RAID Configuration Help for RAID 0 to Multi-Level RAID 0 + 1.
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What RAID Configurations to Select?
RAID systems use multiple hard drives to achieve fast access speeds, increased
storage capacity or increased reliability. RAID can be configured by hardware using RAID controller
cards or by RAID software. RAID 1 configurations makes an exact copy of data or an operating system
onto a second hard drive. Failure of one hard drive can result in a server crash. Server crashes or
a computer crash will occur if the hard drive is hosting the operating system. Crashed RAID servers
typically go offline due to virus attack, hard drive failure or electrical hard drive anomalies.
RAID 0, RAID 1 + 5 configurations are typically used by businesses, however, many other RAID
variations are also used.
RAID 0 - Increased Volume Storage – Fast Read/ Write Speeds.
RAID 0 configurations enhance hard drive read and write speeds by
splitting files into bits and systematically scattering them over multiple hard disks. Companies
use RAID 0 systems to increase hard drive storage speed and hard disk capacity. RAID 0 Disk
Failure of one hard drive when using a RAID 0 configuration will result in lost data, a
crashed operating system or a crashed computer. RAID data lost is dependent on how the
RAID was configured. For example, no network administrator would ever want to configure
RAID 0 to setup an operating system as RAID 0 is mostly used to increase hard disk
storage capacity without any redundancy.
RAID 1 – Mirrored Volumes (Mirror Sets).
Mirrored volumes provide identical copies to a second RAID hard drive.
The data or operating system written to the primary volume is also saved to a secondary volume,
known as a mirrored set. If one hard drive fails, then the mirrored RAID hard drive /
mirrored RAID volume takes over. RAID 1 is expensive to implement as it doubles your
storage costs.
RAID 4 - Striping & Independent Parity (Offers Reliability).
RAID 4 uses RAID 0 and RAID 1 attributes. The hard disks are organized
in the striping mode (RAID 0), but the last disk stores the parity of the individual bits. If
any hard disk fails, then the parity on the last hard drive is used to rebuild the lost data.
Read / Write operations are increased by 2 times since data blocks now
must write to the parity disk. A failed hard drive in the RAID 4 array is then replaced and
the data is restored from the parity disk. RAID 5 also uses parity, however, this parity is spread
over all the RAID disks and is faster than RAID 4.
RAID 5 - Striping & Parity (Offers Reliability).
RAID 5 is a RAID configuration that combines striping and parity over at
least 3 hard drives. RAID 5 hard drive controller cards determine the number of hard drives that
can be used to configure RAID 5. Companies use RAID 5 to achieve both the striping and
redundancy/parity attributes.
While the striping portion of RAID 5 configuration is comparable to RAID 0,
the redundancy/parity process is quite different. The RAID 5 system creates redundancy by
calculating and distributing parity blocks over the hard disk array. Companies use hardware and
software RAID 5 configurations to create a volume set with parity. This RAID 5 array uses the
RAID 0 feature to increase hard drive storage space, while utilizing the RAID 5 fault
tolerance attribute.
This RAID configuration is far advantageous to the standard RAID 5 disk
array software utilities. RAID 5 Fault tolerance allows the computer system to continue working
after a hard disk failure has occurred. Corrupted operating systems, damaged system files,
virus attack, corrupted partitions and RAID controller failure generally produces crashed
servers and computer systems.
Multi-Level RAID 0 +1 - RAID 0 1.
Multi-level RAID 0+1 combines the performance of RAID 0 with the redundancy of RAID 1. RAID 0+1 array is constructed by taking a RAID 0 array consisting of two or more disks and mirroring the entire array to a different array consisting of an equal number of disks. When data is written into a RAID 0+1 array, it is first striped onto the RAID 0 and then the RAID Array is mirrored on the RAID 1. Since RAID 0 has no redundancy, any hard disk loss from the RAID 0 will result in the loss of data on the "failed RAID Array". RestoreMyData is experienced in recovering lost data and reconstructing the RAID 0+1 crash to recover the lost data.
Multi-Level RAID 1+0 - RAID 10.
Multi-level RAID 1+0 configurations combine the redundancy of RAID 1 with the performance enhancements of RAID 0. A RAID 1+0 array is constructed by taking two or more RAID 1 Arrays and applying RAID 0 striping across these arrays. Data is written into a RAID 1+0 array, it is first split into stripes. Each stripe is written to one hard disk of each RAID 1 Array. The stripes are then mirrored individually to the other hard disk in the Array. If any hard disk from a RAID 1 Array fails, the system will continue to operate since the Array is "mirrored" (redundant). RestoreMyData is well experienced in recovering lost data and reconstructing RAID 1+0 systems.
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