What is the Best RAID Configuration for Your Server?

Here you will find out:

• what is RAID configuration

• which RAID configuration is better

• when DiskInternals can help you

Are you ready? Let's read!

Quite a lot of PC users are switching to RAID storage because it promises more space and security. But, before you join the mass, what actually is RAID configuration, and why should you consider it? Let's see.

What is RAID and Its Benefits?

RAID is the acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. It is a storage technology that provides more security against hard disk failure and sudden data loss. There are many types of RAID; for you to achieve a RAID, you must have two (2) or more hard drives (HDD or SSD).

Practically, RAID configuration simply refers to combining two or more HDDs or SSDs to form a RAID array. So, with RAID storage technology, you'd have a lot of storage space, and depending on the type of RAID array you set up, you would still have access to your files even when two hard drives in the RAID get corrupted or fails.

RAID Configuration

There are different types of RAID configurations, and each one has its advantages and disadvantages. From RAID 0 to RAID 10 (RAID 1 + 0), they all have specific configurations, which determine how the disks in the array would perform.

Notwithstanding, with RAID configurations - regardless of the setup you choose - you'd get more efficient than using a single hard drive. You can also incorporate backup drives into your RAID for data backup purposes. More so, RAID offers more tolerance and security against data loss.

One of the reasons Windows OS users switch to RAID configurations is to achieve faster speeds, thanks to the multiple disks used in the RAID array. Not forgetting the fact, that with RAID arrays, you can achieve unlimited storage for your big data and business file.

However, notwithstanding, RAID arrays do fail, and if care isn't taken, you could still lose your important files. Yes, no system or technology is 100% infallible. So to say, setting up RAID storage does not eliminate the need for routine data backups; RAID does not replace the need for regular backups.

Even with RAID, you need to back up your files and data regularly; there are applications that allow you to do that for free (e.g. DiskInternals RAID Recovery).

Common RAID Configurations

In terms of redundancy, performance, and disk capacity, not all RAID setups are made equal.

RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 are some of the most frequent RAID levels. This is a very basic TLDR chart. Continue reading for a more in-depth look at the advantages and disadvantages of each.

RAID 0

RAID 0 strips data across all of the disks in the array at the block level. You will notice enhanced read and write speed, especially for bigger files, because the data is striped over numerous drives. This is owing to the array's ability to read or write a block to each of the array's disks at the same time. As a result, performance will likely to scale with the array's number of disks.

The maximum number of disks in a RAID 0 is limited by the number of disks supported by your RAID controller and the number of drive bays accessible on your system. Because RAID 0 distributes storage blocks over all of the array's disks, any disk failure will result in the loss of the whole array. As a result, the chance of data loss due to a drive failure increases as the number of disks in the array grows. For production systems, we do not advocate employing a RAID 0.

Capacity: VD = (C * n) | VirtualDisk = ( Capacity of one disk * number of disks )

I/O Performance: Greatly improved read and write performance

Fault Tolerance: None, increased risk of failure that scales with number of disks in the array

Advantages:

• Performance boost for read and write operations

• Space is not wasted as the entire volume of the individual disks are used up to store unique data

Disadvantages

• There is no redundancy/duplication of data. If one of the disks fails, the entire data is lost.

RAID 1

RAID 1 replicates data on two drives at the block level. Your RAID controller will write the identical data block to both disks every time a data block is written to the storage subsystem, providing fault tolerance if one of the disks fails. As a result, the I/O performance characteristics will have somewhat lower write performance than a single disk, but roughly double the read speed of a single disk. Because the data set on both disks is mirrored, when the RAID controller wants to write data, it must do it on both drives; but, when it needs to read data, it can concurrently collect two distinct reads from either disk.

Because the data is mirrored across both disks in the array, any one of them can fail while the other remains functioning, and the array will not fail. NOTE: While most hardware-based RAID controllers can only handle two disks in a RAID 1 array, certain software RAID systems and controllers can support more. Write performance will decline significantly as the number of drives grows, whereas read performance will scale with the number of disks.

Capacity: VD = (C * n) / n | VirtualDrive = ( Capacity of one disk * number of disks ) / number of disks

I/O Performance: Slightly lower write performance with nearly double the read performance

Fault Tolerance: n / n

Advantages:

• Data can be recovered in case of disk failure

• Increased performance for read operation

Disadvantages

• Slow write performance

• Space is wasted by duplicating data which increases the cost per unit memory

RAID 5

RAID 5 stripes data across each of the array's disks at the block level, while simultaneously computing parity data, which is dispersed among the array's disks to increase fault tolerance. There will be one parity set dispersed throughout the array in a RAID 5 array, allowing any one disk in the array to fail without causing the entire array to fail. The raw space offered by the array will equal the total capacity of all of the disks minus one disk's worth of capacity, because the distributed parity must provide parity information for one disk's worth of information.

