How does RAID work?

[gdawson6]

I never figured it out. I know it uses more than one hard drive, but how does it work to make data transfer so much faster?

Somebody please explain it as simple as you can.

 

[Shooters]

It depends what level of RAID you're talking about. Try reading this and this

 

[gdawson6]

thanks, that explained it pretty good.

 

[konichiwa]

READ

 

[x86]

<< I never figured it out. I know it uses more than one hard drive, but how does it work to make data transfer so much faster?

Somebody please explain it as simple as you can. >>



There are 3 basic types of RAID.

RAID 0 - The RAID controller divides the information by two depending on the "stripe" size. This size is usually adjustable. This RAID configuration will theoretically improve your HDD performance by 100%.

RAID 1 - The RAID controller writes the information to one HDD and automatically backs it up on another.

RAID 0 + 1 - The RAID controller does both the tasks of RAID 1, and RAID 0. This usually employs 3 HDD

RAID 5 - The RAID controller does RAID 0, and also writes a recovery code for back up purposes. In the event that any HDD fails, it will be able to restore it.

I hope that helps.

-DocSmarts

 

[Howard]

<< RAID 0 + 1 - The RAID controller does both the tasks of RAID 1, and RAID 0. This usually employs 3 HDD >>


It uses drives in multiples of 4. RAID 0+1 means that the drives are first striped, and the striped pairs are mirrored.

RAID 1+0 is basically the same thing, only the hard drives are first mirrored, and the mirrored pairs are striped.


<< RAID 5 - The RAID controller does RAID 0, and also writes a recovery code for back up purposes. In the event that any HDD fails, it will be able to restore it. >>


I don't really understand, so I'll try to clarify. Hard drives set up in RAID 5 have the data striped across all of them, and the parity is distributed across all drives.