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What Home Users Need To Know About RAID
RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) is a relatively old disk configuration standard that still sees massive use today in nearly every industry imaginable. The basic idea behind RAID is to group together a number of hard disks to create one large storage volume. There are several different RAID configurations, but the basic premise is to create large storage pools and provide data redundancy.
Typically, RAID is utilized in datacenter applications and business servers, but it can also benefit the home user. Different RAID functionality is defined by certain RAID "levels." The levels that will be most beneficial to the home user are RAID 0, 1, and 5.
A RAID 0 configuration utilizes two disks to perform the same functionality as 1. Data is written in sequence, or "striped" across two disks to form one RAID volume. When the data is read back, both disks work in tandem, speeding up the read/write process. RAID 0 is good for users that need top performance from their systems, and is typically only used by video editors, music producers, and hardcore computer gamers.
RAID 1 is a much more mainstream, and arguably, more useful RAID setup for the home user. A RAID 1 volume is also referred to as a "mirrored" volume, because identical data is written to two separate disks. This provides redundancy and prevents the loss of your important files. In the event of a hard disk failure, the second disk will prevent any data from being lost. The failed drive can be replaced and the array rebuilt, restoring normal function.
RAID 5 is generally the preferred RAID level for mass storage. Creating a RAID 5 volume requires a minimum of three hard disks, and all disks must be of the same capacity. RAID 5 creates a "striped" volume with single-disk parity. This means that small bits of data are written to each disk in the array in such a way that any single disk can fail without data loss. Of course, the failed drive must be replaced and the array rebuilt without a second drive failing, but the odds of two or more drives failing simultaneously are very slim. The total volume size for a RAID 5 volume is the total capacity of all disks in the array, minus the capacity of one disk. So, the total available storage size of an array with three 1TB disks would be 2TB.
RAID 5 is good for home users that deal with many large, important files. This could be photographs and video of family or media files for a home business. A large storage pool will be created, with the added protection of a parity disk. It is important, however, for the home user to realize that RAID is not a valid backup solution, and that any critical files should be backed up off-site as well.
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