hard drives so the cost is | | | | both drives. |
| now within your price range for all the benefits | | | | Raid 1 hence offers better reliability than RAID 0 |
| and peace of mind RAID will give you. | | | | or the conventional drive setups but does not |
| RAID can be simply explained as putting the hard | | | | give full security for your data or enhanced |
| drives in parallel sequence. | | | | performance. |
| The host adapter (usually called the RAID system | | | | Next in sequence we have RAID Levels 2, 3 and |
| controller) sits between one higher stream (on the | | | | 4. |
| computer side) and several lower rate data | | | | Raid 2 adds one or more disks to hold error |
| streams (on the hard drive side). When the | | | | correction codes with which lost data can be |
| computer writes to the disks , the host adapter | | | | reconstructed. |
| takes high stream data and breaks it into many | | | | Raid Level 3 is the same as RAID Level 2 but |
| synchronized streams , one for each of the disks | | | | uses a simpler code the maximum storage |
| in process called "Striping ". Upon reading the data | | | | capacity with Raid 3 may be somewhat less. |
| the host adapter takes the data stream from | | | | Raid Level 4 is nearly the same as RAID LEVEL 3 |
| each disk multiplexes the sets of data streams | | | | but instead of "Striping " across disks is operates |
| and coordinates sending the resulting combined | | | | at a sector level, You now have the better |
| set of data onto the computer. | | | | situation of both a simpler , less intensive |
| It is all a matter of redundancy which makes | | | | demanding system and as well as good data |
| RAID such a good thing in most cases. | | | | reliability . In addition performance may be |
| There are six different levels of RAID | | | | enhanced as large data blocks can be written |
| functionality depending on your requirements. - the | | | | faster due to more coordinated writing to the |
| level of data security and integrity you want as | | | | drives in smaller "sector" areas. |
| well as the size of hard drive space you want. | | | | Lastly is RAID Level 5. |
| First of RAID Level 0 which spreads the data | | | | Raid level 5 is the same as the excellent RAID |
| across multiple disks. You can get a similar effect | | | | Level 4 except that instead of dedicating a single |
| to the RAID Level 0 by having multiple disks and | | | | disk to storing the data the data stream is striped |
| using the features in Windows 2000 or its | | | | across all the disks. You have greater |
| successor Windows XP. | | | | performance with greater reliability for your |
| Since the data volume and rate to any specific | | | | computer systems. |
| disk is a fraction of the aggregate you will receive | | | | A RAID setup may take some effort and training |
| larger capacity and better performance from a | | | | on your part. |
| RAID 0 setup than from any one conventional | | | | Base your planning for your new RAID system |
| disk. | | | | on a careful analysis of your needs. |
| As well data can be sourced from multiple drives | | | | What is important in your situation currently? Disk |
| as once. This can be most useful in shared | | | | size capacities, data reliability and integrity, |
| situations which may benefit from enhancements | | | | performance or a combination or all. |