RAID is the acronym for redundant array of inexpensive disks, but with the world getting digitalized and sneak peaking the heights of efficiency and success, it is renamed as the redundant array of independent disk that is responsible for storing your valuable data with complete protocol and provides you with the facility of fault tolerance that might not be possible in the general or traditional storage devices.
Why use RAID
Why one should rely on the hard disk drives or the temporary storage media when RAID is the field to work with the efficiency a way better than other storage devices present in the technological world.
The independent disk not only improves the overall performance and storage function but also increases the storage capacity and provides a vivid chance to store the information and data by using the array of multiple disks without any error. The new technology has given us an efficient and a way better alternative to store our valuable data and information without depending upon the old storage devices that can induce certain errors in the data due to limited storage capacity. The device also makes it possible to store the same data redundantly i.e. in multiple places and is installed in the servers but not necessarily in the personal computers.
Working of RAID
The mode of working of the RAID depends upon the two of the potential processes i.e. mirroring of data and stripping of data. With the RAID technology, firstly the data is mirrored in the array of disks to make sure that of one disk fails to work accurately, data is still preserved without any damage or loss. The other potential step is the stripping of data, which spreads the data on multiple disks aids the process of mirroring, hence improving the overall work and output of the techno device. The technology-driven device also gives us an opportunity to read and format the data on more than one disk simultaneously. All this is done by breaking the whole data into segments, and then these segments are sent to various drives in the array to speed up the whole process.
RAID Levels
Depending upon the requirement of data storage and fault tolerance, the device is categorized according to levels, each being a step ahead in efficiency and work output. Further, these levels are subdivided into two classes’ i.e. standard RAID levels and non-standard RAID levels. In these standard RAID levels, there are up to 10 levels, and each level is provided with more working efficiency and fault tolerance and storage capacity for the data. Whereas the non-standard RAID levels are the hybrid of the standard ones and just copies the working style of the standard RAID levels without guaranteeing the fault tolerance for the data and information to be stored in them.
Below is the list of most uses RAID levels.
- RAID 0 = Striping
- RAID 1 = Mirroring
- RAID 5 = Single disk distributed parity
- RAID 6 = Double disk distributed parity
- RAID 10 = Combination of Mirroring & Striping
Conclusion
Here one thing should be cleared, that apart from the facility of redundancy of data, yet RAID is not any alternative for the backup storage, rather a separate device should be used for backup data storage and disaster recovery purposes. Without any exaggeration, RAID is one of the upcoming trend and technological apparatus that is going to break the boundaries of the traditional storage media regulating in the market.