This is also why RAID 5 requires a minimum of three drives. RAID 5's I/O performance will be better for reads and writes, but writes will not scale as linearly as RAID 0 owing to the RAID controller's need to execute the parity calculation and store the resultant parity data. NOTE: While some software RAID solutions offer RAID 5, we do not advocate doing so in a production environment since all of the parity calculations will have to be done by your server's CPU rather than a dedicated specialist hardware controller built to speed up these calculations.

Capacity: VD = ( C * n ) – C | VirtualDrive = ( Capacity of one disk * number of disks ) – Capacity of one disk

I/O Performance: Improved read and write performance

Fault Tolerance: n – 1

Advantages:

• All the advantages of RAID 4 plus increased write speed and better data redundancy

Disadvantages

• Can only handle up to a single disk failure

RAID 10

RAID 10 is a nested array made up of RAID 0 and RAID 1 sets; in other words, it's a RAID array made up of several RAID arrays. As a result, some of the performance characteristics of both RAID 0 and RAID 1 are combined in this RAID level. Both read and write I/O performance will be increased, and this will scale differently depending on the number of disks in the array. The number of disks in the array will scale the read performance, while the number of RAID 1 sets in the array will scale the write performance.

A RAID 10 with four disks, for example, will have two RAID 1 sets that are then part of a RAID 0, resulting in read performance almost four times that of a single disk in the array and write speed nearly twice that of a single disk. This RAID level provides a fantastic balance of speed and fault tolerance. It is possible for half of the disks in an array to fail without the array failing. This is due to the fact that one disk in each RAID 1 set can fail without the entire RAID set failing.

Because of these qualities, you'll note that the minimum number of disks required is four, and the total number of disks must be an even number, requiring you to increase the number of disks in the array in pairs. While the needed number of disks is fewer when compared to the raw usable capacity, this RAID level provides the highest overall performance and fault tolerance. This is an excellent choice for databases with a lot of data to read or mixed work loads.

Capacity: VD = (C * n) / n | VirtualDrive = ( Capacity of one disk * number of disks ) / number of disks

I/O Performance: Improved write performance with greatly improved read performance

Fault Tolerance: n / 2

Advantages:

• Very fast performance

• Redundancy and fault tolerance

Disadvantages

• Cost per unit memory is high since data is mirrored

RAID Array

Don’t get confused about this; RAID configurations are commonly referred to as RAID Arrays; the words are used interchangeably. A RAID array refers to a group of synced hard drives (HDDs or SSDs), configured in a particular manner. Popular RAID arrays include 5, 1, 0, 10, and others.

Data Striping and Mirroring

Although there are many RAID arrays/configurations, they all basically fall into two categories: Striping and Mirroring. Some RAID arrays rely on data striping - spreading your data across multiple drives to improve speed and efficiency, while others "mirror" your data across the synced drives.

Mirroring means your data is replicated and stored in more than one drive in the array. So, even when a disk in the array fails, you can access its files in another drive (in the array) where the files had been mirrored to. This RAID method helps to improve redundancy and data security.

Parity

Parity comes into play when you’re setting up a more complex Windows RAID array that would incorporate multiple systems. The configuration method, Parity, refers to error-checking code; it can either be dedicated to one drive in the array or distributed across multiple drives in the array. Many people don’t like this RAID configuration because it is slower.

What is The Best RAID Configuration?

Everyone’s choices differ; what may be the best for you may not be the best for another. However, these RAID configurations are the most common ones a lot of people prefer - due to specific reasons.

There are two major types of RAIDs: Software RAIDs and Hardware RAIDs; in software RAIDs, no physical disk is used as the RAID controller, but in hardware RAIDs, there has to be a physical disk controller inserted into the server's motherboard to help improve performance.

Choosing the best RAID configurations also relates to the number of disks you have to use in the RAID array. RAID 0 is the simplest to set up, but it poses higher drive failure risks. Similarly, RAID 1 builds redundancy against drive failures but does not promise improved efficiency.

If you need high efficiency and redundancy, you should consider 5 or 10; these RAID configurations offer strong redundancy and high efficiency.

Configuration Examples

Here are how you can set up the commonest RAID configurations/arrays - RAID5 and RAID10.

How to Configure a RAID 5 Drive Array

To set up RAID 5, you need at least 3 hard drives; they could be HDDs or SSDs all through. Configuration supports data stripping and promises higher efficiency. Hereunder is the procedure to set up RAID 5 on Windows OS.

