RAID...what for?

[LeKiD]

Hi guys, I've never used RAID and I'm still wondering what it basicaly is and what for... I've tried to read about it but if someone would have a simple and logic answer... I would take it. Thanks for filling up my lack of knowledge!

 

[edesignuk]

Mainly for redundancy and speed. It can mean either of these things or both, depending on which type of RAID you go for.

Wiki.

 

[ChrisA]

Hi guys, I've never used RAID and I'm still wondering what it basicaly is and what for... I've tried to read about it but if someone would have a simple and logic answer... I would take it. Thanks for filling up my lack of knowledge!

There are many, many ways to configure a RAID system. The number of drives used can range from two on up to hundreds.

In general compared to a single drive a RAID system...

• can hold more data
• is faster
• will not loose data if a drive fails
• costs more money

Also depending on configuration it can be slower and more likely to fail and loose data. You get to choose when you design it.

 

[LeKiD]

Nice one... Thanks!

 

[tersono]

Hi guys, I've never used RAID and I'm still wondering what it basicaly is and what for... I've tried to read about it but if someone would have a simple and logic answer... I would take it. Thanks for filling up my lack of knowledge!

RAID is a method of sharing your data over several drives, either for safety of Data (Raid 1 mirrors your data to a second drive, RAID 5 shares your data over several drives, allowing a single drive to fail without losing data), or for improved speed (RAID 0 stripes your data across two or more drives allowing simultaneous reads - the downside is that if one drive fails, you lose everything).

There are various other combinations, but that's the basics.

Personally, I use a pair of RAID 1 (mirroring) arrays in my file server, so that if a disk fails, I have the data safe on the other drive.

 

[LeKiD]

So basically when you build your raid you can choose between speed or safty or if you have the funds you can go with both. Would that be good to think of a safty raid and put a X raptor for speed?

 

[tersono]

So basically when you build your raid you can choose between speed or safty or if you have the funds you can go with both. Would that be good to think of a safty raid and put a X raptor for speed?

That sounds like a good approach to me - I'm always wary of striped arrays.

I'm just about to start installing a RAID 5 - based file server at work (Windows-based, unfortunately) - that's 4 disks, 3 of which are active + a hot spare. I'm using WD raptor drives for that and it should just scream along =]

 

[WildPalms]

There are cheaper options available, both FreeNAS and OpenFiler give you a ton of options based on FreeBSD and are very good performers.