3Ware 9550SXU-16ML User Guide - Page 15

Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels Available RAID Configurations The following RAID levels and configurations are available for drives attached to a 3ware RAID controller: „ RAID 0 „ RAID 1 „ RAID 5 „ RAID 10 „ RAID 50 „ Single Disk „ JBOD „ Hot Spare RAID 0 Provides striping, but no mirroring or redundancy of any kind. Striped disk arrays achieve high transfer rates because they can read and write data on more than one drive simultaneously. The stripe size is configurable in the 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) and in the 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2). Requires a minimum of two drives. When drives are configured in a striped disk array (see Figure 1), large files are distributed across the multiple disks using RAID 0 techniques. Striped disk arrays give exceptional performance, particularly for data intensive applications such as video editing, computer aided design and geographical information systems. RAID 0 arrays are not fault tolerant. The loss of any drive results in the loss of all the data in that array, and can even cause a system hang, depending on your operating system. RAID 0 arrays are not recommended for high availability systems unless additional precautions are taken to prevent system hangs and data loss. Figure 1. RAID 0 Configuration Example www.3ware.com 5