• Ensure that the drives you want to use in creating the RAID 5 array are all connected to the computer.

• Open the Windows Settings page and go to the System tab.

• Navigate to the Storage tab, look out for the “More Storage Settings” section and click on "Manage Storage Spaces.”

• Now, in the new pop-up window, select “Create a new pool and storage space” and further click “Yes” if prompted.

• Choose the drives you want to use for the array.

• Carefully enter the necessary information under the name and drive letter heading.

• When you get to the “Resiliency” section, click the dropdown and select Parity.

• Under “Size,” enter any capacity of your choice.

• Finally, click “Create storage space" to finish the RAID 5 array setup.

How to Configure a RAID 10 Drive Array

RAID 10 actually means RAID 1 + RAID 0 (and not RAID 10(ten) as it may seem). RAID 10 provides more efficiency and data security. It supports both stripping and mirroring; basically, you’d be setting up a RAID 1 array, which supports stripping, and a RAID 0 array, which supports mirroring, to form a RAID10 setup.

That said, you'd need at least 4 disks for this configuration; at least two 2 disks for RAID 1 setup and the other 2 for RAID 0 set up. Below are the steps to follow - they are the same as the steps for creating RAID 5 (explained above):

• Ensure that the drives you want to use in creating the RAID10 array are all connected to the computer.

• Open the Windows Settings page and go to the System tab.

• Navigate to the Storage tab, look out for the “More Storage Settings” section and click on "Manage Storage Spaces.”

• Now, in the new pop-up window, select “Create a new pool and storage space” and further click “Yes” if prompted.

• Choose the drives you want to use for the RAID10 array.

• Carefully enter the necessary information under the name and drive letter heading.

• When you get to the “Resiliency” section, click the dropdown and select Two-Way Mirror.

• Under “Size,” enter any capacity of your choice.

• Click “Create storage space” to finish the first RAID array setup.

Repeat these steps to create the other mirrored drive pair(s) you want to add to the array, after that, follow the steps below:

• Open Windows Disk Management (press Windows key + X).

• You'd find the two mirrored pairs you created at the bottom area of the window; right-click the first pair and select Delete volume to clear out file systems.

• Do the same for the second drive.

• Now, right-click one of the drive pairs you want in your array and select New Striped Volume.

• In the new pop-up window, select the other mirrored pairs and click Next.

• Configure the settings and click Next, then Review your selections and click Finish.

Less Common RAID Configurations

Asides from 0, 1, 5, and 10, there are many other RAID types that exist. Of course, those RAIDs require specific configurations and offer unique benefits. The RAIDs include 3, 4, 01, and others.

RAID 2

Another configuration at the RAID standard level that offers very fast data transfer speeds is RAID 2. In RAID 2, the disks are synchronized such that they all reach the index at the same time by having a central controller rotate them at the same angular orientation. Each consecutive bit is placed on a distinct hard disk using bit-level striping, which is used in RAID 2. The Hamming code parity, an error-correcting code (ECC) that is calculated across bits and stored independently in at least one disk, is employed.

RAID 3

RAID 3 is a RAID setup that strips the information produced by a RAID controller with the data instead of storing it on a parity drive.

Because the parity information is stored on a different drive, RAID 3 struggles to handle a high volume of tiny data requests. Applications that need lengthy sequential data transfers, such streaming music, graphics, and video editing, are better suited for RAID 3.

RAID 4

Similar to RAID 0, RAID 4 strips data over many drives. In order to provide redundancy, it additionally saves parity information for each disk separately on a dedicated drive. The parity disk in the figure below is disk 4, which contains the parity blocks Ap, Bp, Cp, and Dp. Therefore, the data can be recreated using the parity information of the failing disk if one of the disks is involved. Compared to RAID 1, space is handled more effectively here since parity information takes up far less room than replicating the drive. Because all the parity data is written to a single disk, which is a bottleneck, the write performance becomes poor. As we will see in a moment, RAID 5 has a solution for this issue.

RAID 5E

RAID 5E is quite similar to RAID 4, except instead of keeping the parity information on a separate disk, it is dispersed across all of the drives. This has two advantages: first, there is no longer a bottleneck since the parity stress is distributed over all the drives, and second, there is no risk of losing data redundancy because just one disk stores all the parity information.

Conclusion

Apparently, this article clearly explains everything you should know about RAIDs and how to set up the commonest types of RAIDs.

This article explains RAID configurations, how to set up the common RAID array types, and how to prevent your arrays from failing. Also, this article suggests the best ways to backup your RAIDs' data and recover lost files in a case of data loss.